Holiday Whirlwind

Here I am playing catch-up again. My blog may be doomed thanks to Facebook posts that keep my family somewhat updated and my increasing habit of personal journal writing (not a bad thing). Still, I think there is value to the sort of family journal that this blog has become. So I will keep trying...

November highlights:

• Voted! I was excited to cast my vote for a woman. I was not excited when the devil himself won the election. How long will it take for him to get impeached?
• Got flu shots. Oliver cried, Bruce had a panic attack, I squealed, and Phoebe didn't even notice when she was stuck by the needle. She basked in her toughness for a few weeks.
• Went to a zillion school events. Having three kids at three schools makes for lots of weeknight events. The middle school had a "health and wellness night" where we did a scavenger hunt and some other activities and won Boston Celtics tickets in a raffle; Bruce and I went to the game and had fun, but it was late for a weeknight and we were surrounded by stupid drunk people. Oliver's class had a potluck and sang a few songs as part of a presentation. 
• Attended the Harvard-Yale football game. It's a big rivalry here and tickets are hard and expensive to come by, but one of Scott's coworkers gave him tickets so we felt obligated to use them. Harvard and Yale aren't actually that good at football, so it was like watching high school football in a bigger stadium and with freezing naked college kids across the bleachers.
• Thanksgiving! We started the day off with a win and course record at the Wild Turkey Trot, then came home and cooked all day. We had the missionaries over along with an elderly man from church and a neighbor of ours who moved here from India a few months ago and had never experienced Thanksgiving.  
• Black Friday at the Zoo! We spent the day avoiding traditional retail and instead went to the Franklin Park Zoo during the day and Zoo Lights at Stone Zoo at night. 

First big snow at the neighborhood park!

Learning gun safety before going shooting with Uncle Chris.

Sledding and tubing in Ohio with family!

December highlights:

•  Selling fudge with the Boy Scouts. Bruce's scout troop made, packaged, and sold fudge as a fundraiser for scout camp. We sold fudge in the train stations and to friends and family and it occupied way too much time.
• Bruce's piano recital. He has been Skyping with his piano teacher for a few months and we had a recital with the other 10 or so Skype students. It isn't quite the same sitting in your living room watching the tiny screen for a recital, but it is sure convenient. Getting a teacher to our house has been a pain in the past: parking is hard to find and traffic is always awful, so if a teacher agrees to come it's going to cost an arm and a leg. Bruce also had a recital with his jazz band and they were very impressive!
• My church calling took over my life. As humanitarian service coordinator, there was lots to do this Christmas. I organized a toy drive through the Salvation Army, put together a wish list and fundraiser for a family in the community whose house burned down, and organized another blood drive (which I also donated at). 
• Had a birthday. With the business of everything else going on, I barely noticed turning 35. Scott did get me a cake and I got a few gifts. I'm pretty sure I got a few gray hairs from this month too.
• Phoebe graduated from her taekwondo class. She got her double black stripe belt and moved up to the youth class. It's much more intense and they add sparring too. So far, she is loving it.
• OHIO! We looked forward to this all month and were so excited to finally get in the car and go. It's a long drive, but the kids were good on the way there. We attended the family Christmas Eve bash, visited with friends, saw all nine of my siblings and their families, went shooting, did some shopping, sneaked a date in with Scott, did lots of trail running, had a bonfire, went sledding, did lots of eating, and had a wonderful Christmas morning too. The kids each other really meaningful gifts this year; I was so impressed by them. For instance, Phoebe bought Oliver a Star Wars 5-minute stories book and she got Bruce some comic books. We made it back to Boston for the new year, but the kids are already asking when we will be going to Ohio again.

Mars Cousin Camp 2016

One of the major highlights of our trip to Ohio was attending Mars Cousin Camp. Our group has grown quite large (35 grandkids and 2 more on the way) and unruly, so we've outgrown most cabins and normal-size dwellings. Camp was instead centered around central Ohio since several of my siblings live around there. The kids and I stayed at a different house each night to squeeze the most quality time with each sibling. We stayed with Dave and Sarah one night; the kids enjoyed playing on the trampoline, chasing kittens, watching chickens, and having a sleepover in the living room. I enjoyed going for a long run with Dave, who knew every dog and its temperament within a 10-mile radius of his house and knew every "water stop" (unattended and easily accessible water hose, usually on the side of a house). I also enjoyed coming home from that run to Sarah's french toast, made from homemade bread and eggs from their chickens alongside homemade strawberry jam and honey from their beehives. Awesome!

Anyway, Cousin Camp started out with an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for my nephew, Josh. We all watched him earn his Eagle award, then went out for lunch afterward (that would be Phoebe harassing Uncle Will above while waiting for pizza). After getting some sustenance, we headed out for the main event: canoeing!

 We are such a large group that it takes forever to do anything. So it took awhile to carpool to the boating place. Then get everyone fitted for life jackets. Then get oars for everyone. Then get loaded onto buses to get shuttled to the starting point.

