It's been rainy a lot during our winter break, so I planned hikes for us whenever I could. Today we did a family hike at the Pump Station trail at Eno River.
What Alice looks like when she needs a snack right at the beginning of the hike, but she's carsick from reading on the drive:
She soon felt better and ate her banana.
The kids used their new pocket knives for some whittling.
It's a bit nerve wracking to take a winter hike next to a freezing, rushing river, when Simon still wants to climb the overhanging trees and jump across the rocks.
Just saving these for his therapist to analyze later in life.
The top one he drew as a "Find 9 things wrong" picture.
The below one he drew for Mike and Kim (I told them to make thank-you cards for the cookies and this is what I got). It's of the pond, sort of. He couldn't really explain it.
The pond, even in winter, continues to provide Simon, and sometimes Alice, with entertainment. Zac took the kids out to the drain end for a while this afternoon to fish and play. This time of year, Simon barely catches anything. But that doesn't deter him from trying. Constantly.
This evening, we had Anna and Jess over. We followed the typical routine: We cook hotdogs on the campfire, then force the kids to play outside in the cold and dark for a while. Eventually we let them come in, where Alice and Anna play Minecraft together and Simon watches YouTube fishing videos. Then we grownups sit by the fire and Jess and Zac drink wine and we all talk. Tonight we even tried out the fire popcorn popper Natasha got us. It worked great!
We went hiking at Eno River with Izzy and Natasha the weekend after Christmas. The weather was cold but sunny. The Buckquarter Creek Trail (one of my favorites) was very muddy. The girls still had a good time, I enjoyed catching up with Natasha, and Zac and Simon had a good time attempting (unsuccessfully) to catch fish in winter.
We're just doing anything to get out of the house and have a bit of variety in our life, given how Covid has limited social interaction and there's no way we're going inside the science museum or Marbles.
We started off Christmas morning right: with a slice of Zac's delicious pumpkin pie!
Then they did their stocking (nothing too exciting inside).
Then it was time to open presents!
We have the kids take turns and open one present at a time.
They were very intrigued by this large box, and it took them a while to find out whose name was on it. Simon finally spotted Alice's name.
Alice's big box
Simon got lots of lures!
And a fly-fishing rod
Alice was excited to receive the latest three books in her favorite series, Wings of Fire. The last book she had never seen before.
More lures and fishing rods for Simon...
The cat (most frequently called "Gills" these days) joined in the festivities.
Alice was excited to a get a big snugly blanket!
(I snuck in a Christmas selfie)
After all the presents were opened, we had second breakfast: cinnamon rolls, bacon, eggs, and fruit. After that, it was time to start playing with everything!
After lunch we gave the kids their last presents: swiss army pocket knives. Then Zac conducted a training session with them, going over all the rules.
It was really cold out Christmas day, so we spent most of the time inside.
Zac and Alice working on the new Nintendo Switch.
For Christmas dinner, we had Chinese take out, the kids' favorite.
