MS Paint movie posters

We were snowed in for a couple of days during the February break, so the kids decided to create movie posters with MS Paint. I would watch these movies.

There were also a couple of series:

Happy Groundhog Day

"When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of [my household] and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter."
-Phil Connors, Groundhog Day

Variations of Awesome

We hiked the Burlington Landlocked forest this fine MLK day. Calvin educated us on the variations of awesome.

Jumping out of trees is awesome in the sense of: 5/5, would jump again.

Pushing snow into the frigid stream is awesome: 4/5, would loiter here again (and did on the way back).

Don't mess with Bryn. She's the kid who puts not 1, but 2 rocks in her snowball.

Ivy proved that giving someone bunny ears while wearing mittens doesn't make it any less fun.

Ivy hated this "dark spooky forest" until the trees started dropping snow everywhere. Then she gleefully ran in and tried to catch the falling snow on her tongue.

Calvin walked the log fence and fell off, which is when he informed us that it was, "Awesome, but I wouldn't do it again."

Dashing Through the Snow

Calvin and Peter hit the jump and catch some air. This jump was Calvin's white whale, and he spent a good long time trying to hit it on his own. He finally succeeded right as we were packing up to leave, and upon landing from his air, rolled and face planted pretty hard. His review of the run (through tears), "That was awesome! And then it really hurt."

Bryn burrowed a bit while waiting for Calvin to capture his whale.

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.

Refuge

At the bird refuge in Concord, we trade our mobile devices, computer games, tv screens, and noisy toys in exchange for quiet vistas, rocks, sticks, a cool breeze in our faces, the sun on our backs, and glimpses of animals oblivious to technology. It's a good trade, and I try to get out there as often as possible.

Also, this may have been the scene of a miracle or a murder. I vote for the former.

Sally Ann's and a used book shop make for the perfect ending to our outing.