Happy Christmas to All

We have spent the past few days in a food-coma.  Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very wonderful days--didn't do a whole lot, but sometimes those are the most fun.  The night before, we were curled up in our warm living room.  Ashley was working a puzzle...

while Bode and the dogs were curled up on the couch.

We went to church and heard some lovely Christmas music.  We then settled in for the evening, remembering to put cookies and milk out for the big man.  Christmas arrived in all its splendor, complete with stocking stuffers for the dogs.  Both dogs really liked the pull toys, but Barkley seems to enjoy them the most (as does Bode).

 

We then spent the morning opening gifts and lounging.

You might remember that Joey was put on a diet a couple months ago.  We are happy to report he has lost over fifteen pounds and looks great (but he's still as lazy as ever).

Ashley made some crab-legs for the traditional Christmas dinner, and we also ate far too many cookies and candies (I think I'll have to follow Joey down the diet past come the New Year...)  I'm happy to report that after hours of hard work, we all finished the 1,000-piece puzzle!

I suppose at some point we'll have to emerge from our holiday slumber...maybe tomorrow :-)

Global Warming?

The tides are quite low right now...probably having to do with it being close to the winter equinox as well as just having had a full moon, but I'd be lying if I said I know exactly what causes higher or lower tides (although I do know it's something to do with gravity :-)

Below are some pictures of our beach.  I'd always considered it to be a low tide if the bottom step was not underwater.  Today, our steps were completely dry.

Beautiful day here--water was very calm, and temperatures were in the 60s.  Still a little cool at night, but that is why we have our little heaters. 

Bode continues to like his Oculus (his virtual reality game player).  Ashley and I find it amusing because Bode is not aware of his surroundings when he's in game mode so we have some fun with him.  The first video is just of Bode playing, while the second video is of Ashley and me goofing on him.

I think Ashley and I find this more amusing than Bode does :-)  For those of you that want to know what Bode is seeing in the goggles, go here--it's a youtube video of someone else playing, but it gives you an idea of what is going on.  Bode is done with school for the year (for the decade!), I'm off until 2020, and Ashley's final day is tomorrow.  It should be a nice little break for us.  Pleasant weekend to all.

The Little Trumpet Boy

The Meigs Middle School band had their winter concert last night.  It was (surprisingly) quite good.  Bode is in the Beginner Band (it's his first semester playing the trumpet).  There was also a Concert Band, a Jazz Band, and a Symphonic Band.  The Jazz Band was very neat--we were trying to point this out to Bode, hoping he'd want to try to join next year, but he said he wants to be in the Concert Band.  The Beginner Band played four songs.  First up is a somewhat reserved edition of The Dreidel Song.

It's nice that Bode was seated near the front so we got some good video of him.  The next song they performed was Jolly Old St Nicholas.

Finally, they finished their performance with an old favorite, Jingle Bells.

I also took some still photographs.  Here was a shot of Bode setting up.  Note how big the boy next to Bode is--this is Brad.  He's 6'3" tall and is 12 years old.  Bode said he's the nicest kid as well--they both play the trumpet.

At the end of the concert, all the bands joined together and played Up on the Housetop.  I didn't record it, but I did take a couple pictures.

The fat-man comes in seven days.  We are all decorated up and ready for some action.  Here's a shot of our living room and the tree.

I also took a couple shots of our "exterior illumination."

Bode's last day of school is Thursday.  My semester is over, but I told a friend I'd work through some of the labs he rewrote in preparation for next semester, but for all intents and purposes, I am done.  Ashley will work the rest of this, and then we are ready for some holiday fun.  Perhaps we'll go see the new Star Wars movie!!!  Pleasant week to all.

Ashley VR

After our Thanksgiving feast, we had another birthday cake for Bode.  Thus, in four days, we've had three cakes in our house, which means we all need to go on a diet (except Joey--the big boy has lost ten pounds since we started feeding him less).  It was such a beautiful day here that we decided to have the cake outside.  First up is the cake--note we couldn't get the candles into the frozen ice cream cake Ashley made, so I had to put them in some of the leftover cake from a few days ago.  Note Jason, Olivia, and Papa were all anxiously awaiting their dessert :-)

Here's a nice shot of Nana and Jay, who was trying his best to get to the lit candles.

Next we have Bode getting ready to blow the candles out while Jasser watches.

Finally, a shot after the candles were blown out (although he did take two tries).

Such a good-looking birthday boy.  For the record, Bode is just about 62 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds (he's a solid kid--lots of beef on his legs).

We've all enjoyed playing on Bode's new oculus.  Beat Saber is a fun game where you use light-sabers to chop up blocks.  I was skeptical about the virtual reality at first, but I'm quite impressed at how far it has come.  Here's a movie of Ashley playing.

And here's a movie of Bode playing.  Bode's movie is smaller because it was longer, and I had to reduce its size due to the 100 Mbyte restriction.

With the end of Thanksgiving, let the Christmas season begin! Only 27 more shopping days until the fat man arrives.

Birthdays

Bode and Ashley both had birthdays this week.  Ashley turned 49 , and we celebrated with a home-made cake.  Bode and I worked for many hours, combining ingredients, greasing pans, and avoided burning the house down.  We then sang the obligatory tune...

After singing, Bode posed with his Mom for a nice picture.

Little man turned 12 today.  Hard to believe he is an even dozen.  We got Bode an oculus quest virtual reality system.  He seems to like it.

Here's a movie of Bode playing some game.  I'm sure it looks great inside the head-set, but outside the head-set, it looks a little goofy.

Ashley's family is coming over for some turkey and ham later today.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

A Tween (almost)

Bode had his 12th birthday party today.  His actual birthday is on Thanksgiving this year, so we had the party a couple of days early.  Six kids came--Alex, Jacob, Brody, Dillinger, Colin, and Olivia.  Ashley arranged for a game-truck to come to the party--we did this a couple years ago in Colorado, and it was a big hit.  We had similar success here.  First, here's a shot of the kids.

Next, a shot of the exterior and interior of the truck.

After the party, we had everyone inside for some pizza and the obligatory singing of Happy Birthday.

Bode also opened some of the gifts his buds brought him.

All the kids seemed to have a nice time.  Ashley and I also had some fun, as we played a couple rounds of Just Dance 2020.  I'm sure we look awful, but we had fun doing this--we'll probably be doing this when we're in our 70's (something to look forward to...)

Bode is off from school the rest of the week.  I have to work tomorrow, but then I'm done.  I think we'll try to exercise on Wednesday in preparation for the feasting on Thursday and Friday...and hopefully on Saturday when we celebrate an Iron Bowl victory.  Pleasant Turkey Day to all!

Dogs on the Dock

We have found the dogs expect to be taken down to the dock each evening.  You'd think Joey would be a bit hesitant to want to go to the beach since he fell off the dock, but he's none the worse for the wear.

It's been very pretty here with some beautiful sunsets.  I don't think my little camera is the right one to use to capture all the colors, so I guess you'll just have to use your imagination.

The work on the carriage house is going...slowly.  Here are some shots of the progress. 

We talked to the builder, and the next step is for the plumber and grader to do some work.  I'm sure I'll be out there checking to ensure everything is done right :-)  Pleasant Vet's Day to all.