Merry Christmas

We had our annual Christmas caroling party last night. The kids are starting to get into the pre-singing recital which is alot of fun. Ben and I played a violin duet which could have used some fine tuning, so I won't torment you with the video. Nevertheless, I was very pleased to play a duet with him! We did Hark the Herald Angels Sing; not an easy piece as the notes harmonize (or not if they're not in tune.) We played about 3/4 of the piece beautifully, then got a little mixed up.

Mom and Dad,

Have you moved to England?

Visit with Santa

Liam was in a dress shirt and shorts when I got home from work yesterday. I guess Bob took the boys to see Santa, and even paid for professional photos. (Hence, I don't have a photo of the trip to post.) Bob said it was a great visit. Santa was in a good mood and quite talkative. Liam asked Santa for a stuffed dog (whew, that's an easy one!) Ben asked Santa for a pet rat (ugh) and received a lecture on caring for animals from Santa.

I do not forsee a pet rat arriving on Christmas day. Ben will just have to be satisfied with the rats living in our shed and crawl space. Luckily Ben's in on the Santa secet....

Sydney at Louise's

We all went to dinner at Louise's the other night. The kids sat in the restaurant provided high chairs and had a great time eating their meals (we brought cooked carrots and fruit and they had a little pasta as well). They even got compliments from other patrons about how well behaved they were.

Thanksgiving 2011 pictures

Happy times.

Happy Birthday Tim

From our great Thanksgiving visit, I seem to have only pictures of grandchildren.

 This is Cameron laughing at Tim.

 Sydney is the serious one.

Got Chris in the background but not Tim.  The twins loved having Nicole and Nathan around to entertain them. 










Hope you are having an enjoyable Birthday Tim. 

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a quiet but lovely Thanksgiving.

At noon, we took a walk at Carkeek park in the pouring rain. We were happily rewarded for our efforts with the sighting of many chum salmon coming up to spawn in the creek. Their bodies are quite tattered by the time they get the 1/4 mile up from the sound to the spawning area. They look tired and near death (a feeling reenforced by the dead carcasses along the creek banks.) We then came home and the boys threw their soaked clothes in the washer, and had hot chocolate. What is most incredible, is that here in Seattle, we were not alone in our soggy Thanksgiving walk. There were quite a few people out, and even one family playing football in the waterlogged field to the side of the creek.

Ben's idea to have candlelight for dinner, and serving the boys carbonated cider in wine glasses, made our dinner fun and memorable to them. A good thing as neither of them like stuffing(!) or sweet potato, or cranberry sauce, or even turkey that much(!!!!!)

Warm weekend

This is the 4th beautiful fall weekend in a row.  We spent Saturday at the lake playing bridge with Martha and Jim Mitchell and then we were joined by Janice and Madhu for dinner at the Crooked Door in Albion.  It was nearly sixty this morning (Sunday), perfect for an outdoor picnic breakfast at the Madhu's lake house.  Unfortunately, none of us had a camera.  We'll see many of you very soon in Santa Monica, where it looks like it may be swimming weather.

feeding time

Ben was again a great help with the babies last Sunday in Seattle.

Sorry to hear that Seattle was cold and rainy on Sunday. We had a wonderful day at the lake - warm and sunny, allowing us to finish the last little chores for the winter siesta. However today in Rochester was warm but rainy with thunder and lightning and last Friday it was cold and we had several snow squalls. No doubt it will be cold and wet here in the next few weeks and we will be very happy in Santa Monica. Looking forward to seeing (and hearing) the girls - in fact when we listened to Melissa's message on the answering machine it sounded as if Cameron wanted to be on the phone as well.

Cheers to all

Dad/GDad

Weekend Trip to Seattle

We had a nice trip to Seattle on Saturday morning. The kids did great on the plane and enjoyed Sunday morning with Sarah, Ben and Liam. The weather was cold and rainy. We went for a walk on Sunday down to the Alki Beach Starbucks with Ben and got a hot chocolate. Here's a picture of Sydney peering out from her carriage as we began our walk. Both girls were asleep by the time we got back.

Did We Carve Pumpkins When We Were Kids?

I do not remember much about my childhood Halloween, except the paper shopping bags of candy. Both boys have school parties tomorrow, and of course, there will be neighborhood trick-or-treating in the evening. Holidays do help relieve these dark and soggy months in Seattle. People have already started putting up lights on the outside of their houses. I might put up our "icicles" before Thanksgiving this year.

San Diego fun with family

Post settings

Hi Everybody,

Here's a picture of Sydney on the couch taken with my iphone. I need to find my cable so I can download from my camera as I've got some good pictures stored there.

