we ski (in connecticut)

And by "we" I mean everyone in the family except me.   I am not really a skier and I don't feel bad about it; but, I lounge in a ski hut like a champ. 

Last weekend, we wandered over to New Hartford, Connecticut to Ski Sundown.  Papa and the boys hadn't yet skied the snows of our own state, so we thought it might be worth the try. 

It was good fun.  Everyone skied at least one blue trail, and I drank a lot of coffee.

We were meant to try another Connecticut mountain (Mohawk) this weekend; but, everyone was sick, so we just celebrated Papa's birthday in our usual low-key way. 

Which is not a bad thing at all.

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!

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!

where there is snow, there is fun?

Over the past weekend we got some snow.  It wasn't really supposed to be that much; but, well, it was enough to make work for the grown ups and provide entertainment for the kids (mostly of the sledding variety, but they think shoveling snow is fun, too--oh, would that they hold on to this ridiculous notion)

 I don't really care for the whole snow bunny bit, to be honest.  But since Papa is going away next week (to someplace sunny and warm, I feel compelled to add), we figured it was a good idea for me to learn how to use the snow blower.  So, I now have a new skill--removing snow with a power tool, which is important...especially if it snows and I am the only one available to de-snow our driveway. So, get excited

After my new snow blowing skills were sufficiently demonstrated I went back inside where it was warm to watch everyone else mess about in the snow.  Now that is how you spend a snow day.

 More snowy pictures 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/

vermont, in a snow storm

I forgot to mention our great winter adventure. During spring break (that would be March), while normal New Englanders took themselves some place warm , we wandered north to ski country. Our timing could not have been better, apparently. We made it to Stowe, Vermont, just before they shut down the state for the fifth largest snow storm in the state's history. Snow storm or no, there was skiing to be done, well, by the crazy people. I am not a skier, so when Seal Pup 1.0 begged us to let him go back to the hotel room because skiing in a blizzard was no fun, I was willing to bring him in. Papa Seal, weighing the economics of the situation (the class was already paid for, so....) decided, that it would be a good opportunity to build up his moxy (or whatever skiing in snowstorms builds up).
The second day of skiing went much better than the first because the storm blew over and Vermont was left with a foot and a half (maybe more) of fresh snow for the skiers to go crazy on. And go crazy they did. Seal Pup 1.0 finished he second day of lessons by skiing down a green triangle run with his class, and then he did it all over again with his dad. Good times.

(Pretend there is a video here. There was supposed to be, but, well, nevermind).

You might be wondering what Seal Pup 2.0 and I did. Let me tell you! We ate, slept, went shopping and watched other people exert energy performing the fine art of skiing. I can't speak for the masses, but that's my idea of a good vacation.We also stopped at Ben and Jerry's on the way back home. As one does.

love was in the air

Somehow, I failed to tell you about the Valentine's Day high jinx we endured in our household. There were cupcakes (it seems like there are always sweets of one sort or another).

There were flowers.

And there were, of course, Valentines. Seal Pup 1.0 decided he was going to write out all his Valentines this year (2.0 decided to just take a nap and let me do his).

He had a lot of fun. It only took him two hours (in which I was required to watch his progress, weeeEEEeee!).

snow daze

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would not call snow the greatest thing ever. It's cold, it's wet and it requires movement, these are not things that equal a winning combination. But the kids, they like snow.
Which is okay since they think shoveling snow is fun right now.

But I think even they were pleased about the whole snow blower acquisition initiated by the pater familias.

Probably not as pleased as Papa was, but pleased in their own way.
Because less time Papa spends moving snow about in the driveway means more time sledding, which is great, if you are into that sort of thing.You may be shocked to discover that there are more pictures of snow (play and removal) in our flickr site, the most recent photographs are at the end of the set.

bonjour!

I meant to talk about our big family trip before we actually went away; but, isn't it so much better that I didn't and can just dive in now? Yes, let's go with that.

So last week, the Wandering Seals wandered across the Atlantic and spent spring break in France. We concentrated our adventures in Normandy with the occasional trip into Paris by train.

It was awesome, and when I saw "awesome," I actually mean mind-blowingly spectacular.
I am not going to lie, international travel with two kids is no cake-walk. It is not for the feint of heart, it is not for the weak, people! But oh, was it worth it!We left Friday(3/5) evening thinking that the kids would, obviously sleep through the whole flight there and wake up ready to go.
Obviously, we are fools. They were so amped up that it took them a few hours to finally sleep and by the time we got there, everyone was tired.

We stayed at a beautiful place in the town of Connelles, right on the Seine (our balcony gave us a great view).

We spent time in Honfleur, quite possibly, the prettiest fishing village, ever.

And we also went to Caen to see the World War II Memorial Museum.
We went to Paris, of course.


Twice, just to get in as much as possible (I can not go to the Paris and not go to Monmatre).
And we went to Rouen.

We also went to Bayeux.
We went to the American Cemetery on the D-Day Beaches and saw Omaha Beach (this was actually the whole purpose of the trip, really--or at least what sparked the initial plan to go).

We spent time in Lyon a la Foret (the prettiest village in France)
.And then we bopped into little towns near Connelles like Val du Ruil, Elbeauf, Louviers, Ande, and Herqueville to shop, eat and explore. We had a great time.
And in case you were unaware, the most popular tourist destination in Europe is Disneyland Paris. I know, it suprised me too, but if Rick Steeves says it's so, it must be true.I put 30% of our photographs from the trip up in flickr; but, there is no processing and no additional information there (because, seriously, I don't have time to comment on 300 images in a timely manner). If you want a little narration and would like to see pictures with a little bit more fine-tuning and more critical selection (hi Papa!) please check out my other flickr account here, there you will find only 10%--but that's still over a hundred pictures, so grab a snack, I guess.

Au revoir!