methot.net

Riding With the Eastgate Crew

2010-07-04T19:38:00.000-04:00

I got to join my old Eastgate Cycling Club for one of their weekly Saturday rides. We did 58 miles out to the bakery in Black Diamond and back. I was very happy to be able to keep up. I guess all that bike commuting is keeping me in some kind of shape after all.

I should get to ride again next Saturday, after summer weather's traditional July 5th arrival.

Audrey Rides a Bike

2010-06-28T21:42:00.002-04:00

I have dad guilt that Audrey got to be 6 years old without learning how to ride a bike. Last year when she was five I was very busy getting ready to move and then moving. This spring I've been very busy with the kitchen remodel.

Audrey's personality has had something to do with it, too. She sometimes can have a very hard time taking instruction. She wants to figure it out all on her own. But some things are too complicated to figure out that way.

We bought new bikes earlier this spring for both girls. Audrey tried hers a few times with the training wheels on but didn't like it. The training wheels were a distraction - she didn't like the jerk when the bike came to rest on a training wheel.

This past weekend we went camping on Cape Code for 4 days (I'll post photos and video as soon as I can, but that's probably going to be after I return from Seattle). I figured a campground would be a perfect place to learn to ride - paved roadways with very little, slow-moving traffic. I was kind of determined that she was going to learn to ride. A little too determined, it turned out, because we ended up getting into a little battle of wills. Audrey decided she wanted Mom to teach her to ride her bike. Only Mom could hold on just so.

So she did that with Mom a few times for maybe a total of about 20 minutes. Next session I took her out and promised to hold on just like Mom. I did so for about 30 seconds, but it was clear she had the knack. So I changed to just having my thumb on the back of the seat and she still did fine. So I removed my hand and just ran beside her. She didn't notice. After about 30 more seconds I told her, "Look, Audrey, I'm not holding on." She gave me a quizzical look and then it sunk in that she was riding on her own. There was no looking back after that. And all she wanted to do the rest of the trip was ride her bike. Ah, success!

Next we worked on getting started. She still has a little trouble getting things ready to go, but once she does she can get started every time. She was also afraid to go downhill at first, but I talked her through modulating the brakes to control her speed and by the time we left she was going downhill with confidence.

As a parent learning to read and learning to ride a bike are big milestones for me. Now that Audrey has achieved both of them I have to figure out what the next milestones will be. Maybe music. Carol taught Audrey Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano and Audrey loves to play it. She also makes up pretty decent music of her own.

Kitchen Remodel. Part 3, 4, 5

2010-06-23T21:47:00.002-04:00

Kitchen Remodel, Part 3, 4, 5

It's been five weeks since my last update on the kitchen. I've been spending almost all my free time working on it. It was getting kind of old, but now there's light at the end of the tunnel and I'm re-energized. Plus we're going on vacation tomorrow (camping at Cape Cod for four days with our neighbors), then two days back at work before flying to Seattle. So I finally feel like I can take some time to post photos and an update.

The next phase after the last update was the wall work. I had to install drywall where the paneling wainscoting used to be and then blend that in with the existing plaster. That took a lot longer than I expected. Then we skim-coated the walls with slightly watered-down joint compound to give a uniform texture. Once that was done, Carol stayed up very late one night priming and painting because we were so excited to finally have paint on the walls.

Our original plan was to wait until the whole project was done to refinish the floor. But after talking to people about what it would be like (I'd never done it) I decided to go ahead while everything was out of the kitchen anyway. The range and refrigerator won't fit through the interior doors, and I didn't really want to put then outside for several days. So I just put them up on cantilevered platforms so I could refinish the floor well under their fronts. That worked pretty well.

Once the walls were painted and the floor done, it was finally time for cabinets. The refrigerator bay and its component pantry cabinet, overhead cabinet and plywood wall are the anchor for the whole kitchen. For example, the height of the overhead cabinet once it cleared the refrigerator determined the level for all of the other upper cabinets. It took a couple of tries to get it right, but now it's perfect.

