The Brave Christmas Train

 
“You like trains?” our neighbor Rudy asked as he opened the door to his garage, which appears to be a perpetual garage sale.  I like almost anything if it’s a good deal, and ended up paying $30 for the huge train that now circumnavigates our living room.  Gryphon has mastered its controls and dubbed it The Brave Christmas Train due to its performance on the Dangerous Curve.  “Isn’t it glorious?” he asked.

Alice now fits into the vest Gryphon and I wore as young lads.  Alice has more than tripled her vocabulary this month, and enjoys coloring Ikea schematics. 
 
But we always knew she was a smart lady.

Kitty-Cat Meowmers

The friendly cat that came with the house has been spending time inside these days, and I’ve been spending time washing my hands and taking allergy pills.  So far it’s been pretty good though.
 
Yesterday Gryphon made a “monster with big eyes and puffy cheeks” for breakfast, and requested a monster with “sharp teeth, horns, tentacles, and talons, sitting under a tree.”
 
Cheri won a gift basket through a hospital fund-raiser.  It’s full of party games.  For all our parties.
 

Meowmers purrs and stretches his claws all the time.  He hasn’t figured out his new cat door yet, but we have faith in him.
 

 

Thanksgiving #2

We spent last week in Portland, visiting friends and family.  The kids and I made a trip to the west side to see Jude, Ada, and their superdad Ben.  We consumed a jar of Cornett Original Spicy Pickles with lunch.

On Tuesday Gryphon and I visited the math department where I taught, surprising people during lunchtime.  Afterward we hung out on Hawthorne for awhile.
 
One night Jared and Alyson took us to Horse Brass Pub for some darts. 
 
Thursday morning the kids and I visited Schofieldhaus to see how Lucy and Jameson were doing.  Geoff’s parents, Dunc and Nance, were an added bonus.
  

We had a thanks-filled meal at Cheri’s parents’ house with the great-grandparents Lester.
 
 

Thanksgiving #1

 

Last Thursday we headed up to Bellingham for some fun with Nanna and Dar Dar. On the way we stopped at scenic Deception Pass and walked out onto the bridge for a picture – I noticed that my camera left its battery at home, but the phone camera worked.
 
Mom took us to the children’s museum for art time on Friday. 
  
 
 
Neighbors Tom and Carol came over Saturday and were immediately put to work.
   
Moj made up some delicious curry for Thanksgiving #1.

The kids got in some good beading time with Nanna before we shipped out on Sunday.

 

Sunday

This about sums it up.
 
 
(Thanks to Heather for the GifNinja recommendation).
 

New stuff

The kids got some new “log blocks,” made out of our leftover alder branches. 

We got our internet connected on Thursday, so I don’t have to work in the hospital cafeteria any more (though you can’t beat the view). And on Friday we got two new windows put in (a condition of the house sale).
  
 
Today the birds discovered the new feeders we put up, and have already half-emptied one of them.   Alice has begun spitting out new words at a mind-blowing pace.  Today she added PANTS, HEART, PUMPKIN, SAD, PANCAKE, and probably some others to her vocabulary.