"Sledding!"

Mia and I spent an hour or so yesterday building a sled trail in the back yard. Our yard is relatively flat, so we used a big pile of snow to create a hill and cut trails down for her to sled. They are all covered now, and we'll put up new pics when we feel its safe to stick our necks outside, but for now, here's a video of Mia.

Christmas at the Beach

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This year, we spent Christmas week in Emerald Isle, NC.

We headed down a night early to try to beat the Blizzard, but met up with it in Richmond where we waited almost 3 hours in near standstill traffic before we got our turn to attempt to cross the bridge across the river. Several cars and all semi trucks were stranded at the bottom of the large incline of the un-plowed bridge. (The plows couldn't make it to the bridge through the traffic.) We made it across. Thankfully we were full of people, luggage, and Christmas presents, and had new tires. As we made our way off I95 onto I85, we stopped to call a tow truck for a stranded minivan and family who had plowed into a ravine - it was a pretty nasty drive. Patrick is a very skilled driver, and I'm thankful he was the one driving.


By the time it was nearing 3-4 in the morning and we were just out of the snow and finally in the rain, we stopped to get some sleep at an old gas station. Sleeping in the car was just fine at that point. However, should you attempt this, please remember to call those expecting you, even if it IS 4 am and there is a sleeping baby in their house (oops!).

After a few hours to freshen up and refuel our minds and bodies in Raleigh, it was smooth sailing to our beloved 3 Palms - the house we also rented in September 2008.




We started the week with a bad cold for Mia and while we passed it around , we fit in fun filled days of cooking, relaxing, cookie making, gingerbread house decorating, sea shell collecting, and even a birthday party for Jacque! What a blast.

Thanks to Neil and Jessica, I took a much-needed break from the kid-chaos for a half-day spa experience with Amanda and my mom - ahhhhh.

Although weather systems seem to try to keep us from going, I love Emerald Isle and can't wait to go back in the summer - hope you all had a Merry Christmas, too!

Hanna, Ike, and Emerald Isle

Well, I'm glued to the site Storm Pulse. My brother sent it to me, knowing I love to watch the weather, and this site is just uber techie and colorful, and well, it's just cool. (Disclaimer: picture above is not from Storm Pulse, but from www.chron.com)

Hurricanes are fascinating, and normally I get a rush watching them show us just how small and insignificant we really are.

HOWEVER, we are supposed to be heading to Emerald Isle, NC on Saturday. Hmmm. As of now, we are still just watching to see what Hanna will do, but my thinking is we won't be there on Saturday.