Special On The Road Edition: West Salem

Last night we went to Christmas Eve services at Dave’s church. They were as good as ever, and the sermon held some special thoughts this season. Ezra fell asleep in KJ’s arms during the service, but awoke just as we began singing Silent Night with the sanctuary lit up by candlelight. After the service, we stepped outside to walk home, and were greeted with sub-zero temperatures, a cold wind, and lots of snow. As everyone got home, the kids went outside and spread around some Reindeer food….could it get any more Rockwell-ian?

Family shots, Johnathan is a little sick, Nora and Isaac dancing, and Isaac meditates.

Special On The Road Edition: West Salem

Yesterday a new Christmas tradition was started in the Bersagel household…skiing. And it was good. After several consecutive days of snow, and an early season that dropped a 50 inch base; we headed over to Mt. LaCrosse for a day of turns. 

Johnathan and Isaac went into a lesson: it was their second time skiing and first in about a year. Jamie, KJ, Matthew and I hit the slopes together. For Jamie and KJ it was the same year off that the boys had. For Matthew, it was more like 10 years. And to drop into the first run off of the first chair onto a blue and with 8 inches of fresh powder….they did great. Not that the Colorado resorts  have been bad this year (they have gotten almost 5 feet this month), but it’s interesting to think that I had to travel to Wisconsin to get a great powder day.

I was able to rent telemark gear at the base, which was nice since I was actually a little nervous about the thought of stepping into alpine stuff for the first time since I made the transition. The attire was something to behold: jeans with a snow shell over them (borrowed from Jamie, and a size or three too big), a sweatshirt as the main thermal layer under my fleece jacket, teal and fuschia colored gloves, my hat, ear muffs from Matthew, and white 10-year old goggles. The thing about it was that I was warm, and had a great time. Who cares about the clothing? Well, normally I admit that I do to some degree….but it was easy to set aside those thoughts and just have fun. 

KJ and the boys headed home after their lesson was finished, but Jamie, Matthew and I stayed and skied for a while longer; then enjoyed some food and some beer in the St. Bernard Room in the lodge. The resort boasted a vertical drop of some 615ft, around 15 trails (two blacks), and three lifts (all double chairs from 30 years ago). The lodge was the perfect size for the hill – and the parking lot matched. I estimate that there were no more than 200 people on the entire mountain while we where there, and I don’t think that I saw anyone on the ski patrol that was under 40. Seriously, it was perfect. Like an Arapahoe Basin of the LaCrosse area. I loved it. 

Special On The Road Edition: West Salem

As our first full day in West Salem with the family developed, we soon realized that possibly the greatest gift that we were going to receive was watching the cousins interacting and playing with each other. All of the elders in the cousin crowd: Johnathan -7, Isaac -4, and Nora -2, were playing with each other and with Ezra. They were showing him the ways of all of the toys, how to use each new item, and making him smile….which was their primary objective. It is really neat to see it all unfold. 

Special On The Road Edition: Minneapolis To Iowa To West Salem

So after some mind-clearing breakfast yesterday morning we set out for the farm in Iowa to visit with Ahna’s grandmother and Aunts. The side roads were at times difficult, but the interstate was surprisingly clear. The lack of melting on the roads is a different phenomenon than what we encounter in Colorado since the temp almost immediately gets above freezing after a storm…and generally the roads clear pretty quickly. But not here in the upper-midwest, where cold is very cold, and for a long while. 

We got to the farm just before lunchtime, and just before two other vans pulled in: KJ, Jamie, Johnathan, and Isaac in one of them, and Dave and Mary Jo in the other. We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the farm, with a ‘typical’ amazing meal of which at least a couple recipes were requested. 

We left the farm in the late afternoon to begin the 3+ hour drive to West Salem. The original intent was for all three cars to huddle together and break trail in unison, but after a quick meal in Albert Lea, we all separated for different reasons (we stayed behind for a little while to feed Ezra). The roads themselves were pretty good, but the drive seemed to take extra long because it was the end of a long day of lots of driving. 

We awoke this morning to more cold temps: like -12 or -15….and several inches of new snow. To quote some family from yesterday “they know how to do Christmas here.”

Special On The Road Edition: Minneapolis

The holiday journey to the midwest has begun. Yesterday we flew into the Twin Cities on the heels of a airplane accident in Denver, and a blizzard in Minnesota. It appears like we were lucky enough to miss both events, although the consequences of both affected our travel: delays in Denver (not much, however) and adjusting our trip to stay in the cities. 

It was a fairly easy plane trip, but the car rental was the interesting part of the day: if you are looking for a minivan to hold a couple of families, don’t rent a Sierra from Alamo. Both of the vans that they tried to give us had middle-row seat problems, and both of them had a full middle-row of seats….so it would be nearly impossible to get into the backseat with two car seats in that middle row. After some deliberation and several attempts at different cars, we ended up with a Dodge and everything seems to be okay. PS: it was -1 actual temperature when we were trying to get all of this figured out. 

After we got the car, we went and picked up Kari, Matthew, and Nora from the other terminal and headed for the hotel. The roads around here are really rough due to the snow and temperatures, so we decided to stay in the cities and wait for the morning to attempt travel. Attached to the hotel is an Outback Steakhouse, which is where we headed for dinner. I only mention that because there were 5.5 vegetarians attempting to eat dinner at an Outback….and somewhat surprisingly, we were able to pull it off. 

We awoke this morning to more bad roads and temperatures in the neighborhood of -12. The decision that lies before us is whether to make the 2 hour drive to West Salem, or the 2 hour drive to the farm. It’s a matter of roads being plowed, interstate versus secondary streets, etc, etc, etc. Perhaps some breakfast will clear our minds a little. Perhaps not. 

