Christmas in Columbus

Spent Christmas in Columbus...

 

Actually, this isn't from Columbus. It's just an odd-or-end which needed a home. This is Josh in an Eastman practice room.

 

Played a game with Sam while folks were finishing dinner at Aunt Amy's the day after Christmas. (Well, the second day of Christmas.) We played a game where we each went around and took a photo and the other had to find it. A photo scavenger hunt. This one was from Amy's auxiliary bathroom.

 

Sam playing with our gift to him, a new and interesting marble racer. Okay, of course it's new. New to us, more to the point.

Mommy helping Josh open his stocking at Nana and Grandad's.

N&G opening their stockings. Note the Small Christmas tree, which amazingly survived Josh's presence.

We stayed two nights at Stu and Sue's, and three at N&G's. Zoe spent the whole time at N&G's since Tiger and she might not have gotten along. She has a favorite chair in the dining room. This one. Here, Josh has discovered that chair.

Cousin Kevin opening gifts. Calendars!

Aunt Sue and Sam at the gift opening. Sam did eventually get out of his jammies.

Uncle Stu entertaining Josh using his iPad.

The boys--Uncle Stu, Cousin Kevin, Sam, Josh and I--made a trip to the Columbus Zoo. It was delightfully empty. Here, Josh is sitting on a baby brass warthog. Really. I am sure there was a plaque nearby with the words, "This young brass warthog is a gift from..." There is certainly a sign warning that the brass statues may be hot. Not that day, though.

These are fish swimming through the air. Apparently. This is part of the polar-bear exhibit where you walk under a stream where the fish and, I am told, the bears swim. Never seen a bear in there.

This is Josh standing in a bear trap, which is just a huge pipe with a grate door which can be dropped to trap the bear (or toddler) inside. Doesn't he look so trusting?

No caption is needed for this photo.

The boys actually spent a tremendous amount of time playing in N&G's basement, under the Ping-Pong table, with a set of remote-controlled racing cars which N&G bought for Kevin many years ago. It can't be observed enough that kids often play with the toy which cost no money.

Josh and Grandad playing with Josh's new locomotive puzzle. (Melissa & Doug, which makes us good parents, right?) 

As we drove back to Rochester we listed some of the enjoyable moments from the past week:

• Drinking a latte (Susan) or hot chocolate (Tim) at a huge local indoor shopping mall while the boys run around like maniacs in the blessedly enclosed play area.
• Watching Sam play with younger kids and make the laugh at Polaris, and earlier in the week at another nearby mall. So peaceful.
• Watching Josh open his new garbage truck! He literally squealed, "GARBAGE TRUCK!" My hat's off to Susan for her savvy gift picks this year.
• Playing with Sam's Spirograph (from N&G).
• Reading Winter's Bone (a stocking gift to Susan). I think I need to read this to Sam. It might readjust his expectations.
• Visiting with family and friends! So good to see everyone again.
• Trolling around with the boys through Mom's Artistic Inner Sanctum (her studio) while she was sleeping. (Don't worry Mom, nothing was hurt!) Love to see the latest projects and to hear Sam ooh and ahh over the previous successes. :-)
• Chatting with Poison Control. Twice! Once for Josh, who got into Nana's dietary supplements early the day before Christmas when everyone else was asleep. (The upshot: if he doesn't start vomiting, don't worry.) Later, last night, when Sam got his second dose of allergy medicine. (The upshot: he'll be dry as a bone for 24 hours.) Phew.
• The Zoo! So nice of Kevin and Unca Stu to host that outing.
• Visiting Inniswood Gardens. Just a gorgeous place, even in winter, and a great way to wear the boys out.
• Reading and watching the YA book Holes.
• Driving to and from Columbus on bone-dry roads.
• Christmas-Eve seafood chowder for the adults.
• Christmas-Eve Spaghetti-Os for the boys. (So nice knowing they'll happily vacuum it down!)
• Receiving a Box Of Meat from Ruth and Paul! Love winter grilling...
• Eating the Christmas baked goods: maple fudge, maple fudge with imbedded bacon, chocolate fudge, butterscotch cookies, brownies, chocolate-ginger cookies, those holiday creams Mom puts out, chocolate "bark", etc. Yum!
• Napping on Stu and Sue's bed while Josh naps. In fact, that was so great, I am going to go nap now...

Oh, and as a bonus, here's a video showing how you should pass the time if you are invited to Aunt Amy's new house:

A "montage" which is what we call a bunch of random photos

Josh and I wander through Eastman during Sam's Friday 5:30 PM piano lesson. In this pic we'd found an open practice room and Josh was enjoying one of their Steinways.

This was just before dinner recently. Josh was hungry enough to suck on the package of pepperoni.

This is from a Wednesday night Cadets meeting. Susan often bring Josh and they wander the halls while Sam and I do Cadets. Various other youths meet at the church at the same time, so there are lots of people to run into. Here Josh is saying hi to the much larger Kevin Smith, eldest son of our friends Jim and Emily.