The girls are 9 months old today. To celebrate, Cameron pulled herself into a standing position from a seated position while Sydney watched from her favorite position on her back.

See you guys this weekend.

Tim

Happy Birthday Chris

It's Crazy Hair Day!

Today is the Jogathon at the boys' school, and crazy hair day. Thankfully the weather is crisp and clear.

Fun in Seattle

It was a great Seattle visit even though most everyone was sick at least part of the time.  We had Liam's Soccer game, Halloween decorating, and tree house construction which is nearly complete. We finished up sunday night with dinner at Anthony's - good food and lovely waterfront setting (no pics).

Update

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted anything, these last couple weeks have been crazy! I should actually be writing a paper right now but I've decided to take a little break.

Mom & Dad came 2 weeks ago for family weekend and we went to a wine night with one of the frats on friday night, the football game on saturday, and a breakfast at the Delta Gamma house on sunday. Heres a picture of us in front of the DG letters with my roommate Jamie:



Also with DG, i just got my "Big Sis" and "Twin" last Wednesday. Throughout the week we had been getting gifs from our bigs which included clues of who they were and at the end of the week there was a ceremony where all of my pledge class stood in a circle holding champagne glasses and the older girls went in and out pouring champagne (apple cider) into our glasses. While many girls would come and pour a little, the one who overflows yours was your big. Everyone loved it and I was extremely happy with my big, Rachel. Heres a picture of our glasses:



My "Family", (Me, Big Rachel, Twin Tory):



In order to be a part of a fraternity or sorority you have to do community service hours for the cause that your orginization supports, this past weekend the Frat Pikapp held their event "War of Roses" which is a competition between all the 12 sororities on campus in events such as talent show, olympics, football, bto, and fundraising. Delta Gamma ended up winning every single event which had never happened before. heres a picture of Tory and I cheering on Rachel at the Talent show:



So to sum it up, school has really been fun. I am going to the library in about 30 minutes with Rach and some of the other DG girls who are in my classes to work on an essay and study for math so I will see you guys at Thanksgiving or if not Christmas.





- Nicole

We're home - a few pics from a very enjoyable trip

Anita's little girl Paula on a rainy day

    Leipzig church where Bach was Cantor

                                                                                                                                                                    

 Richmond at high tide on the Thames                                Same place from other direction at lower tide

Bob's 50!

To celebrate Bob passing the half century mark, (!) we invited some friends to join us on a Murder Mystery Cruise on Puget Sound. The theme was Gilligan's Island. Bob went as the Captain, and I was Ginger. We had a very goofy and fun time. I must say, except for the aches and pains of age, I don't feel a day over 25. Looking at that photo above however, I see that we are all a bunch of happy 'has beens'!

Liam took the photo in our house above; he tends to have a steadier arm than Ben. The boys are hard into school, and both really liking it so far.

Great Fishing Trip

I went on an overnight trip on Monday and hooked up for 10 Blue Fin Tuna. Tui made some great sushi tonight and Kong made some great Poki. Tui and I were vacuum packing until 2:00 last night and we are looking forward to a feast during Mom and Dads visit in October.

Extra Days in Glasgow

Here are a couple of shots from our last couple of days.  We have grown quite fond of the city.  Home tomorrow.

New Transportation Museum right on the riverside walk along the Clyde from our hotel which is also on the Clyde River (our room overlooks the construction behind the hotel).

Part of today's walk to the Botanic Gardens along the Kelvin River Walkway.



Final day of vacation

Tui, Nathan, and I left mom and dad in Edinbourgh this morning and took the train to London. We have a great hotel room next to the Eye. We had enough time this afternoon to walk around the city and see several of the sites beofre we leave early tomorrow morning.

Lucky I covered my red shirt

A nice highland cow on the side of the road. We have had a great time with lots of great pictures we will post later.

U OF A

Hi everyone! I am finally settled into my new apartment! These past few days have been crazy but I love my roommates, the hall, and overall feel of the school. This week is rush week so I am out of the apartment by 7am and don't get back till 6pm.

Here are some pictures of the apartment...










Its still in the process of getting decorated but we all love it so far. Hope everyone is doing good.
Have fun in Scotland!

Treehouse in the Cedar Tree!

The boys and I (with some help from Bob and friends) have put this magnificent platform in our cedar tree! Amazing what you can do with a book and a cordless drill.... We still need railings, and a small shed on one side, but I have declared today a holiday, and we're going to Susie Blue's for a swim.

More photos to follow once we're done.

Tim, Melissa and the twins come in this week. That will be fun.