Just call us the Griswolds!

Well, we headed out for the annual tree cutting last Friday in our sporty minivan. Ha. We generally take old Joe Green (the beat up '79 GMC we love so much). Too much baggage for that this year. So we plopped the lovely tree on top of the minivan instead. Just call us the Griswolds. You should have seen the looks going down the road. I wish I had my video camera.

Tree Permit: $10

Tank of Gas to get there: $30
A grossly over-sized tree atop our minivan: Priceless

I'll just tell you this was, this year was one for the record books! I think I've decided that tree cutting is going to become a right of passage when you are 5. Sam was a champ. Alex on the other hand-not so much. She was bawling after a half hour that her feet were cold...we could only soothe her with lots of granola bars and fruit snacks. Rees hung in there...but what can you do when you are so wedged in your carseat by blankets and warm winter fodder that you can't move an inch...you sleep...(and then bawl you are hungry halfway through the ordeal so that mom feeds you, sitting on the snowy ground, just off the snowmobile path, while people pass you thinking what in the sam-hill was your mother thinking when she brought you with her!) Anywho....another note to self. Cut uphill in a snow year. In the past, we haven't had a ton of snow to deal with. This year...to my waist, at least. We hiked and hiked and finally found a good tree, about 30 ft off the road, and pretty much straight down in spots. And of course when you cut it, it is about twice the height you think it is. So you cut off a little more. And a little more. And then still decide it is too heavy to lug up the hill in waist-high snow. I don't think Jared has had that kind of a workout in ages. We took my sister along for moral support, but between her gimp shoulder (which I'm not sure why we thought she would be in good health-the girl has gone a whole 2 months in the last 5 years without having something broken or bandaged) and me having to stop and take care of children mid-hauling, it was mostly left to the big dog to take care of the thing. Serves him right...it was his idea anyways to cut a 17 ft tree!

We're going to Home Depot next year. All in all-it made for quite the tale that will be heard through the years in the Erickson household. Alex pretty much sums it up doesn't she?