Dear You

I can already picture you...it's maybe 10 a.m.; Elsa has finally drifted off to sleep and you are re-heating your coffee for the third time, just trying to finish your first cup (that you poured around 7 a.m.). Heidi has convinced you to turn on a video (probably that new dinosaur one with the really annoying soundtrack) and you have just wandered through the house wondering what to start on next/if there is time/if Elsa will actually go to sleep/what color we should paint the playroom and whether you should start now only to collapse in front of the computer for what reason you're not really sure, just to see if maybe anyone sent us an email, please, please some kind of contact with the real, adult world, anything, even an email from the Gap telling you about a sale, and then after checking your fantasy hockey you decide to check my blog, you know, just to see if anyone has commented and then you will find this post, wherein the wife is anticipating the long, such a long day you will cherish tomorrow with our precious, blessed children while the wife is out SNOWBOARDING!!! I love, love, love, that you let me go and I love you more than ever, I mean, I always do love you and it's totally unconditional, you know, but when you send me SNOWBOARDING!! all of your wonderful, perfect qualities just shine all the more more more.

Thank you. That is what I meant to say. And, when I'm riding up the lift listening to my ipod and breathing deeply, I will definitely say a prayer for you. And Elsa. And most of all, you.

Merry Christmas!

Sweet Moments

My favorite is when a certain little angel decides to pray to baby Jesus. And dance for Him.

Oma and Opa

Snow! Heidi and I built a snowman later.
Revving up the engines for some serious cookies. Sistine chapel, y'all.

Opa clearly has the touch.
Christmas carolling in Supper Rock--Heidi promptly fell asleep in the wagon and slept the entire time.
Una is still working out her attention issues. Here she is silently channeling Emma Thompson (the dog, not the actress) whilst upstaging the girls.
Elsa loves her Oma! They even babysat so we could go out on a date! Months, y'all. Months. It was a wonderful visit, except way too short! Thank you for coming!

You Are My Sunshine

My favorite Thanksgiving moment so far....

Happy Birthday Grandpa Great! 90 years old!

Dawn at Glacier Point

Okay, so it wasn't actual sunrise, which had been the goal. We watched the Ken Burns National Parks Special a month ago, so we were definitely primed for Yosemite. I remember sitting in high school, listening to teachers read from John Muir and daydreaming about rose-colored rock domes sitting majestically on their planet. Now we got to see some! As you can see, we could not get enough pictures of precariously-perched babies--how cool are they? Patagonia, take note. Or maybe we'll use them for the cover of our "traveling with toddlers" guide that we plan to write together. We learned a lot, mostly coming up with responses for all those "You guys are crazy!" we kept hearing. Oh, and we each got to chase away a bear, as well as view one up a tree one cold morning. It was truly great for us to get out and live a little, especially since our love of woods and mountains is one of the things that brought us together. Here, we feel most ourselves. And having extra diapers to change and mouths to feed doesn't change that one bit.

One half hour of our week.

s


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So we had a ridiculously fun time on vacation. I suppose Halloween weekend isn't the best time to go on vaca since we are in full swing with Christmas program stuff and the usual things that fill people's calendars this time of year. But maybe that made the whole weekend even sweeter. We spent two nights in Yosemite National Park (yes, with all the bears) followed by 3 in Monterey for the conference that inspired this little trip. Most of my readers probably know how unspeakably beautiful it is to watch your kids experience something verbally for the first time, as opposed to just gumming on it or sleeping through it. We didn't spend much time at the beach, but we definitely could have. Heidi would have poked around in those tide pools all week long. Reminds me of someone.

Watch out Turkey Day Trot!

Elsa is training too! At high elevation.

Home Again

More to come...

Little Angels Everywhere

And Elsa is officially crawling.

Homecoming and Saturdays at the Park

We got all dressed up to welcome Mommy and Sister home!

With the crisp mornings and warm afternoons, the weather just beckons us to visit the park. Daddy, Heidi and Elsa went to a park a little further away so Una could get a good walk. Mommy was at the PPC Christmas Program rehearsal.