Feb 2010: Last winter seemed fairly mild, until we got a massive snowfall in February, which left our deck looking decidely uninviting.
March 2010: After a long day playing, Quentin collapsed and fell fast asleep on the sofa. Ria decided to take advantage of his new warm pillow...
May 2010: Emmett started playing clarinet in Fall 2009; here he is at the Lilac Festival, where his school band performed at the main stage on opening day.
May 2010: The boys' cub scout pack had a campout in May. (We skipped the overnight camping, as Mark had teaching obligations that weekend.) There wasn't a drop of rain, and yet somehow Emmett managed to find the mud.
We were washing mud out of his tennis shoes for days and days.
June 2010: Quentin had a birthday party at Bounce-It-Out. Bounce-It-Out is housed in a large warehouse, and has about ten of those giant inflatable slides/play areas. They also serve food, and have separate "party rooms" to host kid parties.
June 2010: Quentin climbing a giant-sized spider web at our local zoo.
June 2010: Heather made Emmett's birthday cake. By request, it was a cheeseburger cake (a cake made in the shape of a giant cheeseburger, complete with tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, catsup, and mustard.
Heather made another food cake earlier in the year for a cub scout pot-luck: a spagetti-and-meatballs cake.
June 2010: Emmett's birthday party was held at a local bowling alley. As you can see, he dressed the part!
July 2010: Our (mostly) annual trip to Santa's Village in New Hampshire. This year the boys were eager to go on rides by themselves; here is Emmett enjoying the log ride.
July 2010: Quentin went by himself on a sleigh ride at Santa's Village.
Sept 2010: Crazy Cat and Bat Cat turned 1 this year. Now they're fully grown, fairly big cats. And completely impossible to tell apart, except for the fact that Bat Cat has a strange sounding purr (his purr has a squeek to it, that gets more pronounced the happier he is, or if his lips are slightly parted when he purrs).
In November, when we were painting one of the bedrooms, Bat Cat managed to get some white paint on his back, and it still hasn't come completely out, so we do have a subtle visual aid now to try and tell them apart.
In this photo, based on facial expressions I think that Crazy Cat is on the right, and Bat Cat on the left.
Sept 2010: We visited Ft Rosecrans National Cemetary in September, where a marker for Mark's mother is located. We shared stories about grandma Beverly, and the boys spent some time exploring the other markers in that area, wondering about other soldiers' military experiences.
Sept 2010: At our niece Taylor's wedding in California, we got the younger generations together for a group photo.
Sept 2010: Emmett and Quentin, all dressed up with a wedding to go to.
Sept 2010: After the wedding, we spent a lovely day at Laguna Beach
October 2010: Our Roman Holiday! Here Emmett and Quentin are having a snack at dusk, paying more attention to whether the ants will get at their pizza and Sprite than they are to the two thousand year old Colosseum directly behind them. (They did an extensive tour of the Colosseum the previous day, and we were all famished, so their attention wasn't particularly misplaced.)
For more photos and details from our trip, go to our Mediterranean Family Vacation blog, now with photos!
Oct 2010: The Acropolis was closed due to a strike, so this was about as close as we were able to get. Otherwise we did have a nice time in Athens, with a fantastic meal at a sidewalk cafe being a highlight.
Oct 2010: Emmett riding a camel on the Giza plateau.
Oct 2010: Emmett and Heather on camels at the pyramids. (Mark and Quentin opted out of the camel experience.)
Oct 2010: We all descended into the crypt underneath the mastaba of Teti, one of the last royal burials prior to the age of pyramids. Our guide kept encouraging us to take photos (even though there were signs to the contrary); we eventually gave in and took this one, only to be immediately encouraged to give our guide a generous tip.
Oct 2010: Emmett and Quentin on the slopes of Mt Etna
Halloween 2010: Quentin and Emmett in their Halloween costumes.
Nov 2010: When we weren't travelling, we spent much of our fall working on the house, painting several rooms and fixing up hardware. We discovered that both Crazy Cat and Bat Cat like climbing ladders. Now if we could just get them to use a paint roller....
December 2010: Emmett enjoying an early December blizzard
December 2010: The best thing about winter is sledding, and our yard has a great gentle hill for sledding.
2010 Family Portrait on the Giza plateau, in front of the Great Pyramid
Another family pose at Giza