Every year Dyleva gets a little loopy with the looming visit from Santa. This year was no different. It was a little bittersweet without Grandma and Marley, but we made the best of it.
We continued with our normal holiday traditions; picking out a tree, decorating, stringing popcorn and cranberries, and of course gingerbread houses. We also baked a lot of cookies!
This year Eva made one of her special yarn dolls for every student in her class. Even Jeff pitched it to help her out. Dylan hand made Santa cards for all his classmates.
We did marathon carolling this year- 6 hours. The first four hours were fun.....It was a long day.
Christmas Eve went off successful as always, followed by a lovely blissful morning of Dyleva getting along. Eva woke up in the middle of the night and decorated the hallway with all her giant snowflakes.
The pinnacle of the morning was when Dyleva opened their litter box.
God help us. We are getting a cat!
We visited Aunt Titi for a bit, then stopped by to see Grandma Grandma.
It was a teacher thing.
I had wanted to go there for months. .....the new Explore and More. I just never had the opportunity.
So I went on a "teacher thing." I couldn't wait to bring back Dyleva!
There are there are three floors. Dyleva began primero with the car exhibit; where you get to design a car, and then scan it and it apperars on the wall. We spent quite a bit of time here.
Next we explored the building center, the medical center, and of course the sports center. Dyleva was able to 'skate' on ice and pose behind Buffalo sports scenes.
There is also a fantastic waterway exhibit of the Erie Canal. It is not to scale, obviously, but pretty amazing still.
Our family has been most fortunate to have had 17 wonderful, blissful years with our dog, Mimi.
Formally known as Marley Chihuahua Wagner, had passed the week before Thanksgiving.
Eva has written a biography. We are all getting through. But the house seems empty. It is just not the same.
Whenever the wind changes direction, Eva begins a new project or craft. She has a little of her mother in her, as that doesn't necessarily means she finishes what she begins.
Recently, she finished, Esperanza Rising, at school. In the book the little girl makes dolls out of yarn. Naturally, this meant Eva had to try and also perfect the art of yarn doll making.
She made one or more for us; then she moved on to cousins. Then she was into it so much, I suggested she make one for each child in her classroom for Christmas. We went to the store, she picked out funky new yarn.
Funny. I haven't seen one yarn doll since.
I love camping! Being complete procrastinators, we were not able to book Labor day the weekend before. Therefore, we waited until Columbus Day weekend. It was awesome!.
On the way down, we first went to Griffith's Sculpture Park, one of our favorites! Then we headed to our secret gemstone campground.
We had stayed at this place before....when we arrived our neighbors were in our cabin using our oven. There was an older lady standing in our driveway waiting for us to arrive. Their oven was apparently broken.
Dyleva was a little unsettled by this, but whatever. The more the merrier! At least our cabin was cozy warm when we arrived.
We set out to explore. Dyleva and I went to the playground.
Jeff went out to get firewood.
When he returned, we set up our site, organized and had an awesome pudgie pie dinner.
It ended with a nice campfire and a killer game of Rummy. Dyleva are card sharks!
The next morning, it was slow, but we had a big breakfast, and then eased ourselves into a three mile hike. It was a lovely path; not too hard. We were looking for an apparent rumoured wasp's nest, but never found. Instead at one point, we heard a wailing. Everyone froze. We were in bear country. I thought it highly unlikely but the noise freaked us out. Eventually, we realized it was the sound of two trees rubbing together. Sounds strange, but had us slightly petrified for a second!
At one point, Jeff found a shady knoll for a nap, and Dyleva and I went to the creek and put our feet in the water. They were almost frozen! The water was so cold! The water was invigorating. Dyleva climbed through the almost frozen creek in their bare feet, from rock to rock. I took some awesome shots of Eva striking yoga poses!
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| Frozen foot |
It was a beautiful weekend! This is the first time we have camped in the autumn. It was wonderful. Next up, camping in the winter.....
