Christmas visit to Phoenix

At the airport for the trip down:

Cousins playing games:


Madeleine loved the trampoline:

I loved these pictures of the boy eating a cucumber roll:

The kids had lots of fun:

Christmas visit to Spokane

The birds can't get out either

In the winter, a morning at the zoo with a stop at the zoomazium and a wander through the warm rainforest building is a fine thing indeed.



The kids had a fine time playing with this gate. I wish i had an aural component to this post - the sound of the bamboo clattering together while the kids pushed through was really pretty cool.

sleeping like a baby

At night, before i get into bed, i check on the kids. I give them kisses, tuck them back in, and tiptoe out before they know i've visited.




There is not a lot of time, during the day, to reflect on how lucky we are. But, at night, when they are peaceful and still, i can take a moment to be thankful and appreciate them.

The Dog

You know, our friend Zak turned seven yesterday. That means that we've had our dog for six years. (And, therefore, that the dog is about six and a half years old.)

Well, we finally found out something about das Hund. To preface, let me explain that we found him through a pointer rescue group, and adopted him from a humane society that billed him as a lab/pointer mix. The trainer we hired to help us figure out what to do with his spazzy self once opined that Sampson potentially had some coyote blood. The dog's exact genetic background has always been the topic of some discussion, and people love to take guesses - boxer, lab, dalmatian, etc. etc.

Well, now we know:



Ah, well, i love the guy no matter where he came from!

Crowning Glory, by Elise

... I was just trying to send Elise a picture of her hat in action. However, i am a failure at sending photographs, so i'm doing it the long way around - behold a post from the zoo yesterday. (With some bonus pictures of the boy in his too-cute rain coat.)

I suppose i should figure out how to fix red-eye.

plum tuckered out

I'm sure we'll recover from the holidays sometime, though.