Jan 1 - Happy New Year to friends and family both near and far.
Warm spell - Considering it's the first of January and this is southern New Hampshire, I find it ironic to report that it hit 50°F today. Mighty Timbo played outside barefoot for goodness sake. Okay, so he had to because he stepped in muddy water near the gutter runoff, but he continued playing barefoot! If this is global warming, I'm trading in the Accord for a SUV! We turned off the stove, opened the windows, and let some fresh air in for a while. Please wind, blow out the winter germs!
Bowling - Claire has been asking almost the entire vacation. Today I took her and Abby candlepin bowling. Abby looks so cute - a lil' six year old throwing the ball between her legs. And yet, she got a strike and ultimately the higher score.
Matchbox - I assembled yet another Matchbox car track toy today. This one was about as frustrating as the last one due to ambiguous directions, but the quality of construction leads me to believe this one might last more than a few hours. I'm really getting wary of 100% plastic toy sets.
The Tree - In true Michelle "early to bed, early to rise" fashion, the Christmas tree came down today. For her, the tree goes up right after Thanksgiving and comes back down on New Years. No waiting around for the Feast of the Epiphany. The house feels really plain now. To me it makes winter seem dreary earlier. Cabin fever, anyone?
Movie - This afternoon while Michelle went shopping, Claire and I watched Spirited Away. Most Netflix members gave it good reviews, but I'd have to side with the few who found it a little too weird, too strange. Perhaps you need a Japanese cultural perspective to "get it", but we found it often confusing.
Little Men - While scanning things to rent over the next month, I noticed that one of Michelle's favorite TV series is available on DVD now: PAX's Little Men. If I remember correctly, it came out around the time "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" was ending. Michelle seems to think that her liking a program seems to curse it. Look out "Joan of Arcadia".