As you can see, the kids were overwhelmed with presents.

Sebastien got his stocking first thing in the morning, and had to play
with EVERY item. He then waited till after breakfast and some TV
before ripping into his presents. It took some persuasion to open only
one at a time, and to prevent him from punching out his brother every
time Tristan came to play. Tristan liked ripping the wrapping paper
and was demanding for his toys. But lost interest quickly. The best
part of Christmas for Tristan is the tree and the decorations. Very
few of them will be left on our 'tree' by the end of the day.

May your day be full of family and fun.

Sebastien was an Eskimo in a past life! This afternoon, walking back
from the playground, I asked Sebastien what he would tell his teacher
that he did this weekend. "Play in the snow, Shovel, Sled, Sleep,
Sled, Sleep, play in the snow, sled, sleep, sled, play in the snow".
That was his weekend. With some baking and tv thrown in for good
measure.

Atleast 18 inches of snow. Mihai shoveled our both our cars, our
driveway and sidewalk, the neighbors sidewalk, and a path around to
the back of the house to the back door. A whole lot of shoveling. He
got inspiration from the neighbors and tunneled an igloo out of the
snow/ice. Sebastien had fun undoing that work and the cleared
pathways. We put some bird seed out. and then he proceeded to sit by
the bird bath calling for the birds. They didn't come. Someone was
quite upset.

Tristan couldn't decide what to make of the snow.That's not true. He
knows he doesn't like a face full of snow. The rest of it is still up
for debate. He wants to be outside, but would currently prefer the
white stuff weren't there. Sledding is not yet his thing. Especially
when sledding with Daddy involves a face full of the white stuff. I
figured out a way to keep his fingers not wet, which was likely the
problem the first time. Double gloves. While I glove him up, he opens
and closes and open and closes his fist. Cute. Until he figures out he
can use his teeth to get the gloves off. The gloves that took five
minutes to get all the fingers lined up in properly....

Well. What is the holiday season without a little vice?!

Both my kids had a first.

Tristan took his first sip of beer. We were at a neighbors house
having lunch after a play in the snow. Tristan was walking around.
Picked up an almost empty bear bottle, from teh recycling. Took a
swig. And promptly threw up his lunch. (Who wouldn't throw up after
drinking day old beer?)

Fireman Mike came over for dinner tonight. We gave him a small present
of a slots dice game. And then we, sebastien included, proceeded to
play a few rounds. Two cent buy in ("look the gold one!"). I think we
all lost, although Mike lost the least. Mihai probably lost the most.

Happy Winter Solstice (almost)!

I had been meaning to take Tristan to the kids hair cut place, but he
always had a runny nose.
Finally Cheryl nagged me into getting the hair out of his eyes.

We did it together (with a little food to keep the child entertained).
It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

A few days later I cut Sebastien's hair, at his request! The bangs
aren't quite straight. But he is never still long enough for anyone to
notice!

We celebrated Tristan's birthday late this year. On his birthday he
was on day two of what turned out to be a five day fever. Not the flu.
But miserable none the less. We celebrated two or three weeks later up
at Cheryl and Dan's house. They were kind enough to let the friends
gather at their house for a celebration.

The photos are self explanatory.

Filmed on Saturday morning on our way to Rhode Island for our vacation. The only time in the holiday that Sebastien swam. Too scared of waves at the beach.

We don't remember Sebastien being such an adept climber. But then we didn't
have the toddler table and chairs at a similar age. Yesterday Tristan pushed
a toddler chair over to the dining table so that he could see what Sebastien
and I were doing...

One of the highlights of our vacation was spending that much time with
Tristan. We got to know his tricks and he learned a few more from his dad.
The ones in the video would be: Hello, Goodbye and Peekabo.

It does photograph well.

But the lack of air conditioning.
Plus mosquitoes
and the possibilities of ticks....

Lyme disease is named for a place in Connecticut, not a person.

Photos from our vacation in Rhode Island. This is an email blog post, so I
can't caption each photo.

This first is a family shot in the Crayola Factory (Easton, PA). A bit of a
misnomer as you pay money to get into the building to play with all of
crayola's products. The saving grace being you don't have to exit through
the gift shop as you do most museums. The crayola store is two doors down :)
And we paid a visit. Bought Sebastien another set of markers. (Useful thing
learned during the crayon making demonstration: you can rehydrate dried out
markers with a water soak. Put the cap back on and they should be good as
new). We were foolish this night and pushed on to New Jersey. Got lost.
Arrived at the hotel past the point of good boys. No one slept till well
past ten. Mihai and I then hid out in the bathroom surfing the internet....
Anyway. Sebastien had a red marker in the back of the car with him.... Next
thing I know it was all over his face, hands and arms. "Like a Pirate". He'd
has his face painted two weeks prior. Not a happy mother.

We stopped in New Haven for a hamburger place I'd read about in the best
hamburgers of america book. It had closed. But I did manage to get a photo
of Sebastien in front of some Yale building with his Teddy bear. Will save
this one for when he actually does head of to university (hopefully without
teddy bear.

Next two, Sebastien at the beach. It was one great big sand box. Waves were
not very popular. The only time he went into the ocean was to pee and wash
off. By the last day he was lying on a body board at the edge of the surf,
"surfing'.

Tristan hung out at the beach in Philips boat, cousin. He really just wanted
out to eat the sand...

Mihai at the outdoor shower. Septic system at the house, better to use
outdoor shower. a little vague in the details. But with the heat (90F) and
the humidity showers were a necessary part of cooling off. In evening a
shower outside was nice as the beach breeze finally blew across the pond and
into the outdoor shower.

Some of the mornings were FOGGY. did not stop the boys from enjoying the
beach. Betty and I walked Tristan one morning and shopped the outlets (one
hour away) another morning.

We spent two days in Mystic. Where the boys did get to go sailing. The wind
was shifty and the river shallow. So the sailing wasn't excellent, but at
least they sailed. Sebastien spent a lot of the trip yelling "Hep-a-la". Not
sure why. Could be his version of "Anchors away!". This is after getting
yelled at by his father for not moving out of the way fast enough. Not sure
about Captain's rules, yet.

The best money we spent was having the boys (little, with a lot of input
from the dads) build boats at the Maritime Museum. They spent hours playing
with them. Especially after Mihai gave them all anchors. Sebastien even
brought his to the table. I'm pretty sure we put our foot down on bringing
it to bed. Bed time was bad enough without boats in the mix. The older boys
slept together. Tristan was with Mihai and I. We got to know the local
coffee shop Very well.

The anchor was useful when Mihai and Sebastien took the row boat (that
leaked) out onto the pond to test Mihai's sail boat. Both of which are
pictured.

And then the photo of the Mihai and Sebastien in the surf. Probably getting
clean.