Turkey Day

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving in Urbana with the Sholtens. Every previous Thanksgiving was spent at Grandma Helen's devouring delicious food prepared by others. Thankfully, with many phone calls home for recipes and advice, we were able to create a tasty feast!

To help prepare for the next holiday, we started talking to Fin about Santa. We took him to the local mall to get his picture with the big guy. He wasn't too happy about it but with the help of some M&Ms we were able to snap a few photos.

Although I missed seeing the rest of my family and friends over Thanksgiving, I'm so thankful that Sara and Trevor ventured south to spend some quality time with us!

Ziller to Ziller

Today a Ziller to Ziller was awaiting us on our doorstep after work. We all look forward to Ziller to Zillers (which is mail from my parents) whether it is a card or package. Usually there's a little something for everyone in the packages, but today Fin was the lucky sole recipient. Fin is the owner of some new sweet New Balance shoes.

They came in the cutest little shoe box!

Those are some nice kicks...Steve's jealous. He wants a matching pair. Thanks mom and dad!

What a difference a year makes

Last October we bought Fin this new winter coat for the harsh UP winters...it was a little large so we packed it away for next year.

It's finally cold enough in Illinois to sport a winter coat. It fits! But Fin wasn't too happy. Brings to mind Ralphie's brother in A Christmas Story.

Opening day of deer season

For the first time in 18 years of deer hunting I will not pick up a rifle in pursuit of the majestic whitetail deer in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  It truly is a sad day, but hopefully we will reside back up in da UP before too long.  Keep your fingers crossed!

I sported the blaze orange Stormy Kromer in the lab today in true hunter's spirit. Finley sported his in honor of Elmo and the M&M's that it took to bribe him into wearing it for the picture.

Fall clean up

The large tree in our yard, which providing much needed shade during the summer, has finally dropped its leaves in the past two days.  The amount of leaves on the ground is overwhelming to say the least.

In Urbana, you need to purchase biodegradable bags to put your decaying biomass in and then place them on the curb on recycling day.  By the looks of it I am estimating 25 or so bags.

It could be worse; I could be at deer camp with everyone else in the UP.  Oh the humanity.

Origin of the Muskybuck

A few years ago a close friend and I were discussing what would be the most desirable creature for a master hunter to pursue.  It didn't take long before we determined it would most definitely be a muskybuck.  Body of a musky, rack of a buck, master of the water realm.  When trying to choose a blog name I was actually surprised to see that muskybuck.blogspot.com was already taken.  Also, a quick search of muskybucks.com revealed a group from Wisconsin had also thought of fabled creature some time back.  Seems like a good bunch of guys to me.

That darn time change

Living in the central time zone during the "fall back" can certainly be depressing. Stuck in the house from 5 pm on can bring on boredom.  Thankfully, Jamie is always there with the comic relief.

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Fin and I liked it; I am not so sure Sherman felt the same.

Dadda juice

Today Finley wandered into the garage while playing outside.  Jamie followed afterward and noticed him pointing to an empty bottle of Goose Island IPA on the workbench.  He coined it "dadda juice".  Sometimes kids can be a little too observant.

Welcome!

Hello friends and family.  We welcome you to our new blog.  We hope everyone can stay in touch and check out what Finley has been up too down here in Urbana, Illinois.  Finley recently enjoyed his first Trick-or-Treating expedition.

Needless to say Fin enjoyed the chocolate.  Sherman got in on the action as well.