out with the old...

Since the year is coming to an end and everything...I figured now was as good a time as any to talk about the stuff we did at the end of this year.

October

 The Pups started tennis lessons. The Elder loved it. The younger, not so much.

 We did our annual trip to Holmberg's Orchards to pick apples.

We also went to Rhinebeck, New York for the Sheep and Wool Festival.  Good times.

They both started piano lessons with a musician who plays violin and viola for the local orchestra.  They like it lots.

The kids were ghosts for Halloween.  Pup 1.0 didn't want to dress up at all until he realized that no costumery meant no trick-or-treating.  Then he co-opted 2.0's great plan.  A ghost. 

Yeah, I don't know either.  Turns out, it didn't matter because hurrican Sandy canceled Halloween in our town and we had no power for a few days. 

We lost two trees, but ultimately, we didn't have much to complain about.

Soccer.

 

November

 I had a rare books conference to attend in Philadelphia so the whole family went down for a few days. Fun times.

 Thanksgiving was quiet. Just us at home.

 

December

 Seal Pup the younger had a birthday.

We got a Christmas tree.

The kids had deep discussion with Santa Claus about Star Wars Lego toys and airplanes.

And we celebrated Christmas with gifts and such; but there was also church and the singing.

Oh, and there was a snow storm two days ago.  There's still a bunch of snow on the ground.

 

There.  All caught up.  See you next year!

summer wind down

After our trip to California we were busy doing all sorts of things.

We picked plums from our plum tree and canned it (because that's the kind of people we are...the throw it in a jar and see how it tastes, kind).

There were lots of trips to the playground.

My mom bought the boys a playground set thing.  Papa thought it could be built in a day; much like Rome, that was not the case.

We are still working on it.  It might get built by the middle of fall?  Maybe?

 We went to Lake Compounce to celebrate Coast Guard Day (annual tradition!).

 The kids were occupied with preschoold (the Seal Pup 2.0) and various camps.  Seal Pup 1.0's favorite was Arts Camp.  There was drawing, circus and theater arts.  There was performance at the end of the week.  Pretty good stuff.

Child the Elder and I went to an art museum before braving the Outlets shopping crowd for school clothes during Connecticut tax free week (a big deal).

And the biggest news of all?  Seal Pup 1.0, learned how to ride his bicycle without training wheels.  To quote Papa: "so it takes approximately 2 to 3 hours to teach your kid to ride a bicycle without traning wheels.  I Googled it.  There's a You Tube video."  Of course you did.  Of course there is.

It was a good summer.

 

early summer ketchup

Since everything we did in June can be summed up in one post.  I will do that.  So June... we watched some sunsets. 

Seal Pup 1.0 finished kindergarten.  We celebrated Father's Day.  We went strawberry picking.  I went to San Diego by myself for a conference.

We went to Lake Compounce (to take advantage of a few free passes we received last year). 

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.

...and things here

So let me fill you in on what's been going on with us.

Seal Pup 1.0, or "Most Esteemed Son #1", as I sometimes like to think of him, had a second first day of kindergarten because we pulled him out of the local school to put him in the regional magnet school program when a space opened up. We were concerned about traumatizing him, but he has settled in fine. Moving from a half day to a full day program with solid programming in languages, art, and music...it's a big deal; and, well, there's the bus ride.
Oh, Pup 1.0 also learned to play chess, and it's become another big deal. I played a 30-minute game with him and the game ended in a stalemate. I am not sure whose chess skills this says more about, mine or his.

Both pups have become models for me for various photo projects over the last few months.That's always exciting.
And then there was Halloween last month. Pup 1.0 was "The President of the United States Running for Re-election in 2012" and Pup 2.0 was the lead agent of his secret service detail. In case you are wondering, his party affiliation was the Independent Party.I went to Texas last week to attend the International Quilt Festival and I saw a lot of quilts...clearly, this might be the top of the list for high point of the year.
Now we are gearing up for Thanksgiving. Because food is involved and that can mean only good things.