The Grothe Update/Latest Lillian-isms

Well, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind. We took our first roadtrip as a family of four. We drove 16 hours to see my grandparents in Lapwai, Idaho for Thanksgiving. The kids did great, and we kept a running tally of wildlife we saw along the way:


2 moose
3 bald eagles in 2 states
20 wild turkeys
50 champion bull elk
Hundreds of deer
Over 2,000 antelope (no exaggeration; they are like herds of cattle across Montana and Wyoming. Beautiful!)


Then we drove from Idaho back to Denver (15 hours) and flew from Denver to Tulsa, OK to attend the funeral for my pastor that I grew up with. We spent four days there and then flew home. We were gone a total of 12 days and the kids did amazingly well. 


While in Idaho, my Grandma Weezie (Louise Wilson) and Grandpa Daniel Wilson (whom I'm named after--Daniel Wilson Grothe--and whom we named our son, Wilson, after) sent me home with my maternal great-grandfather's old, oak, roll-top desk. His name was Haralombos Athanasios Asimakopolous. Without speaking a word of English, he got on a boat when he was 12 years old and immigrated from Greece to the United States. And he did it all by himself at the behest of his mother, who thought he'd have a chance at a better future. Upon landing at Ellis Island in New York (the Statue of Liberty), he changed his name to Harry Smith, which was the most common last name in the phone book at the time.


The roll-top desk is nearly 100 years old and is in exquisite condition. I had to disassemble it to get it in the door, and when I did a small piece of paper fell to the ground. I picked it up to find it was a stamp, in mint condition, from 1941 that said "Merry Christmas." The desk, to me, is a symbol of the great family heritage that we are blessed to have.


And now I'll leave you with two Lillian-isms:


1. Lillian recently discovered how to pick her nose. We're trying to break her from it, and it's an every day battle. We've told her how gross it is, etc., etc. When she finds a treasure, she gets grossed out and screams for one of us to take it away to it's eternal doom.


The other day she picked one and screamed for us to relieve her of it. Well, apparently we weren't moving fast enough, so she laid down a serious threat, a threat in that mischeivious tone of voice residing universally within humans ages 1-5. And her threat? "Mommy, I'm going to eat it."


Thankfully, she didn't really care to eat it. She just wanted quick movement. And she got it.


2. Last night Lisa went out with a few girlfriends for a Christmas party. So I was at home having a party with Lillian. We watched Monday Night Football together with our friend, Drew Macalmon, who is a Green Bay Packers fan. As she sat at the kitchen table this morning, she informed her mother that she got to stay up late to watch the Packers play the "Baltimore Raisins."


That's about all. We'll keep you posted! Much love,


Daniel, Lisa, Lillian and Wilson Grothe