Then on to the easy part - installing the rest of the cabinets. The Ikea cabinet system is wonderful. All of the cabinets are made out of the same parts just in different dimensions. Once you've assembled one cabinet you can assemble all the others in about 5-10 minutes each. Then the upper cabinets are installed on a steel rail. You just determine the height of the rail that will give you the cabinet height you want and bolt sections of rail to the studs wherever you can find studs. I used nice big lag bolts. Once the rail is installed, the cabinets just hang from it by sliding bolts - you install two nuts per cabinet and you're done. I didn't have to do one single bit of leveling on the uppers.

The base cabinets are also easy. They rest on legs that are big screws, so you can very easily level a cabinet by just turning its legs. Bolt them to the wall with a couple of molly bolts and Bob's your uncle.

Finally it was time to remove the old sink and cabinet. I had been waiting as long as possible because living without a kitchen sink would be the hardest part of the project. I had to cut the supply pipes to get the cabinet out. Then drill a bunch of holes in the new sink cabinet and figure out how to maneuver it around the orthogonal supply and drain pipes. With Carol's help I got past that hurdle.

Then it was time to plumb for the new sink and provide take-offs for the dishwasher and ice maker. After literally about 90 minutes at Home Depot trying to solve the plumbing fitting puzzle and do it with compression fittings instead of soldering, I surrendered and decided to solder. But I was smart about it this time. I cut all the pipe and fitted the whole system together dry, then took each assembly separately to the garage and did all the soldering comfortably at a bench with a vise to hold the work. Easy peasy. Then just bring the assemblies back in and install them in the compression-fitting shutoff valves. It might not look like a real plumber did it, but I'm happy with it.

The next major piece is the countertops. We thought granite would be too expensive but it has come down in price quite a lot. In fact, composite quartz and recycled glass countertops are much more expensive than granite now. Plus we don't have all that much countertop. So we decided to go for it. Carol placed the order today, tomorrow we stop by the slab yard on the way to Cape Code and select our slab, Monday they are supposed to come to make the template and when I get back from Seattle in mid-July it should be ready to install with undermount sink pre-attached.

If all goes according to plan, I'll install the microwave and the tile backsplash when I get home and when Carol and the girls get home at the end of July we'll have an almost-finished kitchen.

Whew. Yes, I'm tired. But also very excited to see it coming together.

Family

2010-05-26T20:34:00.004-04:00

We're having a little summer preview at the moment: it has been over 90 degrees the past two days and somewhat humid. Tonight we decided to go out to dinner at air-conditioned Turner's Seafood Grill - our favorite Melrose eatery.

The girls had freshly washed hair and they each chose a dress to wear. Charlotte picked a Christmas dress from Grandma (with matching doll dress that fits Baby Puppy). Audrey wore a summery white frock.

We had a lovely dinner with two extremely well-behaved and polite girls. It was one of those moments when I especially revel in this family.

John's 50th Birthday

2010-05-24T19:46:00.003-04:00

Friday I reached the half-century mark. It's hard to believe I've been alive that long. Like most people I talk to, I feel much younger than my actual age.

Carol has started a babysitting swap with our new next door neighbor Sue. So on my birthday we had a date night. We revisited an Italian restaurant near Fenway Park that we discovered a year ago when we were here house hunting, and then walked across the Fens (a big park) to the Museum of Fine Arts (in background of photo above) where we enjoyed a couple of hours of blissful, child-free browsing. There is currently an interesting Talouse-Lautrec exhibit, and exhibit of Harry Callahan photography, a fascinating Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) printmaking exhibit, and a visiting Van Gogh ("The Sower") that is displayed among the other Impressionist masters.

Saturday was a busy day with T-ball photos in the morning and a game in the afternoon, plus preparing for a little birthday BBQ in the late afternoon. We invited some friends from work and some neighbors and had a wonderful time. It was a perfect day for it - sunny and 70s.

