Happy New Year

December was busy with two weeks "back east" visiting our families in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for the holidays.  The 15.5 hour drive from Green Bay to New Jersey was brutally long (twice as long as what we used to do from VA to PA/NJ), but the weather was clear and mild and first-time rider Teddy did well despite the early start (3:30 AM CT) and wanting to roam around in the car and sit on our laps rather than staying in the backseat.  We were able to celebrate Gram's 80th birthday, Christmas Eve seven fishes dinner, visit with both families and friends, and Scott and I even celebrated the new year for the first time in memorable history...asleep before midnight.  We had a great time visiting, and Teddy enjoyed meeting everyone and playing with his new canine friends (cousins Moose and Molly, aunt Bella) too despite his mischievousness.

 Snow and ice in the Laurel Highlands of PA (the only snow on the outbound trip)

We returned to Wisconsin in early January during a winter mix storm, but only experienced icy roads for the first couple of hours in western PA.  After that- heavy rain all the way to Chicago and then clear back to Green Bay to round out our 13 hour trip.  Over 2,000 miles, nearly 35 hours on the road, and almost $75 in tolls for turnpikes and bridges plus gas.  We returned on the last "average" day before the polar vortex took hold in Wisconsin to find about 4-5 inches of fresh snow on the ground.  Now we won't climb to double digit positive temperatures for at least the next week.  In fact, many local schools saw their first delays and closures for the season today.  According to the news, they often close or delay for wind chills below -30 degrees.  Even so, we will not even reach positive temperatures today, so what does it matter!

 Weather forecast looks pretty rough- looking forward to the "balmy" weather on Sunday!

Teddy is worn out from a busy trip (and cranky that his outside time is cut short).

Next Sunday the Dallas Cowboys will be in town to play the Packers for a divisional playoff game, so everyone is excited about that.  The last time Dallas came to town for a playoff was the infamous Ice Bowl in 1967.  The Tundra will indeed be Frozen for their arrival.