Aaaah, January — a time to exhale from the frenetic pace of December, ease into new beginnings, appreciate the lighter calendar, and, of course, take fewer pictures ;-).
The New Year began with a beautiful, calm California morning — a prelude to one of those picture perfect temperate winter days envied by those who are stuck in colder climates around the country. The day finished with a fiery red sun sinking behind a glassy Pacific under wispy feathery clouds and watercolor skies.
In between those great bookends we spent time hanging out together as a family. First, the kids watched some of the Rose parade on TV and actually enjoyed seeing some of the crazy floats. Among the favorites were the wild west float with cowboy stuntmen staging fake fist fights, the transformer float that changed from a robot to a car, and a fire breathing dragon model, which elicited squeals of delight from both kids.
From there we did a New Year’s first — we took a trip to the Santa Barbara zoo, where we got a chance to see the penguin exhibit and a very up close and personal look at the gorillas. It was really a wonderful way to spend a very serene and promising day. A good start to the New Year.
Rather than pontificate on the month’s happenings like I usually do, I will ease into this year’s monthly updates with this short entry and simply recap some of the highlights below:
- Luke starts playing YMCA soccer on team New Zealand
- Lilah continues to express an interest in drawing. Here are a few samples:
Bunny on my white board
a Christmas drawing
and the latest drawing fascination (Pokemon characters) - The kids enjoy playing in the rain
- Both kids create their own one-man circus shows — Luke’s involve pretending he’s being hit (by balls, stuffed animals, his fist) and falling to the floor. Lilah’s involve juggling animals, some ballet spins, with her keyboard music going on in the background. Needless to say, there’s a dramatic difference between the two shows 😉
That’s all for now. More next month.