Sunday Ramblings

 To me, there is something very exciting when it comes to waking up early in the morning. There aren't many people out at that time, the morning light is soft and invigorating, and you can usually find some interesting natural phenomenons. I love to witness these phenomenons. In California, it was the marine layer that would blanket the Bay Area, and the sun that would pierce the granite monoliths of Yosemite as it would rise over the crest of the Sierra Nevada. In Maine, it's watching the shore birds floating on what appears to be sea smoke in -7 degree weather, and waking up to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean at 4:45 am in June. It's also a special time for me to be alone and collect my thoughts for the day. I find that my days go so much more smoothly if I'm able to get out of the house early and do something active. This last week, I was able to cross-country ski twice before work. On Thursday I skied around Eagle Lake. When I got to the southern end of the lake (most inaccessible part), it was so quiet. No hint of cars, airplanes, or people. It was pure bliss. I love Maine.

We went to Grammy Haskins on Friday night and had a good time. The kids love visiting her. I think they also like the fact that we don't exactly enforce our family rules has strictly at her house. The kids eat more snacks and watch more movies there than they do at home. That's pretty typical for us whenever we go on trips.

For the third winter in a row, we've made a snow cave. It started out as a 'boat'. I shaped it that way to begin with anyways. Then after some more snow, I just started piling it on. Now, we have a decent cave that Madie and I could sleep in. That's the goal anyways. I dug some stairs into the side, that they like to climb up, and they have a slide on the side that they go down. These are all the reasons I wanted to live in a snowy area as a kid. Think of all the possibilities!

The Bella Nella is finally perking her head up when she is on her belly, instead of near-suffocation, face-planting. We are working on sleep training her so that she has some sort of routine, because things have been somewhat rough lately. I guess we were just spoiled with Madie because she just slept after we fed her and put her down. She was very predictable. Finn, was not at all. I just figured he was an anomaly. It's too early to tell where Nella is. I think we are getting in the a groove though. 

Finn saw most of A Knights Tale the other day (Mal edited a few parts), and has been turning his toys into swords & jousts, and his tiger into a horse. He is very creative in that he tries to make swords and tools out of whatever somewhat resembles his object of desire. This boy is fully potty trained, even at night. Quite the accomplishment. And no more diapers! Hurray!

Madie has been very helpful with the baby, and loves to hold her. Lately, she's been saying things like "You're too cute to be on earth!". She is doing well in school, and is actually starting to read. She read us a very simple book the other day, and can decipher words surprise me. For example, we were looking at an app the other day called Star Chart. She was reading the names of the planets almost without hesitation. I was pretty amazed.

Finally enjoying belly time.

Hitting the ski trail in the morning. The woods are so beautiful with fresh snow.

Sea smoke and the shore birds.

Ice fishing shacks on Eagle Lake.

The kiddo's.

I love this one of the kids at Grammy Haskins house. They loved sitting next to the fire. When Finn woke up in the morning, he asked Grammy for a fire like 2-3 times.

The snow cave.