Christmas 2009

We had such a lovely Christmas with family and friends, but only barely made it to Michigan before a historic snowstorm hit the DC area and all of the airports were closed. I won't recount the whole flight switching/rushing to the airport in (also historic) traffic/barely making the flight saga but needless to say, I hope never to have to do it again.

We decorated cookies with Grandma:



We decorated a gingerbread house with Nana and Aunt Glee:





We opened...



and enjoyed lots of presents:



We managed to get a decent Christmas Eve shot with everyone in it using the timer:



We played in the snow -- a meager amount compared to what was at home, but very fun nonetheless:



We made snow angels:



And went sledding:



Finally, though I don't have a proper picture of it, one of the kids favorite things this holiday season has been to put on full length, full costume productions of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Eleanor as Clara, Henry as the Nutcracker Prince and whatever adult is handy and willing as the "Mean Rat King". There certainly is some magic about this music and story, which has fully and completely infected the hearts of Eleanor and Henry. I took Eleanor this year to a community production of the Nutcracker and look forward to taking both of them next year.

Thank you everyone for a wonderful Christmas season. Regrettably, I haven't gotten Christmas cards out this year -- maybe I'll be able to get my act together by Valentine's day. Whether or not I end up getting cards out, please know that we love you all and miss those of you who we don't see often.

California Trip: Day 2 -- Muir Woods

Our first full day in San Francisco we were up early and headed in to the city before traffic was to heavy. We found a little corner coffee shop and I had rhubarb pie for breakfast. The perfect way to start your day!



Then we headed to Muir Woods National Monument, a wonderful place to see the magnificent redwoods.





The kids enjoyed the walk, particularly looking for wildlife and reading the signs posted along the trail.



Two notable discoveries were the deer:



and the banana slug:



I found it particularly interesting to learn that the redwood sorrel is so accustomed to low light that it closes if too much direct light filters through the trees.



On the ride home, we took a different path and crossed the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge for the first time.

California Trip: Day 1 - San Francisco

I am going to go back to our California trip and try and put down a few thoughts, more likely though it will be a good deal of pictures. Since we have SO many pictures, I'll try and go day by day.

The kids were amazing on the long flight. They played lots of games, the favorite was probably using the old disconnected telephones as boats for their "guys". That took us through the last wiggly hour without any sort of meltdown at all.



Our first afternoon in San Francisco, we went down to Golden Gate Park and had a little walk around, to try and keep the kids awake so they could switch on to California time. They played hide and seek in the very different vegetation, which I couldn't help mentioning over and over.



We also stopped in for a snack and a visit at the de Young Museum's sculpture garden, where Eleanor and Henry made a good impression on the security guard by looking but not touching the sculptures. Eleanor even did a few sculpture impersonations herself.



We checked in to our hotel, which was perfectly situated slightly outside of the city but close enough to walk to Trader Joe's and a few other shops. And, everyone even slept reasonably well.

Florida Follow Up

It has been about a month since we got back from Florida, but we had a fantastic time and I wanted to post a few shots from our trip.

Henry at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center down by the Intercoastal:



Eleanor checking out her shadow as she runs like a little sandpiper down the beach:



Enjoying the back yard at Nonna and Grandaddy's:



Pancake breakfast at the beach:



Piano with Nonna:



There are a bunch of other pictures, including our fabulous family meal, others from Gumbo Limbo, and plenty more from the beach mixed in with some other springtime photos here.

Snow!

It has been a long time since I have done a good old fashioned photo shoot with the kids where I take a gluttonous amount of photos and post way to many to our Flickr feed. But, since we had our first snowfall of the season, I decided today was the day. We went over to Anna's house for a little bit and played in (or completely trampled) the snow on their front lawn. The kids had a blast and, as promised, we had hot chocolate upon our return to the house. The hot chocolate probably delighted them equally as much as the actual snow. So, here are a few of my favorites from the afternoon:








And, on a completely separate note, I finally put the pictures from the inauguration up. It was really amazing to see all of the people who showed up to celebrate the various inaugural festivities. We enjoyed spending the day with Leah and her family, though we didn't actually stay until the parade. It was fun to watch the parade at home with the kids anyway.

