Christmas

Christmas Eve

 No pictures of Case in this bunch, because he has better sense than to run around in the freezing cold.

Because she is cheerful and loves to be outside regardless of weather, our Hawaiian baby is delighted by the snow (to my great surprise.)

 Her opinion is certainly affected by how very much she loves snowmen.

New house

Here is our new house and both of our cars. 

Our home is the left side of a duplex, it's about the same size as our row house in Hawaii was, but laid out a bit differently.  We're still not sure how all of our stuff is going to fit, since our household goods have still not arrived.

As you can see, Marc's Mini made a friend.  They're the same age but the recent addition is a little bigger.  The extra space allows people with legs to ride behind Marc and provides us the opportunity to carry a single large suitcase, or two small ones, instead of a single, under-packed, manila envelope.

As much fun as it was to see everyone last month, we are very glad to be done moving and in our home.  We should get our stuff this week and finally be able to finish moving in, after eight weeks of camping out in six different places.  We don't mind a little upheaval during transition, but we're ready for this particular move to be over.  Our moving truck was supposed to have arrived in town on Friday, but we haven't yet received word that it is here.  Wish us luck.

Turtle beach

It's good to get out in nature, tide pools are particularly calming.

Turtle beach continues to live up to its name.

River is super sweet, she runs up just to say "Mama!" and give hugs.  (Sometimes she hugs Dad too.)

They said not to approach closer than the rope.  Today that wasn't much of a restriction.  Case had to be reminded not to lean over so that he could pet the turtle.  Sadly, most reptiles don't like back scritches.

 

River holding on to Dad's finger, to keep him safe on the walk back to the car.

Most of our photos are candid for a reason.  First because they are natural and thus more interesting than your average posed photo.  Secondly, because the kids hate posing . . . which admittedly can make for an interesting posed photo.

Hiking

 When asked what we should do today, Case asked to hike.  So we took him to a terrific isolated beach we explored while he was in school last week.

 He was quite pleasant for the hike.  Walking to and from school every day has made him way less of a complainer.  It helps that the path is astoundingly beautiful too.  I have taken SO MANY photos of the water there, trying to capture the exquisite gradient of the ocean.  When I finally get it right I'll print it 5 feet tall.

 Then he hunkered down in the rocks like a little troll and watched the soap opera lives of the inhabitants of a tide pool. 

 Beach baby had a lovely time as well, splashing in the water and rolling in the sand. 

She made herself comfortable for a little rest.

Then went back to throwing rocks in the water.

The kids eventually got tired, so we hiked back to the car where they both fell asleep on the ride home.

Good times.

Icee

 There is nothing more delicious when it is hot.

Artiste

 More coloring.

 There were some casualties.