...Next up, pre-school! And, to figure out warm biking attire:)

Here I thought the nurses in the hospital helped Holmes take to the bottle. Turns out, that was possibly just one magical moment. Nobody, even Meryl, seems to be able to convince him. Independence, where are you?

 Everyone now gets to sleep in their own beds tonight. Xanna and Grandpa made it home safely, and (thus far) sickness free! Fingers crossed health continues into the New Year for us all.

 ‘Our’ maiden voyage! Our neighbors gave us this motorcycle for Meryl when she was a baby (AKA cleaning out their garage). We then gave it to Allison for Noelle and Caleb to use. And now it’s back with us! It has a gargantuan sized and extremely short-life battery, but it’s oh so fun! Especially now that Meryl can reach the pedals.

Last weekend with Grandpa and Xanna in Seattle, so we had to have a party. Nothing like sticking a bunch of family in a room for pure entertainment, nothing and everything happens at the same time:) (Dylan escaped us in this picture, but we’ll get her back in another one!)

Let’s play ‘Tickle Aunt Betsy!’ Noelle and Caleb plotted how to get her back for always counting their ribs and tickling them. Meryl was happy to join the fun.

We headed to Enchant tonight at the Mariners baseball stadium. They decked out the whole field in a maze of lights, and it was pretty cool. Bonus also was that we went with Elliot and Dylan, who just flew into town today for the weekend!

Frank and I bought e-bikes on Black Friday to fulfill our aspirations of biking everywhere. Of course, it took till today to try out our new bikes, and we didn’t quite charge the batteries correctly, so e-biking turned into regular biking. Still fun! (Now to fulfill those aspirations, in all weather, all the time. Good luck, us.) Caveat: Frank needs to wear his helmet too!

Popped into the library to get a book, and it was story time! Snow themed with a snowman art project...really, all she wanted to do was to use the purple glue.

 The Christmas spirit is still lingering, so here we are with a walk down memory lane of Meryl’s effervescent joy meeting Santa...will she ever break?

 Xanna gave Meryl Lincoln Logs for Christmas and they started construction this morning.

 Holmes had his check-up doctor’s appointment today and checked-out healthy! Turns out that the plague didn’t phase him too much - while he lost half a pound going into the hospital, he’s since gained that and more back! Got a few vaccines to boot too.

We visited St. James Cathedral on Christmas Eve, and Frank and Meryl lit a candle for Lolo.

And maple syrup gets poured on everything. Meryl and Buddy the Elf have the same sweet palate.

We headed to the zoo this morning for the merry-go-round (because, horses for Xanna!), and left all a fluttter from the apiary with birds landing on our heads. We also had a ‘moment’ with the snow leopard, who walked right up to us and marked his territory against the viewing glass...so glad it wasn’t through the fence otherwise! The zoo was delightfully empty, except for the animals:)