Alternative Breakfast

When Grammie and Grampa come to visit, the boys get to eat some different things for breakfast, like powdered mini doughnuts.

Potty-Training UPDATE: Only one accident in the last week. Still using nighttime diapers, but they're rarely needed now.

Visitors

These two waddled up from the lake for a brief visit yesterday.

Animals on the Bed

Nearing the end of their winter sojourn, Grammie and Grampa stopped by on their way back north. Luci was a bit scared of Mickey, but Mickey has been completely calm about the giant puppy in the house.

Ian at the PlayPlace

No, this isn't his cage. When we finished at the Nature Center, we had lunch at McDonald's, after which Ian got to play on the indoor playground. His awkward, jerky attempts at coming down the plastic spiral stairs had my stomach in knots, but in the end he suffered no major injuries.

Ian at the Nature Center

We're on break, but Cam has school this week, and Joanna went in to work on Monday, so, despite the rain, I took Ian to the Western North Carolina Nature Center for a couple of hours.

Potty Training, Day 2

Saturday: some initial successes, a few frustrations, but a general sense that "It'll be okay."
Sunday: heads banging against walls, repeated shouts of "Ian, no!" and plans to purchase additional pairs of rubber-coated underpants.

Reading in the Dark

This week, after talking on Skype with Uncle Nick, Cam rediscovered how much fun he can have with his headlamp.

Potty Practice

Spring Break is this week at MHC, so we're taking the opportunity to potty-train Ian. As incentives, he gets a Hershey Kiss every time he pees and a Matchbox car every time he poops (in the potty, of course). The score as of noon Saturday: 2 Kisses, 0 cars, and 1 minor accident.

Goodbye Moore Cove Falls

One last photo from behind before we left for home.

Joanna, Cam, & Ian behind the Falls

My favorite pic of the day — we had to wait until we had the falls to ourselves before I could get it. (On the first nice weekend of the year, the trail in was pretty busy.)

Ian Watching the Water

Whereas Cam spent the 20 minutes we were here exploring, Ian sat on this rock and watched the water falling ten feet from his toes.

Cam Watching the Water

It's tough to convey the scope of the falls from this angle, but it's still a pretty cool view.

Boys behind the Falls

Getting them both to look at the camera at the same time requires more patience and luck than we seem to have....

Moore Cove Falls

Not a lot of water, but pretty cool because you can walk right behind the falls and stay dry (at least when the water's not up).

Sphinx Rock

I don't exactly understand his reasoning, but Cam says this big rock looks like part of the Sphinx (probably something to do with how it has weathered).

Picnic at Moore Cove

Last Sunday it was three inches of snow; today it's 76° F, so we went for a picnic and a hike on the Moore Cove Falls Trail near Brevard (about an hour from Weaverville).

The New Member of the Family

This arrived Tuesday — our Dell Inspiron Mini 9. It's nice and small, perfect for posting here during our Ireland/UK trip
whenever we can get a wireless signal.

Icicles

After last Sunday's snow, we had some pretty impressive icicles hanging off the roof, some over three feet long.

Cam, Ian, & Snover

Joanna couldn't find Ian's hat, so he wore one of mine. What's scary is that it wasn't all that big on him. (Neither of the boys lacks in cranial circumference.) And the snowman was named for one of Cam's Pokémon (surprise, surprise).

Snow Angel

As expected, Buncombe County Schools (and most of the WNC districts) cancelled classes today. I went up to campus late, by which time the roads were pretty clear, and Joanna stayed home with the boys. The three of them played outside before coming in have hot chocolate and make oatmeal raisin cookies.

Dancing in the Snow

Okay, before you laugh, there's a story behind this. At dinner tonight (a beef roast, carrots, and mashed potatoes), Cam insisted that he doesn't like and won't eat beef — this despite the hundreds of McDonald's cheeseburgers he has eaten in his life. So I responded rather flippantly, "If you eat your dinner tonight, I will dance barefoot in the snow." 'Nuff said.