Well, we were hit again with snow, but this time it was wet and wild. While Joke basked in balmy Cleveland, I spent the better part of 2 days digging us out of this 20″ snowfall. The snow blower preformed brilliantly, but after the snow plows took a “dump” on our driveway, it was old school shoveling from then on. Needless to say, Papa’s back didn’t ‘weather the storm’ very well, and he spent the rest of day 2 in bed, but now the misses is home, and she’s brought Diazepam!
Philadelphia got close to 30″ of snow, and though we only got about half that, it didn’t stop us from enjoying what we got this weekend. Looking to up the ‘thrill factor,’ we tried a nearby hill (Maple Point Middle School). It wasn’t the longest run, but it was fast, and with a hundred people sharing the slopes, half the fun was avoiding the on-coming traffic (and watching those who were not so successful 🙂 )
The Macera/Bradt family would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Ours started with a home-made sushi dinner (thanks to Mama & the girls). Maybe a little too much wasabi inside, but we just drank more … water. Our holiday week included spending time with each other and friends, highlighted by a bowling outing, a trip to the movies (Papa saw Avatar!) and an evening at Longwood Gardens. Here are a few pics.
Christmas morning:
Longwood Gardens:
Santa treated us to another wonderful Christmas morning, though Mama and I would have preferred to sleep a little longer 🙂 He ‘showered’ us with more presents than we asked for … even Kuzco was ecstatic with his gift.
We wish for everyone to be as blessed as we are, and that 2010 brings love and happiness for all!
So the first post was all about family, but this one is all about photos. Well, I guess the first one was all about photos too 🙂
Here are more pics of our trip. Though it rained most of the time, there were some photo ops.
Well, after not seeing to Belgium for almost 2 years, the family returned to the Land of Chocolate this November. Despite it being the rainiest November in recorded history, we had a great time visiting family and friends. We spent a day in an indoor water park, and a day horseback riding with Opa, but the rest of the time was enjoying being with family and ‘imbibing’ in the Belgian cuisine … and BEER.
Mama spent more than a few evenings making Gabriella’s Raggedy Anne costume this year … and it shows. Elisa was a baby, but we weren’t sure her costume was going to make it to Halloween since she’s been wearing it to bed, every chance she could. And, Mama & Papa broke out the leather for their costumes.
Gabriella turned in her “Haunted House” project on Monday … after slaving for the last few weekends on it. With lots of help from the rest of the family, Gabriella’s vision of her ‘ideal’ haunted house was realized in wood, clay and fabric. Note: No actual blood was shed for this project, but a lot of sweat was put into it 🙂
This past weekend, the whole family returned to the Delaware Water Gap for a Fall Foliage trip. While we may have been a week or so early for the peak foliage, it was still a beautiful trip. Many leaves had changed (mostly the yellow ones) and we had great weather. We stayed in a PEEC cabin and the girls enjoyed climbing from one bunk bed to the other. The family revisited three of the trails that Joke and I hiked during our stay in August; Bushkill Falls, Dingman’s Falls & Tumbling Waters trail (at PEEC). This time the girls brought their own cameras, so Joke had to wait around while the 3 of us took HUNDREDS of pictures. I’ll post a ‘few’ here in this post, but if you would like to see the whole gallery, check it out here.
On returning from dinner on Saturday evening, we watched as a local animal shelter released 2 owls who they nursed back to health, back into the wild. Afterward they gave a very interesting presentation on local animals that were recovering, or living in there facility, including; horned & barn owls, a possum, a skunk and a pelican falcon.
This past weekend, we had our annual fall trip to Massachusetts which included a visit with our friends the Fabians.  While Mama & Papa had a very challenging day of Tae Kwon Do on Saturday, in New Bedford, the girls spent the day preparing their latest theatrical performance, “Save the Kitty.” The story is about 4 friends who try to be Super Heroes, but are so bad at it, that they wind up killing the cat, instead of saving Kitty.  Wisely, they choose new careers - some choose better than others.
