The time Asher's little heart grew five sizes in front of our eyes...

If you know Asher, you know nothing makes him more excited than decorating.  And one of his favorite decorating items is lights.   Naturally, the kid loves Christmas.  Between the Christmas lights, tinsel, sparkly ornaments, and garlands... really nothing is more perfect.  He gets excited when he sees one Christmas tree.  One string of lights.  One wreath.  One peppermint striped bow.  

So imagine:  Standing in the middle of a pitch black park.  The street lights are purposefully out.  The only lights are the stars and cell phones as hundreds of people flood the park and wait for the countdown.  Asher doesn't know what is coming and is impatient, confused about why we are standing in the dark.  Then from about a football field distance away you hear "5...4....3....2....1" and suddenly, the pitch blackness around you is gone, and this is happening, all at once, instead.

Thank you Mankato Kiwanis for making Asher's face do the thing it did tonight, and Grandma Jo for surprising him with such a fun idea.   I don't think he has ever been so in awe,  it was amazing to watch.

Hanging out waiting for the parade to start (the parade was ahead of the lights being turned on).

While Asher loved the lights, Sully was smitten with a huge tractor that appeared in the parade.   We found it in the park, and he was baffled at why he couldn't go up in it, and asked for the rest of the night, "Grandpa?  Tractor?", completely ignoring the lights and the music around him.  Sounds about right.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Because why would the Harrison family eat turkey on Thanksgiving?

Grandma Sara's cioppino made an appearance early this year... and it was delicious.

Boy stuffs: starting fires, knocking over old trees, chainsawing

Girl stuffs: trying to learn snapchat, adventures in the woods

Nothing like some lighter fluid and a leaf blower on Thanksgiving.

Har keeping watch on the back forty.

Roasting marshmallows.

Super serious watching the tractor push the fire.

Squeak.

Meanwhile...back inside....

For the Love of Sprinkle Pancakes.

This look follows me saying, "Don't bang your fork on the table Sully."

So much to be thankful for.

If  I were to make a list of what I was thankful for this year, it would probably break blogspot and you would stop reading.  So I'm going to take three pictures from the folder called "to put on the blog" that lives on my desktop, and I'll start there.

I'm thankful for these two amazing humans.  And that they got to watch Asher and Sullivan open Christmas presents this year.

I'm thankful that Asher has learned how to make our coffee so that it is basically ready for me when I wake up in the morning :)

I'm thankful for friends who visit from far away and who show the 

boys so much love when they are here (loving their Colorado stuffed animals).

Aquarium Time

Thank you Grandma Dot, for these amazing hats that make it impossible 

to lose tiny children in dark places!

"I just wanted to be stable, forget thriving." - Ta-Nehisi Coates

Because sometimes, the only thing to do is to fly to a beautiful place to spend time with a beautiful person, to eat Malaysian food and deliver groceries  and go on long walks and catch up on sleep and drink a little too much tequila and receive an education from Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

"What do you think those white berries taste like?  Don't eat the... oh... you ate the... okay.  Well when you get diarrhea and I take you to an ER, at least we know what to tell the doctor."

Morning stroll in Seattle

Pho & Tea... filling up on all that is warm and good in the world.

Maybe the most beautiful sidewalk covered in fallen leaves the world has ever seen?

....every time....

Farmer's Market in Ballard

Warming up.

The main event...

First.  In the spirit of Coates and well, just all things that matter, I'd like to acknowledge my extreme privilege in being able to fly to Seattle to see someone speak.  Privilege: there it is right there.  

Now that I've done that, let me tell you what he said:

"The civil war in the United States is an example of how we are not better than the rest of the world, but just like it."

He asked us to really think about what cause would be so significant that 20% of white military-aged Southern men were died for it.  And what causes today could compel a fifth of that same demographic to sacrifice their lives.  He said the best he has been able to come up with is home ownership.

When asked if he expected to be where he is now: "I just wanted to be stable, forget thriving."

When asked how the internet has affected the political climate: "The internet destroyed gatekeepers.  Gatekeepers did not preserve truth.  They preserved the status quo."  'Gatekeepers' were the holders of information before people were able to search freely for answers online.

On how to become successful: "Those you can face their own terribleness, repeatedly, over and over again, you might end up with something good."

On being a writer: "I believe in the hard work and the filth and the dirt of making stories."

He talked about how marginalized communities do not get to be stupid or to make mistakes.  They don't have the "safe space" that others have.  And when talking about our president and his politics, as an example of that safe space, said "I don't have to respect that.  I need to be able to actively disrespect that."

Also he is writing a comic book...so stay tuned :)

The venue.

We had amazing seats... thanks to Annie sweet talking the business office when 

she got our tickets this summer.

Meanwhile.  Back in Minnesota.