Float like a bee, sting like a butterfly.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
All Wiied Out
Not sure if this is Joanna tired from playing the Wii cardio-boxing game or just tired of hearing us scream while playing Mario Karts.
Playing Wii Tennis with Nana
Cam has a rather (ahem) unique technique — shaking the Wiimote randomly whenever the ball gets close to him — but it was enough to beat Nana twice in a row.
Wii!
Auntie Karen and Uncle Arthur were very generous. Too bad Cam and Ian have had so little time to play with their new Wii, what with all the adults using it.
Exhausted, Waiting for Santa
All the Christmas Eve festivities — and, in my case, beer — took the wind out of our sails. (Please try to ignore the holes in my Ho-Ho-Homer socks.)
Christmas Eve Table
Ham, Scotch eggs, sausage rolls, salad, deviled eggs, olives, pickled onions, and several cheeses. A light repast, really.
Space Mince Pie ’09
Cam loves the blog and rereads it regularly. One of his favorite posts is “Look out for the giant space mince pie!” from two years back, which he attempts to recreate for you here. Note that the shirt he wears in that photo is now in Ian’s dresser and that, in this version, he’s actually eating the mince pie.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Gingerbread House
While I was out this morning doing some last-minute shopping, Cam and Ian built the gingerbread house that Grammie and Grampa gave them.
Lights & Sound
Easily the highlight of the experience was this little copse of Christmas trees with lights synced to music. It wasn’t quite that YouTube house with lights that flashed to Trans Siberian Orchestra, but it was nice.
Joanna, the Boys, & an Elephant
Yesterday afternoon we drove down to Columbia to see The Lights Before Christmas at Riverbanks Zoo. It was actually a bit disappointing — pretty lights, but not much more — and wasn’t helped by the traffic we encountered on the way down (a 2.5 hour trip became 4+). Nonetheless, a nice memory for the boys.
Natural Sparkler
Advice: Don’t wear a polyester fleece jacket while grilling with natural hardwood charcoal unless you want it pocked with little singe marks.
A Pipe, a Dram, and a Grill
After two days in a home with no power, Nana and Pappy came over on Sunday to share our (newly) warm house. As we already had coals (anticipating another night without light and heat), we grilled out. Needless to say, the whisky needed no ice.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Arctica the Snowwoman
Cam named this creation, after which he said, “Its name ends in an a, so it must be a snowwoman.”
Snow Angel
Fortunately, our power returned Saturday evening around 8:30 PM, but Nana and Pappy went without for longer, so Sunday a rescue party was dispatched to retrieve them. Soon after they got to our house (and had warmed up a bit), the boys and I went out back with Pappy to play in the snow.
Snuggling for Warmth
Saturday evening it was about 10° cooler than it had been the night before, so we huddled together to conserve body heat. Poor Mickey was pretty much a permanent fixture on my lap.
Winter Wonderland?
With all that wet snow, you can see why there were so many downed trees in the area. And that blue sky didn’t last long on Saturday — by mid-afternoon, it had started snowing again.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Split Tree in the Backyard
This is on the neighbor’s lot, just at the top end of our backyard. The top snapped off first (and landed in our yard), after which the two lower limbs split from the trunk.
Just Under a Foot
We had just over 11” in the middle of the backyard as of Saturday morning, and more fell through the day.
Snuggling with Mama
It hovered right around freezing the whole time the power was out and never dipped below 50°F inside, but it still felt plenty chilly. Fortunately, that festive headwear is also quite warm.
Snow on Maple, Saturday Morning
Note the limb arching down to the street — it’s usually horizontal, about 15 feet off the ground. Fortunately, it sprang back after I knocked the snow off it. None of our trees were seriously damaged by all the wet snow, but lots of evergreens in the area have snapped, taking down power lines.
Ian in Moose Jammies
These kept him plenty warm through a night with no heat (electric oil burner). Surprisingly, the only light here is from the camera’s flash.
Snow on Mailbox, Friday Afternoon
Took this around 5:30 Friday afternoon, just before we lost power for over 24 hours.
Friday, December 18, 2009
5+” and Counting
Snow started at 8:00, took a break for a couple of hours (during which most of it melted), and then started up again around noon. At 4:30, we have over five inches, with forecasts calling for it to go on all night and well into tomorrow (or even Sunday).
Christmas Elf Eating Lunch
Typical elf diet, really: toast with jam, Canadian bacon, fried egg, and sweet tea.
Christmas Earmuffs
The boys got to open a few early Christmas presents when Grammie and Grampa came to visit last weekend.
Christmas Angel or Christmas Fairy?
Almost as soon we got back from Durham a couple of weeks back, we set about putting up the tree — unfortunately, we needed to buy a new one as the previous one’s lights had failed. We think this one’s nicer. As for the tree-topper, we haven’t quite decided yet whether it’s an angel or a fairy…or whether there’s a meaningful difference between the two.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Cousins on a Parasaurolophus
Taken by Auntie Karen last Friday while we were at the Museum of Life & Sciences in Durham.
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