Family
Heartfelt updates about family milestones and everyday moments. From taking Mazie to college and annual visits to the Renaissance Festival to Swedish‑pancake breakfasts and VR outings with the kids, this category celebrates togetherness.
- Jamie: Mango Smoothie with Crystal Boba
- Tammy: Açaí Berry Spritz Tea Tapioca Pearls
- Mazie & Nora: Passionfruit Smoothie Tapioca Pearls
- Tyler: Cookies & Cream Smoothie Crystal Boba
Tyler wanted his favorite cheeseburger from Lions Tap for his birthday dinner 🍔 and to eat in the Tesla while watching Abbott Elementary. ✅ Eating in the car was something he found fun during the pandemic.
Countdown at Mission Manner
Tyler enjoys escape rooms and for his birthday we went to Mission Manor and did Countdown!
We had a slow start with not much happening the first few minutes. There were a lot of locks and obvious clues, but it wasn’t clear what to do with them. Then we started rolling and we escaped the room in 45m 55s, with 14m 05s remaining on the clock!
And, a first for the Thingelstad family, we had NO CLUES! A total “clean sheet”! 🙌
And a first for us at an escape room, Mission Manor produces an actual score. With 2,240 points we hit the highest level of Escape Gods. 🤜🤛 We were only 60 points short of the record for the room, which if we would have finished just 1 minute earlier we would have beat.
I’m sure that we’ll be back to Mission Manner to do the two other rooms. Room 47!
Mazie completed her first sewing project making this summer dress with the expert guidance of my Mom who has known her way around a sewing machine since she was young on the farm. It was awesome to see the sesne of accomplishment on Mazie’s face wearing something that she made!
Tyler is learning to play chess. ♟️
Neeva recently introduced AI search results. It works well for something so new. This search is a good example I was doing for Tyler where the AI was great. The references to sources are key.
Morning bowling at Tuttle’s with niece Nora. Mazie won. Let’s ignore the rest of the scores.
Bubble Tea Time
Our niece loves Bubble Tea so we all enjoyed one at Chatime in the Mall of America.
The Writer of the Family
Mazie has a talent with words. Her writing is engaging and her creative use of words paints a vivid picture in your mind. We try to do whatever we can to encourage her to exercise the craft. She wrote a short story to share with the family for Christmas this year.
Izzy Baltimore never ceased to be amazed by the water. How it swirled and flowed as if with a mind of its own. How it danced through the air in sparkling droplets as it cascaded off a rock or twig jutting out of the current. How it lept from one spot to the next, refusing to reveal its never-ending destination.
You want to keep reading right?
Mazie got started on her LEGO Typewriter! Through bag 3 building the keys. I’m excited to see this finished.
Now that the temperatures are out of the deep freeze Mazie and I took Lucky on a walk. Walking on this snowmobile packed snow was like walking on sand.
