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.

Theme? No.

Trunk-or-Treat: that splendid party in which our kids get an early chance to wear their costumes and contract diabetes.  In true Jones fashion, there was no theme this year.

Bryn went as a gothic vampire minus fangs because she just didn't feel like wearing them.

Calvin had the force this year. Every kid needs a Jedi year (or decade).

Ivy wanted to be a princess, and I "guided" toward Belle. Because Belle is kind, thoughtful, likes books and has brown hair, just like Ivy. But then Ivy spent the evening complaining that her eyes weren't also brown like Belle's.

Happy Halloween!

Columbus Discovers Autumn

The Balls came up for a day of autumn fun. I took a few family pictures for them in the morning, and then we met my crew in Concord center and had lunch in the middle of Monument Square.

Army crawling is a standard photography technique, right?

See, I'm great with kids!

From there, we ventured to the boathouse to procure a couple of high-occupancy canoes. It's a lovely way to experience the fall foliage, especially on a day like today with temps around 67 degrees.

PUSH!!!

Lord of the Flies as Mel put it (all the kids were over there eventually, while the grownups stayed behind on the shore)

A most handsome toad

Hiawatha and her friend Marcus cruising down the river

They just got dirtier as the day wore on.

We stopped for pastries in Concord at Sally Ann's, and capped our trip off with a visit to Wilson Farms and the haunted hay ride.

Haunted hay ride sight

Tooth-fer (you know, like two-for, but toothy)

Bryn pulled her wiggly snaggle tooth early Sunday morning. Calvin, not to be outdone, had Peter yank his slightly less snaggly but none-the-less wiggly tooth out. And thus it came to pass that the tooth fairy had a very efficient evening that night at our household.

Stairway to Lafayette

Tonja and I went hiking in the white mountains of New Hampshire. The weather was perfect, and the fall colors were in full bloom up there.

We did the greenleaf hut trail to Lafayette peak, then hiked the ridge trail to Lincoln Peak and then used the Falling Waters trail to descend back down.  It was an 8.9 mile hike with a near 4000' elevation gain.

After Lincoln Peak, we head along more of the ridge. There was a fun cliff gap (around 4 or 5 feet that we jumped over.  We took the Falling Waters trail back down, and enjoyed spectacular views of many waterfalls along the way.

We ended our trip with a dip at the basin to ice our swollen feet.