Rainy Morning
Rainy Morning

January 2020

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Christmas 2019

We had the pleasure of hosting Christmas for the Waterhouse family this year.  It was so fun having everyone come to Denver to celebrate.  Here's a smattering of pictures from the end of the year.  Sorry, they are totally out of order!

As room parent I planned and ran Jack's class party.
I got to pop down the hall to say hi to Sam and his class party too.
Zoo Lights with the Waterhouses!  It wasn't too cold even!
So many presents . . .
Showing off school work.
Christmas morning, the kids tackled the biggest box under the tree.  I packed a box-in-a-box five deep.  They had to unwrap all of them to get to the tiny paper in the smallest box that said --
We're going to Disneyland!  Yes, we gifted ourselves a vacation in Disneyland later in January.  Jack has been talking about nothing else since then.
Poor attempt at a group photo :-)
Burgers with the fam on Christmas Eve.
More Zoo Lights!
A picture of Freddy in the Thai Dinner box was turned into this glorious ode to a meme.
A better group photo!
After Christmas, puzzles and classic Disney movies.

Ben tried out his new Japanese cooking pot.

Merry Christmas!

 

Ben's Birthday

We enjoyed a quiet day at home for Ben's birthday.  He opened presents after breakfast per tradition.

For lunch we all went to the Westminster Alamo to see Spies in Disguise.  You know what, that movie was actually really good!  I mean, for a kids film.  I don't blindly recommend it.  But the animation was smart, it had great voice acting, the plot was predictable but tight, and had a lot of great jokes and fun set pieces.

Ben indulged in a hearty root stew for dinner.  He made it with dashi and miso, ingredients that the other humans in our house don't light.  The cats on the other hand...

Then we had ice cream cake from DQ and played card games.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

January snapshots

 

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Gloves are complicated.
img_0226 Finished them
in one month exactly (Dec 21 - Jan 21). This cable pattern was STRANGE but I trusted the chart and it worked out as they promised.  Sometimes you have to have faith.
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Nimbus being so helpful while taking down the tree.
A short hike with Ben, I think they were along Ralston Creek.
Games and Legos have dominated the month.
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I see you Freddy.  I see that yarn you stole.
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New camera phone takes nice pictures.
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Sam wrote his talk for church all by himself.  I hesitated to re-write it into something with more context.  He did great and delivered it without any help!
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Jack started a proper rock collection.

 

Jack has been running his rock tumbler all month.  This is after the first grit level.  His final polish (#5) will finish by February.
Enjoying the Kiwi Crate given by Andy and Jenn.
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We got a mystery poop problem.  Took Freddy to the vet to help try to fix it.  Grrr. He had inflamed intestines and rectum, but was negative for parasites.  They gave him a deworming dose just in case.  We are working on preventing human food snitches and determining if he has a food allergy.
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I tried making some gluten free and egg free waffles for some friends with sensitivities.  They sort of worked, I think they could experiment and get a good result.  The kids were wildly jealous I made waffles for others, so I made a second regular batch for us.  Both pearl sugar and chocolate chip variety, because they couldn't agree.  Also, the Marvel waffle iron was appropriate because Jack and I have watched all the way to Endgame!  Next movie night will be the one he wanted all along, Spider-Man: Far From Home.
More games, more Marvel.
Tacos and books.
Pinewood Derby 2020.  Jack's car is "The Mad Titan" seen over his shoulder.  It's the Infinity gauntlet with stones and a Spider-man Lego mini-fig riding on the back.  His friend Dylan has Luke Skywalker's speeder, the orange one.
Jack won 3 out of 4 heats, placing second only once.
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It's openly admitted that the Mielke car and the cars by the Stowitts and Kings were made entirely by the dads.  So among the Scouts, Jack came in 4th behind them - but in my mind he came in FIRST for having made his car all by himself!!!  Poor kid really wanted a trophy this year.  I consoled him, as usual, that it's just not fair when the parents design, carve, weigh, and even put the paint on the kids' cars.
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Mario Party on MLK day.  I had a cold all this week and didn't mind letting them stay jammies extra long.
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Ben and I got to the Alamo Drafthouse so often that we have reached the "Top Brass" level.  They have an annual party for members and this year I went with Shawn as my guest.  It was a trivia game based on 2019 movies with free drinks and buffet.  We did alright in trivia, but didn't place.  I was thrilled the get some swag!
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If only wearing this pin meant I got a free drink or something at each screening ;-)
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This morning was the spelling bee.  Jack has been practicing all month.
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He did great!  Last year he passed one round and was out the second.  This year I think he made it to the fifth round.  So proud of him!  He was tearful afterward, true to his nature.  But he swallowed it down and I think he knew he did well.  We told him we'll go to Disneyland to celebrate ;-)

Disneyland 2020!!!

We're back! We had a magical, merry trip to Disneyland Resort this week.

It was a slam dunk fantastic vacation! We got to do everything we wanted at least once, and often twice. We ate churros every day. We stayed at my dream hotel, the Grand Californian, right in the park.

I have so much to share and journal, with over 300 photos - not counting any from Ben. I'll probably post in pieces.

For now, I'll share our first and last photos in the parks.

Entering Disneyland Monday morning.
Watching World of Color to close the park at California Adventure Wednesday night.

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