Austin

We spent the weekend at a family reunion for the Powell/Cary/Rohde family in Austin, Texas!



It was great to see so many members of our family there - all together we had 14 adults and 3 kids. A full house, which always means a lot of fun!

Alas, Texas weather did not fully cooperate, and it was cold and rainy most of the time we were there. But, if you are going to be stuck inside a house, a house full of people you love but don't get to see as often as you like is the way to go.

Henry playing soccer with cousin Patrick:





Playing at Zilker Park on a non-rainy morning:





The miniature train wasn't running that day, but Henry had a grand time playing on the tracks:




Evan enjoyed the fire truck at the park:


Playing with the newest family member - Patrick and Carrie's son Sam:



Sam is pretty cute:


So is Evan:


Evan, Henry, and Sam hanging out together:





Out for Barbecue at Salt Lick:






Aunt Bobbie keeping Henry entertained:




Saturday morning we went to the Austin Children's Museum. There were some trains for Henry to admire:



He barbecued:



Made some empanadas with new friends:



And learned a lot about physics:









Back at the house, Henry and Nana played trains:





Henry showed Evan some of his train moves:




Then Henry and Evan shared bedtime stories read by Cousin Liz and Aunt Jen:





After the kids were in bed, some of Austin's famous night life was (briefly) sampled:




We headed back to Boston (and the FREEZING cold!) yesterday. Henry did a great job on all flights, and fell in love with a sculpture in the Dallas airport:




It was a wonderful weekend, and was so great to see everyone. Nana, Papa, Dave, Jen, Evan, John, Bobbie, Patrick, Carrie, Sam, Liz, Patrick #2, Erica,Chris, Judd (in spirit) - we miss you already and can't wait to see you again (and next time I will do a better job with setting up the camera with the self-timer!)

So.Much.Snow.

We got walloped with another snowstorm today - 15 inches for us, more further west. It was a little crazy! School was obviously cancelled and Mike couldn't make it to work, so we had a snow day!

It started off fairly well - lots of crafts:


And lots of shoveling:






Then, in the midst of shoveling I heard a loud CRACK and turned to see our neighbor's tree fall on his car. Ouch. The car (and neighbor) were OK, but many trees were dropping branches and giving ominous groaning sounds (it was a very heavy, wet snow).

Then, the power went out. And with it, our heat.

(heavy snow, trees, and power lines don't mix!)





It came on sporadically a few times, but never for more than 10 minutes. Once we had been without power for about 6 hours and had gotten tired of the very dark, very cold, and very boring interior of our house, Henry and I escaped to Jake's house for the evening Mike stayed at our house to monitor the power situation). We were planning on sleeping over, but thankfully our power has now come back so we are all settled at home (with fingers crossed that it stays on through the night!)

Art Birthday Party

Today we went to the birthday party for Pete - one of Henry's friends from preschool. The party was held at an art center, so all the kids got to work on various art projects while they were there. Jake was also there,so of course he and Henry were inseparable.







A work of art:


After making their puppets, Henry and Jake had some fun with the wall mirrors:



Before moving on to singing for the birthday boy:

Welcome to 2011

Happy New Year to everyone!

2010 was a wonderful year for us - we can only hope that 2011 can live up to its predecessor. We were able to take a lot of wonderful family trips (Florida - twice, including Disney World!, Maine, New York City, Illinois, Santa Barbara, and Vermont), spent a lot of time at playgrounds, swimming, at fairs, amusement parks, museums, orchards, and playing in the snow. We spent endless hours with good friends. Henry officially moved out of toddlerhood to "big kid" land - he turned 3, moved out of his crib, moved out of diapers,said goodbye to his loveys, got his first two wheel bike, and started preschool. I know next year will bring us even more wonderful adventures.

We spent a lot of New Year's Eve playing in the snow. It has been a very warm weekend (mid-40s!), so all the snow from the blizzard is melting, which makes for great snowman building snow. Mike was the artistic and architectural genius behind all of this:








Making snow angels:


Mike decided to build an impressive snow fort for Henry:











In the evening, Henry and Meredith had a joint "New Years Party" with our babysitters while Mike and I went out with our friends Robin and Alan for a delicious dinner (with way too much food and drinks). Post dinner, the adults enjoyed champagne:





And Wii MarioKart:




Before picking up the kids. Henry was in bed by 9:30, but Mike and I (barely) made it until midnight. Alas, we are still recovering today (if only Henry would learn the concept of sleeping in!), but it was well worth it.

We hope everyone had a wonderful New Year, and our best wishes for a happy and healthy 2011!