The Whos down in Who-ville...

We're definitely having a Doctor-flavored Christmas this year. It makes it easy to buy gifts when the kids are into something "hip."

Here is the crowning glory... a Tardis! I designed it using  two shower curtains from Think-Geek and a PVC frame built by Tony!  The kids like it, but we'll have to see if they figure out how to play with it!

"Ice" Skating

The City of Anderson got a synthetic ice rink this year. The Brookwood boys went to try it out on the half day just before Winter Break.
It was just perfect for us: small, not too crowded, and not too slippery!

Santa Run 2015: Juliet and John

It was cold! 32 degrees but clear and sunny. We warmed up while running, but it was cold before and after. John said it wasn't like what he thought. He thought we would "be running through the trees with decorations of reindeer and sleighs." That would have been cool!

Before:
John is wearing the pants to my Santa suit around his booty like a sweater. The beard kept his face warm.

After at the Start line.

John said he thinks his time was 43:16, so I was right after that. That's good for us, with no training!

Mommy and Christopher to Kentucky

Christopher and I went to Kentucky to see a friend and to pick up a computer. We had a good time. It's lots of fun doing things one on one with the boys...

This is my work friend, Sandra. She is one of the loveliest people I know, probably one of the loveliest people on the planet! She has a talent for communication, both in languages and diplomacy, and she has the gift of being able to see the best in everyone without being blind to human faults.

Eugene Power was a pioneering entrepreneur who founded University Microfilms International, which eventually became ProQuest, the company for which I work. A couple years ago, the company did a comic book marketing gimmick, and Sandra rescued the cardboard cutout, which was destined for the recycling bin.

 Christopher was impressed with all the cool stuff Sandra had in her basement gym, including a trampoline and a total gym.

Here's a picture the first night. We made it to Richmond and he fell asleep in the car.

Here's an action shot from our second night, at the Galt House in Louisville. It was a really nice room, but they don't have enough elevators...

 

Here's a picture in front of the Convention Center on 4th street in Louisville. He's standing on a fountain that is shut down for the winter.

Here is the nativity in front of the Galt House. Christopher kept saying "It's Bay-Jee Bee-Sus" or something silly.

Here is Christopher over Market Street on the Skyway. That's Actors Theatre on the right!

Here is the huge line of cars for the Mega Cavern lights tour. Evidently there is a huge cave underneath Southeast Louisville. They have offices and a zip line type amusement park there. There were massive amounts of people in line for the drive-thru Christmas lights show, but it was very well organized. You drove up into a line of cars on a grid in a parking lot, and they released each line every 2 minutes or so. In the first clump there were 8 lines of 10-15 cars. Then we drove through an industrial park and in the second lot there were about 20 rows of 20-25 cars. Thankfully they had sets of port-a-potties at each parking lot. I think we were in line for about an hour. Thank goodness for the kindle!

On the way home we swung by Mammoth Cave National Park, one of those places I always meant to visit when we lived in Louisville... We did the Frozen Niagara tour, which was only 1/4 of a mile into the cave, but it lasted about an hour. That was probably 15-30 minutes too long for Christopher, but he was brave and stuck it out. 

Walking into school

I was trying to take a picture from behind the two boys while they were walking in to school. They were walking close together and John was gently teasing Christopher and he was smiling. But by the time I got my phone camera out (my phone and I together are the slowest entity on the planet), Christopher caught me and looked back. Everyone was actually happier IRL than it looks!