Christmas Vacation

This will be our sixth Christmas in this house, and this year I finally got around to putting up Christmas lights. As some of you probably know, I've been otherwise preoccupied with painting, furnishing, and upgrading the inside and outside. I wanted to wait until the kids were a little bit older and I always stick to my philosophy of doing one thing at a time and doing it right. Otherwise, what's the point if you don't do it up right?

I took Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, off from work.  I wanted an extra long weekend anyway, but the best part was that it freed me up to put the lights up that day.  The temperature soared into the low 70s, which was really nice since I was outside all day. In fact, I checked around the country and we had the same high as Los Angeles this day, Thanksgiving Eve.

I ended up buying and clipping up 300 C9 bulbs, otherwise known as the warm glowing, old fashioned lights, along every inch of roof front and back. These days LED lights are all the rave, but despite their life, low electricity use, etc, they just don't look very good in my opinion.  What's the point of putting lights up if they don't look nice, warm, and inviting? Julia and I started putting on the clips and testing each bulb at 7:30 in the morning. By about 3:30 in the afternoon I was done.

One of my biggest problems was that I didn't have the right ladder for the job. I borrowed a massive ladder from my parents, but it was just two big and heavy to maneuver by myself.  I almost lost the ladder and created a new window in the house a few times. I'll buy my own ladder when I take these down, so putting them up meant climbing up on the roof and doing everything from above. It was so warm that I couldn't touch the shingles for more then a few seconds with my bare hands.  The other big issue was that the main roof has a very steep pitch (more then usual) and clipping lights means leaning over the ledge. I worked through it, but on any other day not as nice this might not even be an option. In the future I'll have to do it from a ladder.

I added some sparkling snow flakes and white lights to the porch and placed everything on a timer. Over the years I'll add a few more lights, for example, along the driveway and trees. It seems like more people on our street and neighborhood put up lights this year, probably because the weather was so nice. The kids love the lights and so do we. I told Stacey that between this and other projects around the house, the place is really starting to feel like a home.

Merry Christmas (Happy Hanukkah) Clark "Sparky" Griswold Jr.

Sleepy Head

What a lazy kitty.  She sure likes to sleep on or with anything soft and warm.  Here are a few more pictures of her over the past several days. 

The first is just me and kitty relaxing after a hard weekend of putting up Christmas lights outside, the Christmas tree, and getting all of the decorations up for the holidays and family coming into town.

The second picture I received at work this week. Julia and kitty decided to take a nap together to recharge their batteries. Notice both of them are wrapped nicely in their own ni-nights.

The third picture I took last weekend. Kitty really likes sleeping on Julia's bed during the day. This time the kids found her asleep, so Julia decided to make her more comfortable with her own blanket and pillow. The doll bedding is actually the perfect size for a cat, and kitty didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, she barely opened up an eye when Julia lifted her head up and placed the pillow underneath. 

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we decided to have Thanksgiving at our house - a first with just the four of us. It was somewhat last minute, so on Thanksgiving we whipped together a $10 feast that took only 15 minutes to prepare.  That's right, we had a full feast with nothing more then boiling some water.

The kids enjoyed the sparkling cider. We enjoyed a rotisserie chicken with yummy rolls and no prep or real clean up. We really enjoyed doing a holiday at our house for the first time. I think in the future we'll try and do meals and holidays at our house and then connect with the rest of the family. We need to start making our own memories with the kids in our own house, even if that means instant potatoes.
 

A Note From The Author

I finally used up all of my free online storage space. It only took 5 years for me to fill it with pictures from this blog. So, I had to either pay for more or delete some photos from older posts. I chose to delete the pictures from 2008 and earlier. If you try to bring up an old post and don't see the pictures, this will be why.

Yet another reason that printing out the blog each year has proven to be a good idea.

Thirty Sixth Birthday

Happy Birthday Stacey!  This year we celebrated with dinner at my parent's house and then left the kids with them overnight. Stacey and I went up to 16th Street Mall in Denver for a little rest and relaxation - but more importantly, so Stacey could do a do a little shopping.

It was nice to get away. We ate out and actually went to see a movie in the theater. Downtown Denver was great, but I'm glad I don't live there nor in another big city. I'll take a quiet house, in the suburbs, in a quiet town, any day, especially now that we are raising a family.

La Dolce Vita

She only loves me for my warmth...

Friday Afternoon Team Building

On Friday afternoon we left work for some lunch and "team building". Far east of town there is a pretty big gun range. It has everything from a sporting clay course to target practice at pictures of Obama to a presumably large underground cache of weapons should the end of the world happen. OK, I might have embellished a little bit on the details to make a point in the previous sentence.

I have shot handguns, rifles, shotguns, and even sporting clays thrown by a friend before, but I have never attempted a full course with automatic sporting clays that come from all kids of directions.  More importantly, it had probably been about six years since I had shot a gun, and even longer since pulling a trigger on a shotgun or trying to hit a moving target.

I did pretty well considering my level of experience and rustiness.  I estimate I probably hit 50% of the targets if you don't count the end of the day.  By the last station I was getting tired and had developed a nice bruise on my shoulder and bicep. Owen wasn't able to make it since he was called up to the State Capitol building to be assigned to a committee, but he let us use his twelve gauge. It was a nice piece. One thing is for sure, this definitely beat sitting in my cubicle.

Daddy Daughter Time

This weekend Julia and I went up to the cabin for some hang out time. On the way up Julia kept saying that she needed a break from her little brother, since he takes her toys and chases her around the house. I just wanted to spend some one on one time with her since Jonathan is typically the focus right now, what with his feedings, doctor appointments, and terrible two shenanigans.

I left work a little early on Friday. Julia and Stacey were able to run and pick out a few treats for the both of us, making this weekend fun on many levels. Trying to leave was a little sad because Jonathan really wanted to come. He tried to pack his own toothbrush and wanted his shoes and hat on too. I could tell he wanted to come with us, but he'll have his own time soon enough.

The weekend weather was cold, and we got a few brief and small snowfalls over both nights we stayed here. Saturday morning we woke up and made smoothies and I taught Julia how to play the game of Life. She beat me handily the first time. We just sort of did whatever she wanted to do, which included playing with the snow outside. We "painted" different things around the cabin with snow, threw snowballs into the lake, drank hit chocolate, read a few books, played some other made up board games, and played with the walkie talkies.

Julia definitely had a good time. In fact, in addition to being silly, extra sweet, and loving, she actually told me something along the lines of "thanks Dad for planning or arranging (or similar) a weekend at the cabin with just you and me". Those are pretty big words coming from a 4 year old, especially since she knows and says exactly what she means.

Surround Sound

Trick Or Treat