Worse than a little kid

I thought putting the gifts on the furniture instead of under the tree would be safe. Duh.

 

Christmas #1

Christmas #1 at my brother’s house was yesterday. Food, fun, dogs and a yankee swap.

We brought our new puppy Koda and we weren’t sure how he would do with the vizlas but he came out of his shell decided to be the boss: (sorry about the orientation, I keep forgetting to rotate my phone while shooting video)

 

The yankee swap was a success also. The first gift opened was a giant ornament that lights up and has a animated skating scene. The kids wanted it so I traded my wine charms for it, but it got traded back at the end.

Oh, did I mention there was food? My GAWD Shawn!

Its a Boy!

Here are the first photos of the puppy Koda.

Koda Comes Home

My Sunday at the office

So this past weekend we took the kids to meet Grandma in Pennsylvania. Hours and hours of driving, traffic jams, back aches and bad food. But, the good news was that we were going to Scranton! That’s right, Scranton, home of Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. Scranton branch.

Sunday morning in the hotel first order of business was to look up where the Scranton Welcomes You sign is. I found blogs about people visiting "office" sites and one mentioned the sign from the opening of the show has been replaced, but the original one is in the Steamtown mall. So directions in hand, off we went in search of "the office" lore. Coming into Scranton, there it was, the new sign welcoming everyone. Original sign or not, I had to get a photo of it. So risking life and limb I pulled over and had Janel reluctantly take the pictures you can see below. Obviously some vandals had modified the speed limit sign from 95 down to 35 because everyone going by was at warp two at least. Having survived the pit stop it was time to head to the mall and the Dunder Mifflin store. I think this is the first time in memory I was ever looking forward to a trip to a mall.

We soon arrived at the mall, parked in the crazy huge garage and went in search of the Dunder Mifflin store. We found it as a kiosk, not even a real shop, but thats ok. They had all kinds of cool stuff you should never waste your money on but cannot live without. For weeks since I found out we were going to Scranton I had hoped to find a Dwight bobblehead. I didn’t know if they even made them, but my goal was to acquire one. Lo and behold they had bobbleheads of everyone (except Ryan). I got a Dwight for Owen and for myself. Morgyn picked a Pam. I also got a t-shirt which I promptly adorned so it would be in the photo of the famous sign. We took the elevator instead of the escalator (big mistake) because the kids thought it looked fun in all its glass walled glory.

We found the sign and more displays and commenced photography like true dorky tourists. We even entered a drawing for free pretzels (Remember pretzel day?).

By then it was after noon, we hadn’t eaten yet, and we had about 7 or 8 hours to drive back to Maine so we skipped the bowling alley, pizza place, etc. and headed home.

Dwight now sits on my desk, observing, ready to express his opinion with a wobble of his head.

Mackworth Island Jan. 4 2009

Christmas Morning 2008

Two blog posts in one  week. I know, I’m out of control. But hey, its Christmas! View the Christmas photo album for shots of all the good stuff. (As always, photos compressed with my free tool – MIST)

Santa came through once again. The biggest hits were Morgyn’s American Girl doll and Owen’s Sock Monkey. Janel got home from work around 7:30 am. The kids were already up and and in a frenzy. I guess the days of them sleeping past dawn are over 😦 The American Girl doll and the Nintendo were sitting under the tree unwrapped. Morgyn thought the nintendo was a nebulizer pump for Owen, lol!

After the gifts, we cooked bacon and cinnamon rolls. Morgyn is getting to be quite the cook. Before too long I may be able to let her cook supper. Then it was time to make the Christmas movie. I loaded the video, added background music, title and uploaded to youtube. Late that night, it finally finished uploading just to get rejected for being too long! No more than 10 minutes allowed, wish I knew that before…

So here is  MUCH shorter version. Enjoy.

We did it, ok? We went to see Santa.

It was a dark and stormy day…. and it turned out to be perfect weather to head to the mall to see Santa. We could hardly see out the windshield due to the blizzard, and the roads were treacherous – Perfect conditions for keeping hoards of adoring Santa fans at home, making the line pleasantly short.

