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...

california traditions

As we do every year in the summer, we headed west to California to visit with family and a few friends (this was at the endof June/beginning of July (at least I am still in the same season, right?).

As always the time was enjoyable.

Fun in the sun, beach, food and shenanigans that people who are on vacation normally participate in.As much as the adults love our reunion, the people who have the best time at this annual get together are the kids.We took the annual Seal Pack pic on the beach again (it's a tradition now!). Funny.

We went to Benihana (tradition!).We went to Disneyland this year, it was as chaotic as you would imagine. But it was fun.

There are a ton of pictures in flickr, which comes as a complete and total surprise, I am sure.

out with the old, in with the new

Due to personal injury (and perhaps a little bit of stupidity), this post is happening a little later than I had planned. I threw out my back while lifting Pup 2.0 from a snowbank (because my life is full of glamour like that). I also sliced into my thumb while washing a pot (not one of my finer moments of 2010, but there you are). In any case, we had a great Christmas. We hope you did too.The pups were royally spoiled. Papa and I agreed that this year was a little...excessive.

We did our traditional Christmas Curry (it'a really ust chicken curry, but if you say it's Christmas Curry, it makes it sound really festive) for dinner, tasty and easy! We take the (extremely) low stress approach to Christmas dinner.

We made pear cake, because is sounded good (it tasted good too).

We took advantage of the after Christmas snow (storm?) to do a little sledding in the back yard. I think snow sports will probably be enjoyed more by Papa and Seal Pup 1.0, because Seal Pup 2.0 and I are the only ones who think that whole playing in the snow business when it's 10 degrees outside is crazypants.We spent our New Year's Eve at the public library in our new neighborhood, because we know how to party. Fun and functional at the same time, library cards for all!

We partied so hard, none of us really made it to midnight. But that's okay, it just means we will be well rested for a great 2011, or something, I have no idea; but, we are looking forward to a great new year.

Happy New Year! And of course, there are lots more pictures in flickr.

to florida or bust

Had we known that we would be in the middle of a move during the holiday season, we would not have planned to go away for Thanksgiving, but we also wouldn't have had as much fun.

We headed down to Orlando, Florida for Thanksgiving week. We stopped to visit with family on our way down.

We went to the Magic Kingdom for two days (we also did a day at Sea World, as is done).

We decided to just kick off Seal Pup 2.0's birthday celebration a little early.It was a good time...

...except when the characters get to close to the Birthday Boy, I guess.

We were also able to stop and see my mom on the way back home.

There are more pictures in flickr; but, my favorite ones are the attempts to get a good Christmas picture for the annual card of Holly and Jolly (you can call them Christmas cards if you want, that's what most people call them). You can tell which pictures are the attempts because the Pups are together. I was thinking about putting together a montage of all the fails in which they either look,1) stoned, 2) confused, 3) mad, or, 4) insane. This one is my favorite, I leave it to you to guess the correct adjective.

It's ridiculous; and, it does nothing for the holiday spirit. It does crack me up, though.

california days

At the end of June, we made our annual trek to the west coast to hang out with family (and a friend or two). Who can complain about a week at the beach, really?

Especially when you got to the San Diego Zoo.
And Benihana (it's like a tradition!).
And a playground or two.Oh, and Legoland.
Well, actually, you can complain Legoland if you decide to swing on a chain suspended from a barricade and almost knock yourself senseless on a cement curb. Yes, then you'd have something to complain about, I guess. But then, your parents will probably buy you tons of Lego-related plastic-y bits after you start to normally again, and that might just make you feel better.
The week, for us, is mostly about getting the kids together with their cousins and letting them hang out.

They have fun together and we have fun watching them. There are many more vacation shots in our flickr account; and tons more in (Grand)Papa Seal's flickr account too.

we got yer olympics right here

We spent President's Weekend (and Valentine's Day) in Vermont. The person who had the most fun was probably Seal Pup 1.0. He spent a day in ski school for 3 and 4 year olds.
He had a really great time. So great, in fact, that we acquired a pair of skis for him for the next ski season. Not being one who spends time on the slopes, I can't find the joy in all of this, but Papa is excited at the prospect of having someone to ski with. But SP1.0 needs to get a little better first, lest he knock Papa down, unapologetically.

We had fun watching the kid have fun. SP2.0 is already strategizing ways to convince us to let him ski next season, which would work out best if he would actually learn to talk, but there you are.

SP1.0 can't wait to go back to Smuggler's Notch (or anywhere, really), to ski again.


And for those who don't ski, Vermont is also home to something else. Ben and Jerry's.
We took a ton of pictures, the fun ones are up in flickr!

thankful.

Thanksgiving has come and gone. We are all walking around with a pound or two (or five, whatever) extra about our persons; but we are none the worse for wear. I found myself especially reticent last week since Thanksgiving was, traditionally, a holiday devoted to my father and his visit to New England, as well as the enjoyment of good food. While my dad couldn't join us this year (and won't in future), I think he would be pleased to know that we ate good food. A lot of it, actually (see previous note about extra poundage). We also watched the new Star Trek movie, which I am absolutely certain my dad would have loved (it was quite good, and I say that as a non-Trekkie, not that there is anything wrong with trekkies, perse).

We also kicked off SP 2.0's birthday week (the countdown to '1' began on Thanksgiving this year).

Don't worry, there will be more birthday coverage later, I promise! There is a lot of birthday goodness that will need reporting! Get excited!

This year, we had two Thanksgiving meals, one on Thursday...which, you know, was Thanksgiving. And then we celebrated again on Friday. There was a goodly amount of fabulous food (if I do say so myself, and yes, I do). For those interested in such things, you can find the menu for the dinner tables here (or at least what was intended, I had to change the soup (no fennel) and I opted to make cupcakes instead of the meringue cake that only I would eat).

We had two meals because we had a special visit from some Adventuring Seals and we wanted to celebrate accordingly.

It was fun. And the cousins had a ridiculous good time with each other.
Even the youngest ones!

Watching all the Pups play with each other reminded us all about how we wish we could get them together more often. I think it was a good trip/visit (one of these kids got really sick after this tire swing ride, and it wasn't one of the ones from the west coast).

The trip was a short one, however. Papa had to load up the van to get the Adventurerers back home a few short days after they arrived. Since they were flying out of Boston, there was a little stop in Boston Common to see some ducks before the long flight home.Thanks for visiting!

And for those interested in such things...there are tons more pictures in flickr (hello, grandmas.)