Might as well

Since the snow isn't going anywhere any time soon, we thought we would take time to enjoy it (again) while suffering from cabin fever.

 Our three snow angels!

Alyssa hasn't ever been sledding by herself...is today the day?????  Maybe after some help from Mamu (her newest term of endearment) and big brother.

 

After some practice and encouragement she tried NEXT to Brady, but ended up holding on to his sled the entire way down.

C'mon...you CAN do it!!!!

After a few more times going down, she felt very confident....Look Mamu...NO hands!!!  Maybe she'll be the one to ride a roller coaster with me!  It's been years since I've had anyone to enjoy those type of adventures.  I'll have to wait a few more years until she is a bit taller...but at least there is hope in sight!

Cole wasn't interested in the sled.  He has moved on to bigger better things!

Brady tried snowboarding, his feet were too big and even if they weren't, he doesn't have the coordination....sledding is fun too.

We are DONE with the snow.  We are ready for warmer weather, snowless yards and streets, normal school routines, baseball and tanning poolside!!!!

Run Tía Run!

Tsunami warning in Guatemala due to an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile. 

And guess who is at the beach?

Put the drink down...quit laughing about it and RUN!! 

The gringos love you too much...RUN!

My tía Gladys is in the orange.  Pic taken in Guate last spring.

Happy Birthday Liza

I hope you enjoyed your birthday this year!

WHEN will it STOP???

We received about 10 inches last weekend...about another six today and some more tonight...and then I just heard on the news that we are expecting another large storm next week!  The only good thing about the snow is that we are home today from school....maybe (hopefully) tomorrow too!

Brian doing the neighborly thing and helping them dig out too.

Man down!!!

We're going sledding after dinner this evening before the high winds and even colder temps roll in.

Sure would like to be in Guatemala right now.  We received new  pictures today of baby Anika enjoying the sunshine with her mom (my cousin Lily) and her dad (Oscar).  We would wish we could be enjoying the sunshine and warm weather with mi familia en Guate.

  

Best emerging Latin artist...our very own GABY!

Check out Gaby's performance from this morning on a Philly news channel.  So cool to see her perform!

There is a quick 15 second advertisement at the beginning....Be sure to watch to the very end...she was put on the spot to play the song she wrote for Parks & Recreation...even though it is an instrumental!

Proud of you Gaby!!!  

Another song..this one is in Spanish..after the quick 15 second advertisement of course:  Quizás

Just because......

What a great way to warm my heart during these cold days in Ohio!

Recovering

Brian got his wisdom teeth pulled today and he is resting and recovering.  He said some pretty funny (and inappropriate) things after surgery.  He made me laugh!!  At one point he was trying to change his gauze and he was grabbing his lip instead of the gauze.  Obviously, his lips were numb..it was funny!!  A few more days of soft food, ice packs and he should be good to go!  A few prayers and well wishes will help his recovery go a bit faster.  We go to Vegas over Valentine's Day weekend and he told the doctor that IF he wouldn't be at 100% in three weeks, then he would re-schedule the surgery.  As you can tell, he LOVES Las Vegas!!!!

It's been years....

(Let's see if this works this time....the pics didn't post last time.)

...since we have been bowling!!!  Although, bowling is like riding a bike, you really never forget how.  You might not be the best bike rider or bowler, but you can still have fun.  Brian, Skip, Liza, Mom, George and I and the kids headed to the bowling lanes.  Mom even brought her own ball from back in the league days.

GOOD LUCK Alyssa!

Way to go Alyssa......or not......way to leave Brady hanging!

OH MY.....WHAT HAVE WE CREATED?  She is evil!

  The result of game one....at least some of us broke 100, with the help of bumpers of course!  We'll keep practicing on the Wii and try again another time!

Good times, Good times!

WELCOME....

.....to the Internet Meme and Pampy!

Meme and Pampy have FINALLY surfed the web!  They are learning and SLOWLY getting acquainted with their new mouse-less laptop.  They have an email address and Meme is very excited to begin receiving mail....let me know if you want her email address!  Pampy is looking forward to visiting sites like www.historychannel.com and www.discoverychannel.com.  They have a lot to explore!!!!

 

My Handsome Brady Baby Bumblebee in HD

Brady in his new glasses.  It was hard work to get a good picture to display his new specs.  He so enjoyed the photo shoot......

 

Troop 844 Annual Bushwack Hike

I joined the some of the scouts from Troop 844 for their annual Bushwack Hike at John Bryan State Park and Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve in Yellow Springs, Ohio (not too far from the Dayton area).  We hiked 6.5 miles in about 10 inches of snowing, at 17 degrees and the snow continued to fall on us.  It was BEAUTIFUL and not as cold as expected! 

A mile in our hike, we were beginning to sweat and our hand and feet warmers were coming off.  The boys were even taking layers of clothing off. 

Along the hike, the boys found a sled (which had a crack in it).  They thought they would try it out....but then they were stuck with it, until they found a trashcan to dispose of it.....LEAVE NO TRACE! 

Notice one of the boys in the background in ONLY his shirt!  Crazy kid...doesn't he know he can still get frostbite even though he is sweating?  We made him put at least a sweatshirt on.

Watch out Señora Jackson (a lot of these kids are / were my students)

If there were only rocks to throw overboard....just snowballs this time.

Brady ran out of water pretty quick.  So he decided to try a trick he learned from Man vs. Wild.  Snow in his water bottle...and then keep the bottle close to his body to melt the snow to water...we'll see if it works.....

Look at how close we are to the edge!  No messing around on this hike!

Yikes!

Water break-but we can't stand still for too long because our sweat starts to cool and then we get cold again.

Awesome frozen water fall!

A frozen river below:

Can you see the waterfall below falling into an almost frozen river?

Yep, Brady's idea worked.  The snow melted against his warm body.  The water is still cold with some ice chunks in it and it doesn't taste too bad...as long as you don't mind a few floaters...which of course Brady did, so his friend gave him one of his water bottles.

Notice more layers coming off...

Great hike boys!  It took us about 4 hours, but that's including several stops for resting, potty breaks, water breaks, posing for pictures, complaining and enjoying the wonderful views Mother Nature has to offer during this frigid month of January.