The other day before lunch Susan took this of a despondent Josh. She says a minute or two later he had food and she was showing him some Frosty the Snowman on the laptop and all was right with the world.

On a recent Saturday morning Sam decided to create a chromatic Lego sky needle. This preceded the inevitable crash. Gravity always wins.

Another Cadets night photo, this time of Josh doing a puzzle with Mommy.

O, Christmas Tree

Last weekend we bought a Christmas tree. Last year we loved our Austrian pine, so we aimed to get the same this year. They were fresh out of pre-cuts, so we decided to head out into the vast field with saw and cart and cut our down. When we've done this before it hasn't always been a great experience, but I am happy to say this time the boys loved it (Josh helped the with cart, and Sam made huge, huge snowballs) and we managed to find a tree we really like. It's a Scotch pine, whose needles aren't as long as the Austrian, but it's drinking really well and we love it.

Josh helping with the cart

It was just above freezing, which meant the snow was heavy and a little damp, making it perfect packing snow.

Here it is! Maybe this weekend we decorate it...

Amazing what romance can be inspired by the right atmosphere. :-)

Thanksgiving in Columbus

This year we made a last-minute decision to drive south to Columbus for Thanksgiving, and were grateful everyone there not only made room around the table for us but even put us up for several nights. We stayed one day longer than intended because we were running ahead of a vast winter storm. In fact, we managed, by leaving Tuesday afternoon, to run along its edge, which saved us from any real accumulation, but still meant slippery roads and tense driving the whole way. An hour north of Columbus the precip stopped and the roads dried off, and what a relief that was!

The Westerville Collinses were kind to put us up (and put up with us) for three nights. AND they didn't send us away empty-handed: we not only got a king-sized electric blanket, but a Talking Condiment Holder shaped like a large hot dog.

In fact, we benefited from both of our hosts--eating an abundance of bacon at N&G's (yum!) and taking away with us the Thanksgiving turkey carcass, which Susan wasted no time turning into delicious broth.

Wednesday we took a trip to the nearby Easton's outdoor mall, to show the boys the giant Christmas tree and the outdoor train set:

The train set us just gorgeous. This is only one small part

Sam does a convincing imitation of a Munch painting

As previously mentioned, Sam's been enjoying learning piano, and was happy to give a couple of informal recitals at Nana and Grandad's. 

It was fun to catch up in person. Here's Grandad sporting a cowboy hat from N&G's bin of toys.

Nothing quite so memorable for Sam, I am sure, as horsing around with Unca Stu.

We enjoyed the hospitality at Chataeu Rangoon tremendously. Sam slept in Emily's room, Josh slept in the guest room with us, and our hosts were very flexible with letting us expand out chaos into their living space. Here Cousin Emily is playing with Josh who is enjoying a fun Winnie The Pooh bath toy hanging for the purpose from their front door.

The day after Thanksgiving we moved Aunt Amy out of N&G's and into her new house in Powell, just 15 minutes away. (Amy, Powell?) Here we are setting up her large, one-of-a-kind bed frame. Truly an intelligence test. The boys enjoyed AA's new place as well, spending the entire time sliding down the stairs on their stomachs, Sam head-first.

We spent three nights at Stu and Sue's before switching over for a night to N&G's During the whole trip, N&G were kind enough to take care of Zoe, who I am sure enjoyed the peace and quiet... and also enjoyed exploring Aunt Amy's territory. Here Zoe's clearly indicating a desire to move along with Amy.

Had a delightful and filling Thanksgiving meal. Well, okay, we were at the annex of the dining-room table and spent the meal managing Josh and, to a much lesser extent, Sam. But the food did migrate down to us and what we ate was delicious. Even got to meet Aunt Ellen, Aunt Sue's sister, whom we hadn't seen since Sam was born.

All in all a very pleasant Thanksgiving. :-)

Flash Goon!

We went to Splash Lagoon in Erie, Pennsylvania in early November to celebrate Sam's eighth birthday. 

Or, as Josh calls it, Flash Goon. 

And the Westerville Collinses joined us, which was really fun. 

I have no pictures of the interior of Flash Goon. I didn't want to bring electronics into the land of moistness. But I can share a couple of photos of the rest of the trip. We stayed in the Holiday Inn, the same hotel the WCs were staying. Last year's hotel was separated from Flash Goon by about fifteen minutes of indoor tunnels and hallways. This time we just walked through a door. In was LUXURY.

Enough of the talkie talk. Here are some photos:

The first night we ate at an Applebee's, I think. 

Here is cousin Emily massaging Sam's fleeing head.

Josh, in the hotel room, living large.

Very pleasant weekend. Sam went down more water slides than he'd been courageous enough for last year. And Josh totally exploded into the kiddie slides, even going down some face-first. Kid's a hazard. And WAY WAY easier to parents in that context.