The Concert

So, there was this little show down on the mall today. When my dearest, sweetest, most generous husband suggested that I go down and see it, I couldn't say no. Though I did lament that he and the kids were not there to share it with me. It was good though to go Beth and Jason, we had so much fun. There were just masses of people but everyone was in a great mood and things flowed so smoothly. The line was long but once we got in there was lots of space to move around and we found a great spot near the reflecting pool to watch and listen to a piece of history.





A few little things that happened near us: There was a sweet family right next to us with a little girl sleeping on her dad's lap, she reminded me of Eleanor and it made me smile to see her there. At one point, a little boy noticed the Washington Monument and comment on how sharp it looked. He was right, it did look sharp against the cloudy sky. And, I have to say thank you to the random guys who gave us their leftover chips after waiting in line for two hours at the concession stand -- that small random act of kindness kept me from passing out from hunger (I forgot to eat lunch in my excitement to get down to the show).

This time I took LOTS of pictures and they are all up and ready to look at. More to come on Tuesday.

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year to everyone!

Lots to share over the past couple of weeks, I just need to get the pictures downloaded. In the meantime, here are a few shots from our trip to the US Botanic Garden. They have an amazing model train exhibit around the holidays, which was perfect for the young train enthusiasts in our family. It is really quite remarkable -- all of the buildings and houses in the exhibit are created out of natural materials such as leaves, wood, vines and the like. They had models of several DC landmarks as well as little cottages, tree houses, and other small creations that looked as if they were straight out of a fairy tale. The kids still liked the trains best.

Thanksgiving

So my Halloween post was two weeks late, why not make the Thanksgiving post nearly a month late? Things have been so busy around here. Henry has had terrible ears, cough and nose for such a long time I can't even remember when it began. The tubes have only minimally helped, though we had a hopeful appointment today where his ENT said that the right tube is, in fact, still in the ear and starting to function properly. I feared that we would have to go through the whole process again since our pediatrician though the right tube had fallen out. Anyway, I was going to post about Thanksgiving...

We had an early Thanksgiving meal at Sarah, Karl and Anna's house with a bunch of other friends. It was so much fun and the food was amazing. I still need to track down Cate's sweet potato/marshmallow goodness recipe. The kids all had a great time running around and tearing up the house.



Mu and Tada came for the week of Thanksgiving and we had lots of adventures. We had another lovely meal, though the kids were on the verge of sickness so they were a bit restless. The only picture I got of the food was the pie. I just can't help myself with pie.



We also visited the newly re-opened National Museum of American History, which has a fantastic transportation exhibit called American on the Move (trains, trains, trains).





While on the mall, we stopped into Natural History for a meal and a quick trip through their new Sant Ocean Hall.



We also got a Christmas tree and decorated it. Since the kids were feeling so crappy, we just picked one up at a nearby nursery instead of going out to cut our own. I think they still had fun putting the "decorates" up.

Lots of Fun

We have been having LOTS of fun lately. We have been going on adventure walks, like in these pictures with Grace, Nancy and their new baby Sam.





We went apple picking out at Homestead Farm with Sarah, Karl, Anna, Caryn,Chris, Riley and Spencer.





And, we went to the B&O Railroad Museum for Steam Days. Yes, I said Steam Days. This was like heaven for little (and big) train lovers. We were fortunate to take a ride on a steam train pulling old MARC train cars and to see another steam engine (the William Mason) puffing up and down the tracks as well. Aunt Jenn and Grandaddy joined us for the fun.





We have also had some good old fashioned fun around the house.







Special thanks to Aunt Jenn and Sarah for their pictures -- I have been forgetting the camera lately.