Somehow, after our... eventful autumn, it's been hard to get back on the blogging horse. So if there is anyone still out there, I apologize for the paucity of updates.
And because a lot has been happening, what better to talk about than Christmas? It's still our blog, so we will mark time however we want.
As Mimi mentioned in her post from the beginning of the month, we were down in California for Christmas. And if a picture is truly worth a thousand words, sit back for my 120,000 word post. Or whatever. I'm the pretty one. Let somebody else be good at math.
We begin with some quality Grandpa time.
He's wearing an uncharacteristically blue shirt, so the only way I knew it was really him was when he gleefully directed me to the traditional Xmas five-pound box of candy.
I think I can safely claim that 40% of that box went down my own chocolate hole.
There was also some quality time with Grandma Honey (a nickname Kiddo bestowed upon Grandma a couple of years ago and it stuck, for which we are all glad).
This was an important moment, because I stick ribbons and bows on myself when opening gifts. I have tried to stick them on Kiddo but she'll have none of it. I am glad that she got to witness the source of this particular quirk of my personality.
Let's see... we had a little controlled Christmas chaos
The cousins were not due to arrive until the day after so I made sure to throw wrapping paper around as much as possible to give it the right vibe.
There was also an ample supply of crappy cereal on hand to add to that jittery, unfocused, slightly irritable Christmas-morning feeling.
She also developed a pretty nasty Cocoa Puffs habit. We had to promise her a box for her birthday just to get her to stop talking about it. Once we had her properly sugared up we went to the local park and were delighted to discover that the pony ride was operating.
The ponies seemed considerably less-delighted, but that damn thing has been in the park for at least 40 years (though I suspect there's been some pony turnover) and this is the first time I even got close to it. Kid was pretty excited for the first 10 minutes, but the next 7 hours started to get kind of dull. It's possible that we were hot and tired and our sense of time was a little off. But, damn, that pony ride lasted FOREVER.
Then we had some cousin time and the volume in the house was finally raised to Christmas-appropriate levels.
This is but a fraction of the overall cousin population, and it is possible that it is the parents of the cousins who are responsible for most of the noise, but the science on that is inconclusive. Anyway, after raising the roof inside Grandma's house, we retired to the local elementary school for some outside noise.
It was right about this time that sand got in our point-and-shoot camera. Goodbye point-and-shoot camera. Glad we had phone cameras to pick up the slack. Wouldn't have wanted to miss out on cupcakes.
Then we went to the beach to look at the seals.
Not pictured: seals. But they were there and it was kind of neat to see so many on the beach all at once. You'll just have to take my word for it and enjoy this picture of people I like more than I like seals.
Some time after the younger cousin set departed, a couple of the older cousins stopped by. That was a real treat for we do not see them very often (Hi Brian and Jack!). Cousin Jack has developed quite the skill in what can best be described as the Circus Arts and made a nice collection of balloon sculptures for the kid.
Then he passed out on the couch.
Finding nothing good in his wallet, we woke him up and sent him on his way to... wherever he was going after that. The house quieted down again and we had a little more QT with GH.
It was too bad they didn't get along. So we headed up north a bit to go to a children's museum.
She also drove a streetcar and worked in a diner and did a brief stint as a milkmaid. I'm just going to go ahead and pretend that "Doctor" is the pretend job with staying power.
So that's what our Christmas was like, more or less. Hope yours was dandy. Come back in June for our Valentine's Day post.
Sigh. Okay, we are going to try to get back to a more regular posting schedule. Wish us luck. And thanks for stopping by. Here is a nice picture of the sky that Mimi took from a moving car (I was driving).
Thanks, Central Coast.
And because a lot has been happening, what better to talk about than Christmas? It's still our blog, so we will mark time however we want.
As Mimi mentioned in her post from the beginning of the month, we were down in California for Christmas. And if a picture is truly worth a thousand words, sit back for my 120,000 word post. Or whatever. I'm the pretty one. Let somebody else be good at math.
We begin with some quality Grandpa time.
He's wearing an uncharacteristically blue shirt, so the only way I knew it was really him was when he gleefully directed me to the traditional Xmas five-pound box of candy.
I think I can safely claim that 40% of that box went down my own chocolate hole.
There was also some quality time with Grandma Honey (a nickname Kiddo bestowed upon Grandma a couple of years ago and it stuck, for which we are all glad).
This was an important moment, because I stick ribbons and bows on myself when opening gifts. I have tried to stick them on Kiddo but she'll have none of it. I am glad that she got to witness the source of this particular quirk of my personality.
Let's see... we had a little controlled Christmas chaos
The cousins were not due to arrive until the day after so I made sure to throw wrapping paper around as much as possible to give it the right vibe.
There was also an ample supply of crappy cereal on hand to add to that jittery, unfocused, slightly irritable Christmas-morning feeling.
She also developed a pretty nasty Cocoa Puffs habit. We had to promise her a box for her birthday just to get her to stop talking about it. Once we had her properly sugared up we went to the local park and were delighted to discover that the pony ride was operating.
The ponies seemed considerably less-delighted, but that damn thing has been in the park for at least 40 years (though I suspect there's been some pony turnover) and this is the first time I even got close to it. Kid was pretty excited for the first 10 minutes, but the next 7 hours started to get kind of dull. It's possible that we were hot and tired and our sense of time was a little off. But, damn, that pony ride lasted FOREVER.
Then we had some cousin time and the volume in the house was finally raised to Christmas-appropriate levels.
This is but a fraction of the overall cousin population, and it is possible that it is the parents of the cousins who are responsible for most of the noise, but the science on that is inconclusive. Anyway, after raising the roof inside Grandma's house, we retired to the local elementary school for some outside noise.
It was right about this time that sand got in our point-and-shoot camera. Goodbye point-and-shoot camera. Glad we had phone cameras to pick up the slack. Wouldn't have wanted to miss out on cupcakes.
Then we went to the beach to look at the seals.
Not pictured: seals. But they were there and it was kind of neat to see so many on the beach all at once. You'll just have to take my word for it and enjoy this picture of people I like more than I like seals.
Some time after the younger cousin set departed, a couple of the older cousins stopped by. That was a real treat for we do not see them very often (Hi Brian and Jack!). Cousin Jack has developed quite the skill in what can best be described as the Circus Arts and made a nice collection of balloon sculptures for the kid.
Then he passed out on the couch.
Finding nothing good in his wallet, we woke him up and sent him on his way to... wherever he was going after that. The house quieted down again and we had a little more QT with GH.
It was too bad they didn't get along. So we headed up north a bit to go to a children's museum.
She also drove a streetcar and worked in a diner and did a brief stint as a milkmaid. I'm just going to go ahead and pretend that "Doctor" is the pretend job with staying power.
So that's what our Christmas was like, more or less. Hope yours was dandy. Come back in June for our Valentine's Day post.
Sigh. Okay, we are going to try to get back to a more regular posting schedule. Wish us luck. And thanks for stopping by. Here is a nice picture of the sky that Mimi took from a moving car (I was driving).
Thanks, Central Coast.
Comments