Sunday I got a little further on the kitchen project by getting the floor sanded. All of the scratches and stains are gone and it's ready to be refinished. Before that I need to finish the walls (which I should be doing right now instead of writing this). Once the walls are painted and the floor is finished, it'll be time to hang cabinets and we'll be in the home stretch.

Kitchen Remodel, Part 2

2010-05-16T16:00:00.003-04:00

Kitchen Remodel, Part 2

It's been nothing but fun around here on the weekends and evenings!

Two weekends ago I spent most of the time removing wallpaper and glue. Last weekend I made some minor electrical adjustments and got the drywall all hung (replacing the paneling wainscoting that we removed). This weekend I spent most of my time replacing the old warped sink window.

Just a little bit more fine tuning to do on the drywall mudding. It's a little harder to match drywall to plaster than it is to do all new drywall. We have one portion we can't close up because we're waiting for the electrician. He's supposed to come first thing tomorrow. Then I can complete the rest of the taping. Finally we'll skim coat all of the wall surface that will be visible.

Next up is probably floor sanding. We were going to wait until after the kitchen was complete but it makes sense to do it before the cabinets are in.

Ladder Cat

2010-05-14T15:11:00.002-04:00

I guess Tessa wanted a better view of the squirrels in the backyard trees.

As you can see in the background, the kitchen remodel is progressing. Two weekends ago I got all of the wallpaper off. Last weekend I got all the drywall hung, and this past weekend I got it taped and mudded. One more coat of mud to go tonight, then a skim coat of drywall compound and then we can paint. Now I'm deciding when to refinish the floor. We might decide to sand it now (before cabinets) then protect it and not actually finish it until the family is gone in July (to avoid exposing the girls to several days of fumes). Then we'll be ready to install cabinets.

T-ball Opening Day

2010-04-30T20:52:00.002-04:00

Audrey is playing T-ball in the Churchill American Little league in Melrose. Carol and I are coaching the Twins. Last Saturday was Little League Opening Day with a parade and treats and bouncy houses. Click on the photo to go to the video.

Swinging Girls

2010-04-30T20:22:00.002-04:00

Ah, the simple things in life: 40 seconds of two girls enjoying their swings. Click on the photo to go to the video.

Kitchen Remodel, Part 1

2010-04-25T20:01:00.005-04:00

Kitchen Remodel, Part 1

We finally got started on the kitchen remodel we've been planning since we bought the house last summer. I got the new exterior door and siding done in October but then took the winter off.

We have set up a temporary kitchen of sorts in the living room. We have all of our food there and the microwave and the dining table. We'll leave the sink and dishwasher hooked up as long as possible. We can do dishes in the basement utility sink when we need to. We can just move the range and refrigerator around in the kitchen as needed.

Today we removed all of the wainscoting and a couple of the cabinets. I'll get the rest of the cabinets, except for the sink cabinet, out during the evenings this week. Then I have drywall to install to replace the wainscoting. Meanwhile Carol will be removing the wallpaper.

Now that I can see what I have to work with I'm feeling encouraged. Hopefully we can be finished in about three weeks.

Warm Welcome

2010-04-21T22:46:00.003-04:00

I rarely travel for business these days, but tonight I returned home from two nights away in Philadelphia. The girls really missed me (as I did them)! They picked me up at the T station and Audrey hopped out of the car and into my arms for a huge hug. Charlotte was strapped in, but when we got out of the car she hopped up and melted into my arms for a long time. Then they took turns getting more hugs and kisses. We went to dinner and I had to sit with both of them. It was very sweet, and I can't imagine a better welcome home.

New Kitchen

2010-04-15T21:22:00.002-04:00

Our new kitchen arrived today, courtesy of Ikea. At least the cabinets did. It doesn't look like a lot but there are 14 cabinets there.

