Beach with a new pup

Keelyn, Kylie and Ella introduced their new pup Khloe to the beach this week.

MW, Will "shops" at our Giant grocery store and plays statues at Old Navy.

Grands at Christmas.......

What a wonderful day of Christmas memories!

JACK with his Christmas pirate pajamas.

EVA models her new hat and snow board.

KYLIE with some of her new lacrosse shirts.

KEELYN adds to her mini American Girl collection.

WILL and LARRY assemble the train set.

YUMMY desserts!

ELLA digs into Christmas dinner.

LAYNE and EVA on the Notebook....they each got one this year.

Snow babe

Seen outside the only open store on the boardwalk today....a swimsuit store!

Walking the boardwalk today was a little treacherous as it is snow and ice covered. Also a wind chill of temps in the 20s....brrrrr!

finally........SNOW!!!

After an entire day of wind and rain, we finally got enough snow today to give us some winter pictures. The boardwalk has a coating of snow as the lights came on at dusk today. It is getting colder now, so maybe the snow will continue. We hear tales from S. MD and DC about MANY inches of snow.

Camel Lot

On Sunday evening we enjoyed the presentation of Camel Lot at the Haarhoff's church. Ella and Keelyn had parts in the play as camels and Keelyn sang a solo! These young ladies are blossoming stars, and every year we look forward to their Christmas pageant.

Visit to Rochester and OC Winterfest

This past weekend we traveled to Rochester to celebrate with my dad at his holiday party. Here he is with his good friend and chef at his assisted living facility, Desi Clark who prepared a wonderful feast for us.

Once home, we enjoyed Winterfest in OC with Jenni and Will. Will brought us a star he made in school to put on the top of our tree right next to one made by Kylie when she was five years old.

Visit to NYC

We have traveled to NYC to see the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree for years now. This time Jenni, Larry and Will came with us. Weather was warm and perfect for all the walking we did. Highlights of this trip were geared toward what Will would most enjoy so we included visits to Times Square (esp. at night), FAO Schwartz toy store (seen here where Will is having his first look into the window), and Central Park. I am posing with a Batman made of LEGOS inside FAO Schwartz. Will loved the opportunity to run and play in Central Park with his mommy and daddy. Lastly, I have included a picture of one of the decorated windows of the Saks Fifth Avenue store. New vocabulary for Will: taxi, train, water tower, train whistle, beeping, New York City, elevator, escalator and many more!

Counting down to Christmas

We lighted and decorated our community's reindeer this weekend. They stand at the entrance to our neighborhood.

For a minute we gathered our grands together for a picture at our family Thanksgiving at Dave and Ann Marie's home. Between food and play, here they are....the amazing seven!

Mace park

We spent a delightful afternoon with Will this week. Here he is in Mace Park, just a short walk away from his house, checking out cars in the "used car lot". Pop lined up all the cars for his inspection.

No dune

For those people who have complained about the dune being in the way of their seeing the beach and ocean....it is GONE at the southern end of the boardwalk. It saved the boardwalk, shops and the town which was its purpose all along. Such was the fury of this latest nor'easter.

WHAT A MESS!

Water, water, everywhere

Looking down our road toward the Carroll's building.

Nor'easter #3 in just 3 weeks and this is what we have.....water and floating planks of wood at our front steps.

Our back yard under a floating mass of pine needles.

Leaves are fun by JACK

Leaves are not good to put in your mouth. You can make any kind of jump, especially cannon balls. You can throw them or toss them in the air.

Having fun in the leaves by EVA

On November 9th after school we were bored so we started raking leaves. Then we heard Jack yelling and then he came with a BIG jump in the leaves.

This is me after I jumped in the leaf pile.

And here I am coming up for air!

This is Jack throwing leaves up into the air.

Time with Will

While Jenni attended a conference in Crystal City, we got to spend 2 days with Will. Here we are at his gym where he is attending a music class doing what he likes best...playing the drums.

"Hiding" from Daddy. I love his boots and so does he. They are for his frequent trips to the stream where his favorite past time now is throwing rocks.

Halloween

"Come on in....I have vaccine!" Dr. Ghoul will see you now......

We recruited 2 Trick or Treaters, delivering one bag to our neighbor in the back. This is just not a kid-friendly neighborhood. Esp. not with the doctor and his syringe at the door.

Storm damage and champion cheerleading

Meanwhile, on the weekend of Bobby's birthday we watched Ella's cheerleading squad, coached by Mommy and ass't coached by Kylie (here with Ella) take a #1 in their division! The trophy sits proudly on Ella's book shelf.

Last weekend the area took a hit from TWO nor'easters! This is what caused the flooding in our development. At the beach, the dune was eroded by high waves, especially at a very high tide, but the town was protected (purpose of the dune in the first place). The tracks in the sand are from a front end loader already moving sand to rebuild access to the beach boardwalk.

Damage to the fences that help protect the dune.