Here is a quick shot from last night:

When we were leaving Houston last weekend, Stephanie asked if I would make a ski run the next time that I went up for Tim. Tim loved to ski, so it was a request that required immediate filling. 

With Tim in mind, Joe, Scott and I headed up to Arapahoe Basin yesterday to enjoy a day of skiing with Tim. It was cold…bitter cold….like 7 degrees at the top and a 35 mph wind to help out. But the snow was stellar: it has been dumping up there for the better part of 10 days, and the powder was a foot deep at times. 

We made the first run a little crazier than we would have normally….steeper, deeper, and faster….because that is how Tim would have skied. After a couple of hours of hitting the slopes, we hit the bar equally has hard: we had every intent of walking out of there after about 30 minutes…but good beer and good conversation got in the way. So a couple hours later we left and headed back home very satisfied. 

Here’s to you, Tim!

As is the annual tradition, Jay, Karen, David, Cyrilla, Tanner, Ahna, Ezra, and I got together for a nice meal and a celebration among friends. We decided long ago (like several weeks) that the dinner would be our gift to each other, and we would instead spoil the kids with some gifts. Of course this year featured Ezra for the first time, but the old-school veteran – Tanner – made sure to show him the way of the feast…..well, maybe not the feast, but certainly the gift opening. 

Ezra did his best to eat his way through the wrapping, but seemed to be instantly in love with the gifts that he got – both frog themed. Is that odd to anyone else? He also took an immediate liking to David’s new set of blocks, and had a desire to make sure that they all tasted okay. 

Enjoy the pics!

So the trip to Houston. 

We left on Thursday afternoon – Ahna had to take the afternoon off, as well as the next day; I was placed on family leave – and arrived into Houston a few hours later. We were met in the jetway as we got off of the plane by three Houston Police Officers (HPD) who immediately embraced us and took us into their family. They had two carts waiting for us at the gate, which proved to be a really nice way to get to baggage claim, but made a lot of people wonder what we did on the plane to get three police officers and a ride….

The HPD had assigned us an officer for the night as well as a marked car, and he took us from the airport to the funeral home so we could catch the last part of the viewing. When we arrived, we found that there were still a surprising amount of family around, including TJ (Tim’s son) and most of Tim’s brothers and sisters. 

The next morning was the funeral services, and the family was taken to Tim and Stephanie’s house before the motorcade to the church. We arrived at the church about a hour before the services began so several presentations could be made to the family (from the police chief, from the city, from the academy class, from the police union, etc). 

The services were perfect. The preaching, the stories, and the tribute was something that was deserved. The church was filled with about 3,000 police officers from all over the state. Outside, the Patriot Guard lined the entry ways with American flags. The HPD and the Navy Honor Guards did an amazing job. 

There was no procession because Tim was going to be cremated. Instead, all of the traditional burial site rituals were performed outside of the church: folding and presentation of the American flag, the gun salute, the officers standing at attention, the bagpipes, the trumpeter playing taps, the mounted police salute (an empty boot turned backwards in the saddle), and the aviation unit salute (helicopters flying over in a missing-man formation). The Honor Guard even let TJ dismiss all of the uniformed officers. 

Following the services, there was a reception hosted by the HPD Officer’s Union; and then it was back to Stephanie’s house for a while. It was a long day. It was a perfect day. It was a day that we hope to never experience again. 

We returned home on Saturday night, after spending the day at Stephanie’s house. Our ride to the airport was provided by the Sergeant of the Bomb Squad: the unit that Tim was transferring to. It’s hard to summarize the emotions of the trip, and it is equally as hard to summarize the love that was shown by the HPD. They were there 24-7 for any need whatsoever. They provided anything requested at a moment’s notice….most importantly, they were simply there. 

I have attached some pictures from the Houston Chronicle. We didn’t take any pictures over the trip, but there was a family picture taken….and as soon as I get that it will be posted. 

It was mentioned in a previous post: go and thank your local police officers for the dedication and commitment that they have given to the community. I have long believed that a police officer or firefighter becomes a hero the moment that they take the oath to serve and protect their communities – whatever the cost. Tim became a hero to Houston and to our family – for a second time, after serving in the military – 11 years ago…not two weeks ago. We just had the opportunity to say thanks.

Here is a story about the services from the Chronicle.

It’s a strange thing. ‘Life goes on’ is such a cliche thing to say, but it is also one of the most real things that can be said. I’m not sure that Ahna or I have ever experienced what that means as up-front has we have these past couple of days. 

As Ahna and I were dealing with the news about Tim, Ezra (obviously not understanding any of it) still had his needs…we had to wipe back tears to make sure that he was happy and satisfied, fed and content. It was such a stark reminder of some of the realities of the world – in an incredibly uplifting way. 

In the midst of the emotional chain reaction, Ezra had a doctor’s appointment on Monday afternoon. He was due for his 6-month well-baby check-up, but our Doctor decided to take a vacation (the nerve!) and we were not able to reschedule that check-up until January. We still went in for shots – he did great as always: cried for about 5 seconds then was back to smiling – and we were able to talk the nurse into doing a set of vital statistics for our records. Here are the latest numbers on the ever growing boy:

Head: 17.5″ (75%)

Weight: 18 pounds, 3 ounces (65%)

Height: 27.25″ (85%)

One more note: the change over to the new car seat has gone fairly well. The several times that I have had to take him out of the car while sleeping, we were able to arrange the move so he would stay asleep….but it does take a lot longer to get in and out of the car. He absolutely loves the forward-facing stroller, and therefore never falls asleep in it. We will make the transition in Ahna’s car over the weekend.

PS – Here is the larger version of the photo that was used on the month-by-month image. It was taken on his 6-month birthday.