Now if they would only install themselves. Time to get serious.

Weather at the Methots' House

2010-04-13T21:10:00.003-04:00

A very good and generous friend and fellow geek sent me a personal weather station a few weeks ago: an Oregon Scientific WMR200. It's been set up for a while now but I had to write some code to get the data it gathers uploaded to the internet for all to see.

If you've never visited The Weather Underground, it displays data from thousands of personal weather stations everywhere. The "WunderMap" will guess where you are and show stations in your area. The Methot homestead is now present as station ID KMAMELRO4. Bookmark that and you'll always be able to see what the weather is on our back porch!

Mystic Seaport

2010-04-12T21:01:00.004-04:00

Mystic Seaport

We've been itching to get out camping this spring. This past weekend had a decent weather forecast so we loaded up the camper van and headed to Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT. I have heard about it for years but had never been. Their web site lists lots of activities for kids.

It is a museum that was started in 1929 to preserve the history of America's relationship with the sea. Starting with a single sailboat, it has grown into a large site on the Mystic River with a 19th century village consisting of real period buildings that have been moved to the site from nearby over the years. Each of the buildings now houses a business that would have been present in the area during the peak of shipbuilding just before the Civil War: a cooperage, a sail maker, a cordage, wood carvers, shipwrights, a navigational instrument shop, etc. Plus there are a schoolhouse, a general store, an apothecary, a couple of churches and other town buildings.

For kids there is a playground with boat "playscapes", the Map Spot where kids learn about maps by making them, an exhibit on canals where kids have to "engineer" one, tons of model boats in various exhibits, three sailing ships to climb around in and on, a sawmill where they make huge parts for ship restoration, period games on the town green and a huge 3D model of the Mystic River area when it was a center of shipbuilding. Oh, and a place to build your own wooden boat. Audrey and Charlotte loved all of it. We got there about noon on Saturday and stayed until it closed at 5:00. Then we returned about 10:00 on Sunday morning and stayed till 3:30. We still didn't see everything.

We stayed at a KOA campground nearby. The girls were very excited to sleep in the camper van again. Charlotte decided she is old enough to sleep in the pop top and she did, all night without even waking up! I got to sleep on the lower level for the first time ever, on the softer mattress and with my sweetheart.

We're going to be locked down at home for a while with an imminent kitchen remodel and coaching Audrey's T-ball team, so it was nice to get away for a weekend. We had a really fun time.

Robotics Competition Videos

2010-04-09T09:45:00.005-04:00

As I've mentioned I volunteered as a mentor for the Melrose High School iRaiders robotics team for the 2010 FIRST Robotics Competition season. The 2010 Boston Regionals were held March 26-27 at Boston University. Below are links to several videos from the competition.

We didn't complete construction of our robot until the last minute, so we didn't have nearly enough time for testing. We had reliability problems in the competition: mainly the chains kept slipping on the drive wheels, making it difficult to maneuver. More testing would have revealed that weakness. Next year we'll try to manage the schedule better.

* Overview Video
* Qualifying Match 59
* Qualifying Match 67
* Qualifying Match 77

Charlotte Ballerina Redux

2010-04-08T19:17:00.002-04:00

For some reason the initial attempt at uploading the video failed. You can now see the video here. I also updated the link in the previous post.

Charlotte Ballerina

2010-04-07T22:34:00.004-04:00

Charlotte really loves to dance ballet. As far as I know, the only ballet she has ever seen has been the really crappy Barbie animated DVD "Swan Lake". That doesn't have much ballet in it but somehow she picked up some movement vocabulary. Charlotte was dancing for Audrey and Carol the other day and when I got home from work they all said that she had to dance for me. Even Audrey told Carol, "We have got to get Charlotte into ballet lessons!"

Click on the image for the video. I overdubbed the audio for better quality, but it is the same piece of music Charlotte was dancing to and synced in time (Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Spring, Allegro).