It was our turn and the happy elf asked "Getting pictures today?". "No", I said. "We’ll take care of that ourselves.". The tell-tale change of expression let me know this elf did not appreciate freeloaders. "TWO pictures!", she said curtly. Fine, whatever.

Five minutes after getting in line, we had our allotted two photos, and we were on our way to seek out pokemon plushies so Owen could spend the $8 that has been burning a hole in his wallet. We passed kiosk after kiosk in our search for the store that sells them. The kids did not know the name, but knew it by sight. So on we went until… oh no… eye contact! I made eye contact with a salesman! How stupid! I knew better, it just happened too fast. "Can I ask you a question sir?". "Yeah… hey kids! STOP!". "Do you have a lady at home?". "Yes", I said, again, a mistake. He has me now. But no, I must move on. "I’m not interested", says I, and off I go. I escaped just barely.

We came to Claires where apparently they sell pokemons. They had none. Not to come away empty handed, Owen found something else he needed, a koala. Morgyn got a skunk.

On our way out we noticed Aunty Jenny was working so we stopped in to say hi. She was very busy of course, but still had time to admire the kids’ new toys.

Luckily, we have less than a mile to get home since I could not see anything out the window. I survived yet another trip to the mall, and made the kids happy (for five minutes at least).

First Day Of Winter

Owen’s 12 Days of Autumn

Pam and Heidi’s visit

Its Nutcracker time again and Morgyn performed in the December 5th show. This year she was a page instead of a reindeer. Owen was supposed to be a reindeer again this year, but it didn’t work out…

Grandma Pam  and cousin Heidi, both from Ohio, came to town for the event. We have no photos of the ballet, but here are a bunch of pics we took the Sunday before they left.

 

Pam with Morgyn and Owen at Spring Point Ledge LIght.

Black ducks. Don’t they look tasty?

Spring Point Ledge Light. Morgyn and Heidi on the breakwater.

Fort Preble at Spring Point.

Owen looking pleased as punch.

Owen on the anchor at the Harbor Museum.

Morgyn with the anchor at the Harbor Museum. She would not look at me for the photo – she was mad that I told her she was going too slow out on the breakwater.

Owen always has to visit the cave at Two Lights.

Cape Elizabeth Light at Two Lights. We went up into this light in the summer with Morgyn’s class. (See previous blog post – Light house field trip or something)

A wave at Two Lights.

Trying to get the flash of light at Cape Elizabeth Light.

Camping Day 2…

After a stressful Friday, Saturday morning dawned foggy, but pleasant. The kids and I checked out the beach before breakfast. They couldn’t wait to get out in the water.

We went swimming – Morgyn and I were sharks and Owen was our victim.

We went hiking – a nice trail runs along the lake with great views you will see in the photos when I get around to posting them.

We played tetherball – The ball was really too high for the kids, but it was the most funnest thing ever.

We fed ducks – a real crowd pleaser. Whatever kind of chips we had on hand went to the birds.

Hammocks – We were right beside the camp hosts, and they invited the kids to use the hammocks. That was soopah good and almost more funner than tetherball.

We had theatre – There is a wooded amphitheater at the park. The kids put on plays about ninja turtles and witches and song and dance numbers.

All the while, Janel was tearing down camp so I could turn the camper around the right way. She came to stay with the kids at the beach and I backed the pop up into the spot so we could hook up to the electric and get the car out.

No camping trip would be complete without a trip to the store, so once we had camp settled again, off Janel went to buy some allergy medicine for Morgyn who has been stuffy lately. So naturally, she returns with a new awning for the campsite. I cringed because we had just broke the bank paying for my car repairs, but it was a good call because it rained later on.

That night, it was smores time! The kids couldn’t wait to roast the marshmallows. Owen didn’t like eating them as much as roasting them. They also liked throwing the kindling into the fire (some of which they kept for crafts).

After the campfire, it was time for bed. In went the DVD, and we all chilled out.