Ice Crystals

Living in the Bay Area, in a climate where the temperature rarely drops below freezing, it is indescribably AWESOME to find ice crystals on your car's windows when you visit someplace cold.

(photo taken with my iPhone; kicking myself for leaving my macro lens at home)

New Year, Old Friends

One of my favorite aspects of our trips to Quincy is watching the kids play together.  It reminds me of the olden days, when I would see my cousins at holidays, and we would be shy at first, but then we'd pick up where we left off the last visit.  Both Owen and Logan gobbled up the idea of a new house to play in and new toys to play with.  Poor Logan was just too little for so many things; he spent a good part of the trip just following the big kids around.

Logan trying to track down the action

Logan, still a step behind the big kids

Logan, Jakodi, and Emmery

Logan, unable to climb to the top bunk, and jealous of Jakodi (whose feet you can see) because she can

The boys (look at ALL THOSE LEGOS!)

Running down the hall...

...chasing each other...

...and just looking for his buddies

Seamas and Jeremy, and there I am in the background :)

I prompted them to just do something they'd naturally do.  Hmmm.

One final bit of Christmas magic

Not Quite Midnight

I remember years past when I would so look forward to having something special to do on New Year's Eve.  Oh, how things have changed-- I think that I can count this as the fifth year in a row that I haven't even bothered trying to stay up until midnight. 

We spent New Year's Eve in Quincy.  Right after watching "Elf" (Owen's choice), the kids conked out around 8 or 9 o'clock.  I didn't make it much longer than that.