2014, it's going to be magnificent!

Happy New Year!  Since it's still, technically, the first week of the New Year, I don't feel like this is late getting out.  Having thought about all the fun we had in 2013, we figured that we would try to make 2014 even better.  The Pups and I originally thought it would be an awesome new year; but, upon further reflection (and honestly, the need to come up with another adjective), we decided that we would make it MAGNIFICENT!  We are going to do a bunch of MAGNIFICENT things this year, we are going to record it (photograph it), and we are actually going to blog about it, so we can actually remember it next year.  Funny how that works, huh?

I used the excuse of having clients to photograph to take a few fun shots of the pups for new year's. These hams will never be shy in front of a camera, no sir.

Happy New Year!  And stay tuned for magnificence!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

Obviously, given that Christmas is tomorrow...  And, given that Christmas is tomorrow, how about I tell you about our Christmas preparations?

Sure, why not?! You wouldn't be reading this if you weren't interest, right?

We celebrated Seal Pup 2.0's birthday.  Because, he just happened to be born in December; and, it's us!

We celebrate birthdays like it's our job!

Grammy came to visit.  It was awesome.

We picked a tree and cut it down.

There were some shenanigans with a snow man.

We did our annual Christmas card photo shoot, here is an outtake, because I think it's cute, even if it didn't make the cut.

We are going to the Christmas Eve service at church this afternoon, there may even be bow ties....

oh, did i mention the florida thing?

A bit late to the party here; but, it's never to late for fun, right?  So anyways, we spent Thanksgiving week in Florida.  We drove down in 22 or so hours, spent 5 days there and then drove back in 24 hours.

The trip is, quite possibly, the most insane thing we have ever done.  Or, actually, it's pretty much business as usual around here.

We tried to leave the Nutmeg State on Friday night; but, we ended up turning around an hour out, somewhere outside of New Haven because we got a nail in our tire--it was the opposite of awesome.  We drove back home, slept in our own beds, got the tire fixed the next morning and then headed out again.

We got to Orlando, checked out the hotel, the Liki Tiki (no, I am totally not kidding) and then crashed.

The next day, Monday, and the three days thereafter were spent at one Disney park or another.

We rode the people mover ride 5 or 6 times.  Because, well, it moves people, I guess?

The kids had fun, but honestly, the parents were thinking harikari by the middle of the second day.

Also, the whole family rode the Tower of Terror.  It has that name for a reason, I think.  The Pups LOVED it though.  Not wanting to be a killjoy, I just said that "it [was] nice [they] enjoyed it so much."

And since we had already committed ourselves, we opted to go to Legoland Florida on Friday, you know, before driving back home...on Black Friday.  Yep, that's how we roll.  Literally.

I know there was doubt, but yes, I do believe that Parents of the Year trophy can be sent our way for 2013...yes, indeed...

We are getting a book made of our Florida adventures, because apparently that's what you do now.  If you come visit us, you can take a look at it and live vicariously through our adventures...

boo howdy!

  There are cowboys in Connecticut, apparently.  Didn't you know?  They rustle up all manner of awesome.

Or something like that.  Giving them rope was probably not the best idea; but, well, you know.  Cowboys need to have their lassos (or so I am told).

We had an excellent Halloween--the prep for and the day itself...

We hope yours was frightfully good as well!

labors of a weekend

How did you celebrate the unofficial end of summer?  Our Labor Day Weekend, this year, was spent building a playyard/playscape.  My mom got this thing for the kids and it sat in the garage for a while after we realized that there were 999 bajillion pieces.  Papa made it a goal to finish this thing by the end of the weekend.  And he did!

Obviously, the kids are big fans.  As our some of the other kids int he neighborhood.  It was a slowgoing process, should you want a glimpse of it, Papa put together this video for your viewing entertainment.  To see it bigger, go to flickr.

we did that sheep thing in may, too

I dropped the ball here, again.  Since we have our big family trip coming up, I figured I could spend a few days getting things squared away here.

Back in May (before my birthday) we went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (as we usually do).  We saw sheep.  We pet them.  We ate them. 

And then we bought some of their wool.  Pretty exciting stuff, really.

More pictures in flickr.

just another birthday...

I celebrated another birthday today.  We did it with style and panache (and presents!!), and a fair amount of nerdification, because that, my friends, it how we roll.

After gifts and singing, we went to a library book sale in New London, Connecticut.  I am not going to lie, finding a pickling book for $1 pretty much made it worth the trip there for me, it was like the New London Public Library gave me a birthday gift (with a minimal service charge).

And then we went to the circus.  This wasn't necessarily my original plan, it just happened to be when we were all available to go.  And Papa figured if he had to suffer through it, I should have the privilege as well.  The Pups loved it though, so there's that.

And then Papa and the pups gave me the gift of time.  I dyed a bunch of wool and took a bunch of pictures, effectively knocking out requirements for two classes.  While I was being productive and academic they made me a birthday cake.

It was a great day.

happy easter (2012)!!

More pictures in flickr, of course.

Happy Easter!

let's pretend it's spring!

We haven't done anything terribly exciting lately (obviously, or I certainly would have talked about it).  Since things were so quiet here on our little corner of the internet, I figured it was time to do something.  So the Pups and I had a "let's pretend it's spring!" adventure (it coincided very well with Papa's need to pretend that a weekend day was a work day, ahem). 

 We had fun.  No surprise, considering we were playing outside.

Tons more shots in flickr!

just your atypical day in new england

Over the last few weeks we have been having unseasonably warm weather in New England.  At this time last year, we were buried in snow.  This year, not so much. 

It was so warm over the weekend (60 degrees F) that we played outside (without jackets!) for a few hours.

We aren't complaining about the weather at all, but it's a little weird.  Just an observation.  A few more shots in flickr.http://www.flickr.com/photos/wanderingseals/

par-tay

Most Esteemed Son #2 turned 3 today. It was a big deal. There was a party at school. And then there was a PAR-TAY at home (no, I don't know what the difference is either--besides desperate grasping for hipster status and the other being, well, English). We had fun. And, of course, HE had fun. So there we are.

Photos and (more) video in flickr.