Climbing & Cocktails?!

Brad and I had a date day yesterday which consisted of getting our booties kicked at Peak Experiences climbing gym for a few hours follows by a few cocktails at Champps. I was starving by time we got to Champps and wanted some delicious bar food but opted for a small Greek salad and a Skinny Girl Lemon Drop. The holidays are definitely over!! It was a wonderful day:)

Grandparents Pass

Mom and Dad got a Grandparents Pass to the Children's Museum and added Cy,Lily, and Laurel. We LOVE the Children's Museum. There a three of them scattered around the city and outlying areas. We generally reserve it for hot summer day activity. My parents wanted to take Cy there for the afternoon yesterday. They had a blast and he was totally tuckered out when we picked him up!!!

School's in!!

Cy's break is over:) time to hit the books again. We are continuing on where his preschool left off until school starts again. I love working with him on his stuff :)

New Prints

Merry Christmas to myself;) I bought two new prints to finish off the decor in the Sitting room. I love them, they tie it all together nicely I think.

Bid Adieu

John, Mary Ann, Peter & Julia were leaving this morning to head back to Tacoma so we all met up for one final dinner and to say our goodbyes. We went to Osaka for sushi, yum. It is my favorite sushi place inRichmond. We don't get there all that often though because it is super pricy! I ordered a Rainbow Roll and a Spider roll and a seaweed salad and a glass ( or 2) of Tampranillo. Brad ordered a Philly roll and the Sunset roll and we shared them between us. So good. Cy chowed down on seaweed salad and steamed rice. He LOVES seaweed salad and tried using chopsticks, which was cool. It was a great night and I will be sad to see them leave but I am ready to stop eating out so much and get back to my healthy eating again!!

Lincoln Logs

Cy got his first set of Lincoln Logs for Christmas. Apparently this is a right of passage for boys. We built a house today, it was fun, not my favorite though...think I will pass this one off to B. :)

The Party's Over

Brad woke up with a vengeance today and decided it was time to take down the Christmas decorations. Our tree has been dead for about a week or more at this point. I am not sure what happened to it this year but it stopped taking in water about a week after we got it. Needles everywhere!! Gives me a heart attack! Anyway, I was all for it. I was feeling a bit of the Holiday Hangover today and a bit sad that it was over so best to just put it away and get things back to normal. The beauty of all this is that we still have another 12 days until we have to go back to work. The beauty of being and marrying a teacher! We've got some great family adventures (and husband/wife adventures:)) planned for the remainder of this break :)

The Inagural Shove Off

Brad and I have been talking about getting a canoe for YEARS! We were planning to get one for Mother's Day in May but we couldn't find the perfect one that we were looking for and next thing we knew summer was over, so I thought for sure we'd wait another year before getting one. Brad found the exact boat we were looking for, a 17' Discovery Olde Town, which is perfect for our family and big enough for some overnight adventures as soon as the weather warms. Cy and Brad went to buy the boat about a month ago, I only know this because that same day Cy told me, "I will not tell you that we bought you a canoe today, because it's a secret so I am NOT going to tell you". Hilarious. So, I've been doing my part to keep the secret all this time but I was so excited! So, today we shoved off in 40* weather with 20mph winds to give it a go. It was COLD but so fun! Cy did great in the boat and was careful not to rock it too badly. Brad took the back (of course) although that is not going to be a permanent seat for him. I am not too shabby at steering a canoe either and will enjoy my time back there too:) It was a great paddle. We went from the Hugenot bridge to the Willey bridge, stopping off at an island in the middle to explore. Cyrus said we were pirates looking for treasures:) We did find some deer, fox, and herring footprints that we stalked for a bit to see if we could find them:) It was a great adventure.

After Christmas Gathering

We had the Anders, the Lehmans, Peter & Julia over tonight to let the kids get together and be crazy; and, so we could catch up with Creighton, Hobie, & Melissa. It was so fun. The kids went crazy, or course, and it was fun hearing about Christmas from everyone. I made pizzas for the kids and we ordered Mekong for the adults. It was lovely. I just realized that I didn't get any pictures of the adults but what can I say, these kids are so cute:)

Second Christmas

It is a tradition that we go over to Doc & Jill's Christmas afternoon to open presents with Mrs. White and Todd,Sallie, and the girls. This year, John and Maryann were here with Peter and Julia so it was quite the gathering. After presents, our traditional Christmas dinner is a big ole' Low-country Boil and it is my FAVORITE meal of the year. We cook tons of shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, oysters, turkey kielbasa, corn, potatoes, and 1 lobster tail per person! SO YUMMY! I love it. I skip all the bread, corn, potatoes, and anything else that could be considered a filler and totally stuff myself on the seafood. It is delectable! My parents came this year bringing our whopping total to only 13 because Todd & Sallie and the girls were heading to Disney World for the week for their first time! Holy smokes, I am so excited for them. Todd has not been since he was 12 and Sallie since she was 8...they are going to love it!!

So, Christmas was a crazy whirlwind again this year but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm pooped but it was awesome!