Thursday, January 7, 2010

Happy New Year 2010

We had our usual family New Year's Eve party. We watch a movie (being sure to end by 9:00 so Dylan doesn't fall asleep), play lots of board games, and eat lots of yummy junk food (including our favorite, chocolate fondue.) My sister Kim and her family were going to join us from Tennessee, but her baby was sick and they had to stay home. We sure missed them.


Making our party hats.


Plenty of board games to get us to midnight.






Dylan's happy dance when he wins a game.


Good food is always required.


Looks like a party!



The sparkling cider is ready to toast in the New Year.


Countdown, then popping confetti balloons at the stroke of midnight.


We love a good New Year's Eve party. Come join us next year.

Family Time

The day after Christmas was a really nice sunny day, cool but not cold. We needed to get out of the house and decided it was a great day to spend outside. Perfect day for a bike ride.

Bruce spent a couple hours getting the bikes ready, with 2 trips to the store for some parts. We got them loaded into the trailer and headed out.

Our first stop was Harris Lake. They are supposed to have some nice bike trails, one is really short, perfect for our 6 year old rider. As we pulled into the park, we saw signs saying the bike trails were closed. I don't know if they are always closed this time of year, or if they were just too wet. We had gotten a few days of rain. So now what?

Bruce thought he remembered an entrance to the American Tobacco Trail not too far up the road. So off we went. We had never used this trail, so we weren't sure what to expect from it. Sure enough, it was right where he thought. And even better, as we pulled into the parking lot, there were a few other families unloading bikes. As we began unloading the bikes, we found something bad. Dylan's bike had shifted during the drive, and his tire was up against the trailer's tire. He now had 2 huge holes. It was already getting late in the day, no time for another trip to the store for a new tire. I guess bike riding just wasn't meant to be for us that day.

Since we were there and it was such a nice day, we decided to just head down the trail on foot and see what was there. It's a great trail, very flat and pretty, with lots to see. There were plenty of bikers and a couple of horseback riders. We even spotted an otter swimming along in a swampy area. We made it 1 mile, and then headed back to the car. We'll have to try bike riding it another day.

Christmas 2009

We had a nice quiet Christmas with just the 5 of us. It was our first Christmas alone, without extended family since Courtney was 1! We had a great day together.

Of course we started with presents. The kids woke us up at 6:45, not too bad. I try to get them to take it slow and let us see each gift, watch each other open them. But they always want to rush through it and open the next one. So it always goes too fast for me.







In the afternoon, we decorated a gingerbread house. The kids loved this, of course eating it was even better.


Courtney's side



Dylan's side

Mom and Travis did the roof.

mmmmmmmm . . .


It was nice to relax, enjoy a day together with nowhere to go and nothing to do. I made a nice but super easy dinner to end the evening.

Only 365 left until next Christmas!