Snowmobiling in the Yard

Nate was able to fix his parent's snowmobiles this winter.  We have been able to use them around the yard and at our friends house a few times so far.  Here is Nate and Kaitlyn testing out one of the snowmobiles in the yard.

Couples Weekend - Leech Lake

Early Friday morning we headed out of town with some great friends for a weekend of ice fishing, hot tubing, and relaxation.  We loaded up the truck with all our fishing and snow gear, food, and adult beverages.  The trailer was packed with 2 snowmobiles and 2 four wheelers.

We stopped in Brainerd for lunch at Grizzly's and made it to the resort near Walker in the afternoon.  We decided to head out to do some ice fishing.  Not knowing what the future would bring this was our only time we really spent ice fishing that weekend.

Heading up North!  Aimee, Chad, and Niki!

Not sure why the picture looks yellow, but we got the ice houses put up and hooked together.

Niki with the only fish we caught that night!  Good thing we still had fun!

Drilling holes!  The ice was really deep.  

The girls!

As the sun went down the wind really started to pick up.  It felt like a blizzard as we gathered up all our gear and headed in for the night.

The snow mobiles warming up and providing light as we packed everything up!

We got back to the cabin and had dinner, played some games, and spent some time in the hot tub.  

On Saturday we got up had breakfast and headed out for the day to do some ice fishing.  We decided we wanted to try a different spot than the night before.  We had been told about "slush pockets" from the resort owner so we proceeded with caution.  Nate and I were on the snowmobile leading the group when all of a sudden both four wheelers hit a "slush pocket".  They ended up colliding because the slush just sucked the machines in.  There was gear scattered everywhere, but everyone was okay.  Only a few dents and broken parts on the four wheelers.  I have to admit that it was pretty scary.  Even when you walked your legs would fall into the slush and being out on a frozen lake and having no idea how much ice is really underneath the slush... I was happy when we decided to head in for the day and regroup. 

Here is a picture of where the slush pocket was... in the middle of the picture you can see a huge rut in the snow.  That is where we got stuck.  We tried going around it and we still ended up finding more slush.  

The good news is we spent the rest of the day in the hot tub and playing games before heading out for dinner at the resort down the road.

The weekend was a blast our trip back was slower than normal due to blizzard warnings, but I guess this is just reality in MN.  Thanks to Niki, Chad, Aimee, and Steve for an amazing weekend with great friends.

Jason Aldean Concert

Normally I don't like to take pictures at a concert, but we Aimee and Steve took us to the Jason Aldean concert!  We had amazing seats!  Thank you guys for bringing us!  We had a blast!

Waiting for the concert to start!

Selfie!

Opening Act: Florida Georgia Line - They were amazing!

Amazing Seats!

Jason Aldean!

Right before this I think he made eye contact with Aimee in her John Deere hat!!!

Best Friends!  

Thank you Aimee for getting such amazing seats and thanks to both of you for letting us tag along!  Love you both!

Polar Vortex

This winter has been very crazy.  We have had a lot of small snow falls (which is good for business), but we have also had a VERY COLD winter.  Normally we only see a few days of sub zero temps. and than we are back above zero for several weeks.  Not this year.  Our first real taste of cold temps was the beginning of January.  It was so cold that the Governor canceled school for MN!  Here are some images of our cold temps and what people on twitter posted.

7 Day FCST for 1/5 - 1/10/2014

Here is a tweet from one of the meteorologist from Channel 9.

The temperature reading in my car on the way to work.

Burr!!!!

The crazy part of this is that this was just the first phase of the Polar Vortex.  We had no idea we would experience this cold again in a few weeks.  So far this winter we have had 4 cold (snow) days where school has been canceled.

Another Missing Tooth

Kaitlyn had a pretty loose tooth on New Years.  We tried to convince her to let us pull it out, but she demanded that we stop talking about her tooth.  We weren't even aloud to say "Tooth" around her that night.

Right before she went back to school after break she kept talking about getting a purple treasure chest from the nurse if she lost her tooth at school.  The first day back she pulled her tooth out herself so she could go to the nurse and pick out a purple treasure chest to keep her tooth in.

New Years Eve!

We spent New Years at the Eggiman's!  The kids celebrated at 11 pm (It was midnight on the East Coast.). The adults celebrated at midnight with the kids fast asleep.  Here are few pictures of the kids ringing in the new year.

Gavin (2) didn't make it to 11 pm!  Kaitlyn (6), Ashlynn (3), Brayden (6), and Kaylee (5)