Christmas Eve

We spent our Christmas Eve with family as Alexandra took photos of the Christmas decor.

Later that day, I carried on my father's tradition of visiting the
beach in winter. We also enjoyed the splendor of my inlaws' backyard feeding ground.

Winter and Christmas Scenes

The Big Storm and then, Christmas.













































































Above is the top of Grandma and Grandpa's wedding cake. They have been married 50 years.

Here they are in early love.

They have a separate, small tree with wedding memorabilia and a romantic theme. The tree sits in front of a bay window facing the water.

More of Alex's Art

Alex's Owl and Super Bunny

A REAL Winter in NOVA

Not our Inu, but still....

How cute is this???

It is a gorgeous day out, which means today is definitely the day to put up Christmas lights before it starts to freeze.

I've finished Volume I of my 2009 scrapbook and will soon begin Volume II. Here's a sample of what's coming up.

We love our pets!

Time for orthodontic work?

My daughter, Alexandra, the budding photographer, loves to take photos of herself. She also tends to take interesting photos of items we have in the home.

And of course, as you will see by her picture of her sister's feet, she enjoys taking....well, I will let you be the judge.

She actually has interesting perspective. We're trying to encourage her photo taking.

Alex has learned how to crop photos and adjust the brightness. We will work on color and placement next.

I am quite sure she will be a better photographer than I am.

More Fun Photos

In order:

Smithsonian
Bull Run Regional Park
Bull Run Regional Park
Cosmo and Sallie: Buds

October Camping at Bull Run

There is absolutely nothing more invigorating than camping and hiking in the fall. It's cool and crisp, especially in the bath house.

I highly recommend cabin camping for the spoiled rotten--which we are. Heating and air conditioning make us wimps, but that doesn't detract from the splendor of autumn and the joy of family.

Ironically, the first thing the girls did was their homework! I guess the cabin bedroom somehow motivated them. Maybe we should go there more often, eh?

Check out the old man tree and the caterpillar!

Not all the members of our party appreciated have pictures taken. The exception was my cute nephew. He loves the camera, and it loves him. I might suggest to his mom that she put him in modeling.

Guess who read the blogs?

Wow. I have neglected this blog. I suddenly remembered it because lo and behold, I found Erika reading my blogs. She was laughing at the "quotes from the kids" section and said she wanted to add some quotes to it.

When I asked her how she found my blog, she said she went there from my website home page which happens to be the home page on her computer. I am going to have to tell her which parts are appropriate to read.

Initially, I told her not to read anything else besides the kids quotes because other parts of the blog have adult content. For sure, now, she will read it more. I know I would if my mother told me something like that. In fact, I would be looking for every bad word on that blog. But I never would have had the opportunity. My mother didn't have the Internet and never used bad language.

I'm not too bad, in general, and I hardly ever cuss in front of the kids. When I do, the most they hear from me is "crap" or very rarely, "shit." I've learned to edit myself. I want the kids to grow up with a better vocabulary than that. And I certainly don't want them blurting stuff like that out any old place!

It's hard to explain to kids that putting nasty things into fiction, poetry and even some blog postings isn't the same as saying nasty things or writing nasty things to people. There's a fine line that even adults trip over a lot. I am sure as the kids get older and study literature, they will understand this concept more, however. They already understand that when they hear bad language in movies, they shouldn't emulate it, and they don't. But it would be different reading something that Ma wrote, something that has bad language. At least, I guess it would be different. Like I said, my mother never would have given me the opportunity to read such things, even if she HAD the Internet.

So, I added a couple of things to the "quotes" section and will add more later. The quotes are a safe bet. And in general, this blog is appropriate for the kids. I would rate this blog "G." The other one? I don't know. Probably PG16. But maybe I'm a prude.

Anyway, above is a lovely pic of the new splash park, Atlantis, at Bull Run Regional. We went there a few times this summer. We also camped in a cabin for Alexandra's birthday. We'll be going back to a cabin with my sis-in-law and her son in a few weeks. Bull Run is a great park!