Winter Adventure Hiking

We took a hike to the reservoir near our house to see if it was frozen over (and to stave off cabin fever).

Snow diving board- Ivy categorically refused to participate.

Stump Window photo op

We made it to the frozen reservoir. Someone had even shoveled out an ice skating rink.

drama on ice

Ivy explained to me that making a snow bat is like making a snow angel, except you don't move your legs.

Calvin found a snow shovel near the ice and set to work throwing snow in his sister's face. I mean building a pedestrian path around the rink.

Calvin's finishing touch on the path.

He also found this small tree and decided to hike all the way back with it. Some days I wonder if kids are more dogs than humans.

The undocumented highlight was that near the end, as we were enjoying a picnic of frozen granola bars on a snow-made table in the middle of the reservoir with the glow of the setting sun coming through the trees, a deer made it's way along the ridge line and we watched it's bounding silhouette until it disappeared into the forest. Winter magic.

Christmas Recap

Besides the normal Christmas morning acitvities, we Skyped with Peter's parents in Spain and my parents in Millville so they were able to watch the kids open presents from them. Yay technology.

Last night we let each of the kids open one present- a sibling gift. It was sweet to watch them be so excited for the gifts they had gotten each other.

We attended a Christmas day devotional at our church in the afternoon, and our family contributed a musical number- In the Bleak Midwinter (Holst version- first and last verse). Bryn and I sang, Peter played guitar, Calvin played the triangle, and Ivy provided the big finale by sweetly singing the last phrase "give my heart."

This evening we ate a divine feast at Lance's and Dani's, and came home stuffed and content. Merry Christmas!

The maze ball has the most mileage so far of the Christmas gifts.

A Classic Bet

Bryn bet Calvin $2.00 that he couldn't listen to Chopin's Waltz in D-flat major (more popularly known as the Minute Waltz) at 8% of the original speed on our synthesizer (i.e. it usually plays at 250 bpm, but they slowed it down to 20 bpm). Calvin took that bet, is richer by $2.00, and we now refer to that song as the Hour Waltz.

Christmas Eve at the Museum

We took our antsy kids to the Museum of Science (MOS) on Christmas Eve again this year. It's two-folded-ly great because the MOS has very light crowds on Christmas Eve and it saves our house from imploding with pre-Christmas excitement.

Bryn has a knack for being chosen as a volunteer from the audience- this time she was the human thermometer- she got to feel the carpet after the demonstrator poured liquid nitrogen on it. In the lower left corner, you see our friend Andrew on our favorite exhibit- the bed of nails. We all gave it a try, and Peter even sat (didn't hurt) and knelt (hurt) on it.

Calvin pits his mass against a 500 lb. sack, Ivy showcases a T-Rex tooth, and Bryn approaches the speed of light

The Gracious Sea

We had Thanksgiving with Balls. We played games, watched movies, hiked by the ocean, and, of course, ate delicious food together. The ocean was in especially fine form on Thanksgiving day- cold, arctic wind juxtaposed with bright cheery sunshine.

The walk of death by the shore- middle top: 4 Aslan-ic sacrifices

The kids America ninja warrior-ed at an awesome wooden park. The next day we hiked around a partially frozen pond and were thoroughly entertained by throwing sticks and rocks onto and through the ice layer.

The sun shining through a humongo wave

This is where all the unicorns are. The wind was blowing opposite the waves, making really cool blowy effects.

Rainbows in the spray! Like Hawaii and Antarctica had a baby.