 The kids were pumped. Oliver was so pumped that he fell asleep on the bus-ride upriver. We all split up into different canoes, trying to distribute kids and adults somewhat equally.

 I lucked out and got my nephew Xander to come with me and a sleeping Oliver. He did most of the work.

 Phoebe went with Janis and declared herself captain of the ship.

Oliver slept for five river miles, missing the entire thing. He woke up a few minutes later and said, "Where's my oar?" He was a bit confused.

We headed to a farm-themed restaurant for dinner and pretty much took over the place. Somewhere behind all those cousins is a tractor. That night, we stayed with Erik and Lois. We slept on the floor/ couch/ cot, played in their backyard, ate peaches and tomatoes from their garden, and went to church with them.
That afternoon we went to a homeless shelter to serve food - our last planned cousin camp activity.

We chopped watermelons and assembled nacho salads, but in the end I didn't help all that much: Oliver woke up from a nap while there and went berserk. I think the combination of sleeping in a different place every night and then waking up in a strange place with a crowd of strange faces threw him over the edge. He wouldn't calm down, so we left and headed for Karyn's house - our landing pad for the night. See you next time, Mars Cousin Camp!

More Ohio Adventures

While in Ohio, we had some other adventures. A family friend let us come visit her awesome place that has donkeys.

We got to see a baby donkey that was just a few hours old.

We spent a lot of time at her pool.

We went swimming a few times because it was sooooo hot. 

We went to Great-Grandma's house to eat all her cookies. She gave Bruce a big box of comics that she cut from the newspaper because she knows Bruce loves comics.

We visited my brother, Dan's, backyard farm. He has a goat and alpacas...

...and chickens. 

We visited my brother, David's, house and hung out with his posse too. He also has chickens, kittens, a dog, a trampoline, beehives, play set, and a gigantic garden. The kids loved playing with their cousins. I loved going for a long run with David; he knows every road around, where all the dogs live and their temperaments, and where to find "water stops" (garden hoses close enough to the road to swipe a sip from). When we got home from our run, David's wife Sarah had homemade bread made into French toast with eggs from their chickens and served with honey from their bees and strawberry jam from their garden. This is what heaven tastes like.

We visited my sister, Karyn, and her family. We went to a cool creek and searched for frogs and salamanders and such. 

My brother, Chris, took Phoebe for an airplane ride. 

They flew over my parents' house and Phoebe got to steer for a bit. They flew by a hot air balloon too. Awesome!

Christmas 2014

 We went to Ohio for Christmas this year. The weather was great and there was hardly any traffic on the day we drove, so the trip there was relatively quick. The kids were eager to get to "Grandma's House" to play on the four-wheelers, run through the backyard, play with the collection of Legos that has been building for 40+ years, hang out with cousins, eat cookies, etc.

 We got to meet two new nephews - Jacob, this little guy pictured above, and August - both born in the past six months.

 Uncle Ben was nice enough to ride with Phoebe, who has a thing for the throttle.

 Scott was happy to grow a Christmas Beard. It got scarier for a few days after this photo, and then the miracle happened: he shaved.

 Christmas morning was wonderful as always. The kids loved tearing all the wrapping paper off of everything and loved playing with their new stuff even more.

 Phoebe got this giant stuffed giraffe, which was tricky to hide in our place for a few weeks and then haul to Ohio and back. Somehow it was still a surprise on Christmas morning. She tells me that "Giraffe" (pronounced jur-RAF-fee) is the sister she never had and insists that she eat at the table with us, sleep in her bed with her, and so on.

 My parents have a lot of wooded property and we did a lot of wandering through it. We got very muddy, but had a lot of fun hiking around with Grandpa.

Photo-dump from the Buckeye State

 Here is why we love Ohio: 1) a backyard AND a swing-set.

 2) a small-town fire department willing to let Phoebe spray the hoses, ride in the truck, and hang out shoulder to shoulder with firefighters.

 3) friends with swimming pools and toys.

 4) stuff with wheels and no downstairs neighbors to hear us wheeling stuff around on the hardwood floors.

 5) creativity welcome here! The kids decorated the four-wheeler, bikes, and tractors for their own Fourth of July backyard parade.

 6) Amish Country. We spent a day at my sister's friends' home...

 ...taking photos,

 going on buggy rides...

 We saw some beautiful places along the ride.

Bruce was not amused by the jittery buggy ride. Oliver clung to me with the same look of fear. Phoebe, however, was over the moon and wanted the horse to go faster.

 7) almost all of my family is there! We visited Grandma, weeded her gardens, and ate many many many cookies.

 8) chickens! We ate fresh eggs and even got chicken hugs.

 9) space! Phoebe and Uncle Chris took to the four-wheeler and sped all over the backyard.

 10) X-Box with Minecraft at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Plus cousins. Yessss.

 11) a bounce house to expend all excess energy.

Bruce and Phoebe pointed out all the "for sale" signs that we saw in Ohio. Now to find a neuro-interventional-radiologist position in another half-dozen years or so...