The Deluge

2010-03-16T10:03:00.000-04:00

Here are a couple of photos of the playfield at Audrey's Roosevelt
School after more than three days of rain totalling somewhere between
5 and 6 inches. Everybody's basement is flooded including ours
(minor). Carol and I have wet-vac'd probably 100 gallons of water from
our basement It's much more serious in some nearby towns.

Audrey hasn't been to school in a week due to illness. She went to the
doctor yesterday - he suspects bronchitis or possibly walking
pneumonia. She's on antibiotics now. Charlotte has had the same thing
since Thursday but drugs will wait a couple more days (only if fever
persists past 5 days). Thankfully Carol is on the mend.

In Like a Lion

2010-03-10T06:46:00.009-05:00

Hey look, it's March already! Let's just make this the mondo post that catches up on everything at once.

January Snaps

I posted video previously of the new bunk beds. The girls really like them. We take turns reading bedtime stories on the top or bottom bunk. The other day Audrey hung some blankets from the upper bunk rail to make a fort for Charlotte. They are still there.

We have a great store nearby called the Lakeshore Learning Store. I could buy everything in it if I had the money. Lots of great learn-to-read materials, science kits, cool blocks and other building toys, craft stuff, etc. They had an open house in mid-January with hands-on projects, etc. We spent a long time there that day.

I've been volunteering as a mentor for the Melrose High School iRaiders robotics team. They are participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Each year, a new game structure is announced in early January. Teams then have six weeks to design and build a robot to play that year's game. At the end of March the competition begins. I'm pleased with the robot our team built. I worked on the lift system that will lift the 120lb robot 20" off the floor at the end of the game for bonus points. I'm looking forward to the competition. I'll have Carol bring the girls for an hour or two so they can see what Dad's been up to with "the robot kids".

Audrey Turns Six

On February 2 Audrey turned 6. Wow. Carol and I can't believe we have a 6-year-old. We had a family celebration on Audrey's actual birthday and then a party with a bunch of her classmates on the weekend. Carol did her usual superb job of organizing fun activities for the kids, including a treasure hunt with photo clues and mummy-wrapping each other with toilet paper. Everyone had a blast.

Winter Break

The highlight of February was our vacation in Tucson and Palm Desert visiting both Carol's and my parents. The trip had an inauspicious beginning when we landed in Dallas for our plane change and discovered that due to a record snowstorm were we stuck in Dallas for at least 36 hours (Thursday evening until Saturday morning).

I was trying to use the web on my phone to find a hotel but the cell service in the airport was poor. I called my friend Scott in Seattle to ask him to be my web surfing proxy. I was envisioning a Holiday Inn or something, but Scott has family in Dallas and mentioned that there was a Great Wolf Lodge near the airport. We had stayed in one a couple of years ago near Seattle and the girls loved it. Scott made a reservation for us online, we hopped in a taxi and we had a fun way to kill the time we were stuck. To the kids it was a vacation bonus.

Saturday morning we managed to escape Dallas and made it to Tucson. Oh, except I left my coat on the plane. Good thing we were visiting warm climes.

We had a day with Carol's parents and then we borrowed their car and drove to Palm Desert, CA to visit my parents. The main goal was for the girls to get time with grandparents and Aunt Besty, so on Monday Carol and I made our traditional trek to Las Vegas. There are back roads through the Mojave Desert that are desolate and lonely and which we absolutely love. We've done this drive four times now I think. It takes about 5 hours and there is a stretch in the middle with no real towns for more than 100 miles.

In Las Vegas we started by going shopping. It was President's Day and there were great sales everywhere. We both bought some much-needed new clothes. Then we had a really pleasant evening grazing on appetizers at a couple of bars. We played a little craps - our favorite game - but our luck was very cold this time so we gave that up quickly and just walked around and people-watched. The original plan was to stay one night, but we extended for another night.

