2013-JAN

Hurricane Ridge 40 images

Burns Night 30 images · 2 videos

Sam's Birthday 24 images

1 "Domino Man" spelled out in dominoes, then toppled.	2 Building a rocket with Uncle Steve - it's a "home day" - jammies on past noon!	3	4 Undoubtedly this is a domino toppling "vid." Sam wants to start his own YouTube channel.
5	6 A domino cube, and Sam talking about building. He keeps all his 1000 dominoes sorted into drawers by color. Often, we all help pick up - it's good bonding time.	7 A party with a bunch of friends in the district who are working on STEM projects - Science/Technology/Engineering/Math. These are some neat moms, and we got to meet their husbands, too. See the funny glasses two of us are using? Dave and I got the silly idea to buy graduated cylinders, beakers and an Erlenmeyer flask.	8 Bonnie and I :)
9 Jennifer, Annie and Amy.	10 Me and Greg. Dave made cocktails (from a prepared menu he crafted) for 16 adults. There were 9 kids here, too.	11 This is how Ben wrapped up a cocktail party a few weeks ago...he is toooo funny. Uncle Steve put him up on the fridge as a gag and this is what he did when he realized it was the ultimate stage!	12 Next morning we're enjoying time with Matt and Melodie, Neil and Edie. The boys are in an Uncle Burrito. A chimichange? Burrito grande?
13	14	15 They have so much fun together! Poor Uncle Steve, though!	16 Ben, you're not drooling, are you?
17 Whew - back to football :)	18 Alli decided she'd had too much sitting around - it was time to wrap up the holidays by cutting up and burning the tree.	19 uh oh - the safety officer came out and said "That's too much stuff in there already." I rolled the tree farther away and tried to demonstrated that I could contain the thing.	20 Ben loved the festivities, and now Neil is out chopping up the tree so we can keep feeding it. That is his gorgeous fiance in the foreground.
21 Uh - pretty high fire! Higher than the pergola!	22 Whoa!	23 My little buddy.	24 Trying to get Dave to take an anniversary picture...several days late :)
25	26	27 Sam out playing football - excited about the game after watching some this afternoon. Nice to see Neil's truck in the driveway. They are moving back to WA! Aside from missing Josh and Ang, nearly the whole 2005-6 crew is here!	28 Another Monday Math session :)
29 Treating Ben to a special date with mommy - hot chocolate and free cake at T&C after playground time early Friday morning. Wow. He was so happy! Sam was VERY jealous, too :)	30 Eagle also pleased!	31	32 Time out on the sand while Daddy is working - another weekend working for him, but we managed to get some really good time in the sun. I am scouting out good places in sand AND southern exposure for maximum sun.
33 Honu, just like in Hawaii :)	34 Sam made The Globe Theatre after reading about William Shakespeare for the last couple weeks in a Landmark Series book at night. We all enjoyed learning more about his life. It inspired some interesting performances out on the driveway under the moonlight, too...the fall of Caesar is captured in a movie later in this album.	35 A closer look at the stage.	36 A nice walk with my boys along the beach, and Mt. Rainier is out there in the distance.
37 Yup - probably can't see it with my cell phone camera, though. Right in the middle of the frame.	38 In this photo, Steve is enjoying imitating how Sam watches football. ALL OVER THE PLACE - squirming, sliding off the couch, nearly upside down...it's so funny!	39 They boys were in stitches!	40 More giggles :)
41	42 Building a domino tower that got REALLY huge.	43	44
45 Launching rockets built with Uncle Steve!	46 They had such a great time - we all enjoyed the excitement very much. Steve used to do this when he was a kid. It was so nice to share those memories with him.	47	48
49 Safety officer in the background :)	50	51 And we're ready to launch!	52
53 Domino boys! Ben is so cute making his own fields and structures.	54 Needing a stool now. This is hours later...still intent on the project. Glad an earthquake didn't happen!	55 Just about done!	56 That huge tower? It's ready to be demolished!
57 The birdcage! Ben and Sam loved this - they were laughing so hard!	58 When you cover a bird cage, the bird gets quiet, right? Not so much!	59 Ben and Sam were building a huge village all day on Saturday while Daddy was called away to work again (something about a large crane, a power outtage, and time in the emer op ctr). This is a village for Mini Mommy that Ben built. It was so cute to check in with them periodically and see what they were building, imagine Mini Mommy's life, and then go back to a report I was writing. I was doing some regression modeling amidst all this! It was gross out, and they really enjoyed some home time. Well spent. So clockwise from bottom left: an airport for Mini Mommy's plane (heliport?), then her gym where she works out, and then her house, complete with kitchen, bedrooms and a conveyor belt for her groceries to go in the front door (the part sticking out to the right), and then on the far right is her chicken coop :)	60 The aforementioned Shakespearean actors!
61	62	63