Happy Holidays!

What a year it's been for us! I knew change was coming when Rupert finished his PhD in 2012, but you can never be 100% ready for a huge change like moving across the country. The last six months have seen some highs and lows for me personally, but that's not surprising. The good thing is that I'm ending the year feeling positive about where I am at the moment, and that as a whole 2013 wasn't too shabby of a year.

[photo collage made by Rupert]

Row 1 (L to R): Maya & a butterfly (MD); Alisal Ranch (CA); Alisal Ranch; Museum of Play (Rochester, NY); softball (CA); C&O Canal (MD)

Row 2: baseball (CA); Alisal Ranch; first day of school (MD); Cornell University (Ithaca, NY); Thanksgiving (Keuka Lake, NY); Manhattan Beach (CA)

Row 3: end of the fall ball season (MD); keeping cool indoors (Arlington, VA); in our old backyard (Hawthorne, CA); Manhattan Beach; Mt. Vernon (VA); pool time (Rancho Mirage, CA)

Row 4: pedal boating in the Tidal Basin (DC); Manhattan Beach; fall leaves (MD); hanging out at home (MD); Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds at the Artisphere (Arlington, VA); on our old porch

Row 5: Little League World Series field (South Williamsport, PA); pumpkin carving (MD); C&O Canal; Ian as Han Solo at Halloween (MD); our old master bedroom; fall in MD

Row 6: pedal boating in the Tidal Basin; C&O Canal; hanging out at home (MD); afternoon in DC; riding the Metro (DC); summertime Maya (CA)

Getting used to the cold

Ian and I were walking to a classmate's house this morning, chatting about how we're getting used to the colder weather. It was a beautiful sunny morning and Ian thought it must be in the 50s. A quick look at my weather app told us otherwise:

I'm finding that temperatures in the mid-30s are actually tolerable, especially when the sun's out. This would've been unthinkable when we lived in LA. In the first place, when is it ever in the mid-30s in LA?? What passed as "freezing" for us back then were temps in the low- to mid-50s, which is pleasant, warm weather here. 

Just goes to show, you get used to most things!

Snow Day

Second Snow Day in a row (although, officially, yesterday was an Emergency Weather Day because of icy conditions). It's not even officially winter yet and we've already used up two of the four Snow Days we can have before the district starts tacking on days to the end of the school year. 

My brother-in-law and his wife live in Rochester, New York and we were talking about snow over Thanksgiving, and it came up that DC-area "Snowmageddon" was a regular occurrence in their area. Which makes me wonder how bad it has to get in places like Rochester, Minnesota, or Canada before they declare a Snow Day. 

The kids are, obviously, enjoying this unexpected long weekend. I actually am too. I've decided not to venture out and I'm taking advantage of the serenity (minus the kids' voices) to catch up on some reading. Luckily, we have enough food in the house so I don't have to go out. 

7:45ish

8:45ish

9:45ish

10:45ish

11:45ish

OK, so most of the pictures look the same, but it's been snowing consistently for several hours so it's piling up more than it did on Sunday. 

By 3:00 the scene was already changing ...

There was just enough snow for me to build a snow penguin:

First real snow fall!

[photo collage by Rupert]