On Wednesday we re-traversed the Mojave to Palm Desert and spent the afternoon with my parents. Then we had a nice dinner out together and Carol and I and the girls departed to drive back to Tucson. These days when we travel I load up our phones with movies (I can get about a dozen movies on each phone), so long car and plane trips are much easier and more peaceful.

Back in Tucson I had arranged to rent a bike for a couple of days. I had hoped to ride all winter in Boston but that didn't work out. 15 degrees in the morning is colder than even my large bike clothing collection can handle. Not to mention potential ice on the roads. So it had been a couple of months since I had ridden. It felt great, and the cycling in Tucson is so beautiful.

On Friday night we did something I've wanted to do for years: Carol's father had made reservations for the Kitt Peak National Observatory Nightly Observing Program. It lasted about 5 hours and was really fantastic. We had very knowledgeable guides. We started by observing sunset and learning a bunch about changes in the sky at twilight and how to estimate sky angles (your fist at arm's length is about 10 degrees). Then after dark we moved to a 20" telescope and viewed the moon, mars and a handful of galaxies, clusters and nebulae. That's the biggest telescope I've ever looked through and it was fascinating. Even more amazing was that people were looking through much more primitive instruments 400 years ago and elucidating features that I could still barely see with this very high-quality device. We finished the evening with some binocular viewing of larger objects like the Pleiades. Thank you, Dennis, that was a highlight of the trip.

Sunday we headed back to Boston. Of course our plane was late leaving Phoenix and thus we were expected to miss our connection and spend the night in Milwaukee. Alas, the Milwaukee-Boston flight was late, too, and we got on it after all.

The girls were still on west coast or mountain time, so for the first few days I had to wake them up for school for the first time ever.

February Photos

Those 70 and 80 degree temperatures were awfully nice, but we had to return to frozen New England and grunt out the last month of Winter. We've had a bunch of flurries since we got back but nothing big. The last five days have been in the 50s and sunny and very nice. We'll probably still get a blast or two of winter but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel.

A week after vacation we had tickets to The Lion King at the Boston Opera House. Audrey and Charlotte loved it. After the introductory musical number they asked, "Is the movie over?"

Carol started coming down with a cold on our last couple of days in Tucson. She had to spend the travel day feeling awful, and then she was hammered by it for the next 10 days with intermittent high fevers for a week of that time. She's finally feeling normal the last couple of days but she still has a bad cough. Yesterday Audrey came down with it too. Hopefully Charlotte and I will escape.

Girl Group

2010-03-03T22:05:00.003-05:00

This is from early December. The girls are rehearsing their new band which I think it should be called "The Hellraisers". You may want to turn down the sound.

Click the photo to go to the video.

New Bunk Beds

2010-02-26T17:42:00.003-05:00

I have a lot to catch up on, including several videos and a boatload of photos. I'll try to get to them in the coming week or so.

Meanwhile, here is a little video of the "reveal" of the girls' new bunk beds. Enjoy!

[Click on the photo to go to the video]

The Graduate

2010-02-26T17:39:00.002-05:00

Look what came in the mail today. And I earned it before my semicentennial!

Date Night(s) in Vegas

2010-02-16T15:16:00.000-05:00

The girls are with grandma and grandpa in Palm Desert, so Carol and I
made our escape and are spending a couple of nights in Las Vegas. We
walked through the huge new City Center complex. This is the entrance
to Aria. We're staying at the Flamingo for probably 20% of what the
Aria would cost.

Tomorrow we retrieve the girls and make a night drive back to Tucson
for three days with Carol's parents before we return to cold New
England. 70's and 80's sure have felt nice!

What Happened to Those Five Weeks?

2010-01-21T21:22:00.009-05:00

Wow, it's been forever since I've posted! Since December 17th! OK, let's get caught up.

New York December 2009

The highlight of December was a visit from my sister Tricia and her husband Frank. The girls were very excited to see their aunt and uncle and were counting down the days until they arrived.

Tricia and Frank had never been to New York, so we planned in advance to drive there during their visit and spend three days. We ended up delaying our trip by a day due to a big snowstorm, but 24 hours later the roads were clear so off we went. Ruby (our van) did just fine.

Tricia and Frank had their own hotel arrangements and we each went our own way so they could explore without having to deal with kid logistics. We stayed at our gracious friends Brady and Julie's apartment. It was fun to see New York both decorated for the holidays and also with a bunch of fresh snow. We went to a couple of museums, had dinner with our friends Bill and Sara, visited Grand Central Station and a few other sights and had a good time just traipsing around the city in winter.

Christmas 2009

On Christmas Eve we drove back to Boston. Christmas morning the girls ripped into their gifts and Carol made her traditional cinnamon rolls. Carol and I did pretty well this year at keeping the girls' gifts pretty modest. Well, except for the new Wii that is.

We knew that a video game would trump all other presents, so we let the girls play with everything else all morning and then in early afternoon we hastily organized a treasure hunt that ended at the Wii. The girls were thrilled. They've really been enjoying it and I think we're doing an alright job of limiting the amount. Sometimes Carol and I play after the girls are asleep.

Holidays 2009

Tricia and Frank were still here for three days after Christmas so we did a little sightseeing. We took them to Salem and its Peabody Essex Museum, and also to Rockport which is a scenic seaside town. In summer it's mobbed, but we had the place to ourselves. We bought some fudge and taffy to support the winter economy.

After our visitors departed I still had a week off. One of the days we drove down to Newport, Rhode Island to visit the famous mansions there. Only three of them are open in the dead of winter, but they are the three best ones: The Elms, Marble House and The Breakers. They are spectacular. The amount of money that went into building (and maintaining) them is astounding, especially considering they were just these families' summer homes.

The Beach in January

We've had about 50% more snow than normal so far this winter. I think we've had about 6 or 7 snowfalls of 4" or more. We've also had slighly below-normal temperatures. Last Saturday we had a day of sunshine and 45 degrees. It felt like Spring! So we headed to Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. Audrey hates bulky clothing so she was in heaven running around without a jacket on. Both girls had fun poking around in the sand and the shallow water and the snow. There was a weird zone at the high tide mark where about 6" of snow was covered with sand. It looked like normal firm sand, but when we stepped on it we sank in with a crunch. A very strange sensation.

Well there you go. We're caught up. I have a bunch of raw video from New York and Christmas that I need to edit. I'll post that when I can.

Oh, some very exciting news for me. Audrey has been learning a lot of phonetics in Kindergarten and doing very well at it. We bought her some Bob books which are for beginning readers. The last two nights Audrey has read two of our bedtime stories! Watching my kids learn to read is one of the things I'm most excited about as a parent. I'm thrilled.

Winter is Here

2009-12-17T09:38:00.003-05:00

Ah, vacation. I'm in my third day off of a three week vacation and boy is it sweet. My favorite part is I get to take both girls to and from school every day.

Winter is officially here now. We had our first real snow on December 5th, about 4 inches or so. It lasted several days, including plenty of good sledding in the neighbors' yard. This week is is cold. Last night it got down to about 12 degrees and it is only 16 degrees right now at 9:30 AM. It was a brisk walk to school this morning. Audrey and I didn't see anyone else walking; I guess all the other parents wimped out and drove (it's two blocks away).

Winter is Here

We are getting the most out of the Museum of Science membership we bought last month. We have been several times and we still haven't seen the whole thing. I took both girls last Sunday and we spent six hours there. It was nice to give Carol a good long break. What did she do to relax? Bake holiday cookies!

Photo Experiments

Finally, here are a few experiments with iPhone photo manipulation applications. One lets you remove all of the color in a photo and then paint back the color in just the areas you want. The other applies distortions to the photo. I like what it does to Charlotte's already big brown eyes.