Christmas cat

We spent Christmas Eve with Richard and his annoying cat, who bit M and is unrepentant.

Here are some gifts that we got this year that we really like.

Fancy jacket for H from Grandma

Puffer coat Pusheen for M from H

Weird reading list

Halmoni recently sent us an old summer reading list that M put together before her senior year in high school, and it was pretty weird (lots of Greek tragedies). M thinks the boys have pretty weird reading habits themselves. Here is a list of the books she ordered for them in Amazon in 2025 (doesn't even include all the strange books they forced her to buy at the college bookstores they visited). Can you guess which boy ordered which book?

Python All-in-One for Dummies

The Art of Japanese Joinery

The Language Game

Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder

The Brothers Karamazov

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

Lifespan - Why We Age and Why We Don't Have To

Pragmatism

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

The Essential Dewey, Vol. 1

AP Music Theory

The Fellowship of the Ring

Children of Time

Babel

Accents of English 1

Continued Fractions

Catch-22

Im Westen Nichts Neues

Anna Karenina

The New Oxford Annotated Bible

The Basque Language

Happy Thanksgiving!

Finnegan's birthday

Since we know Finnegan's birthday is November 15, we threw him a little shark-themed birthday party. H has always claimed that Finnegan wasn't going to be born until November 15, so we set his birthday to 0.

California Part 3

We visited two colleges near San Francisco, then dropped D off at the airport to go back to work. Then we headed to Socal, where we visited two more colleges, went to Ventura Pier, and braved Magic Mountain Fright Fest before heading back home.

California Part 2

We had a free day, so we headed to the Computer History Museum and the U.S.S. Hornet for some educational fun.

California Part 1

We decided to go to California for fall break to visit colleges and chill. We brought Snoopy and Finnegan. Snoopy wanted to see the ocean, so we headed to Santa Cruz for the sunset.

Finnegan

H came home from the gas station with a new friend, Finnegan.

Finnegan had a poem attached to him that the boys are constantly reciting:

Let's check it out so we can see

If you can swim faster than me.

I seriously doubt you'll win.

You haven't got a single fin.

My birthday is November 15.

So we have to throw him a party next month.

Supernerd

H is a National Merit Semifinalist! Way to go, Henrykins!

Homecoming

Both G and H went to homecoming and apparently threw glowsticks at each other. G and his crew opted to wear pink jackets for some reason. H went for a more conventional look. 

Northern Tier

This summer, H and G decided to go to Northern Tier, a Boy Scout camp in Minnesota focusing on canoeing. They canoed and portaged over 75 miles. They accidentally invaded Canada. They saw many loons. (They were disappointed that the base camp store did not have any stuffed loons to take back as a souvenir.)

Beaver Creek

Geo attended Suzuki camp in Beaver Creek and was part of a cello chamber ensemble. Of course, we brought Snoopy and Buh along for some mountain fun.

 Here is a link to his performance.

Seattle sprint day 3

On Sunday, we had a tasty brunch at the hotel and explored the grounds. 

Then we headed for the Point Defiance Zoo to see Ume. She was born in February and already weighs 200 lbs! She was very lazy and didn't move much.

Finally, D wanted to drive over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, so we had a leisurely lunch in Gig Harbor.

Then we headed back to the airport and flew back to Denver. We met Geo there on his way back from the Oregon Coast. Our weekend blitz was over!

Seattle sprint day 2

Day 2 was rainy and cold. We had lunch at Ivar's and saw a harbor seal pop its head up. Then we headed over to Redmond for D's reunion, which had a big turnout. Finally, we went to our new hotel, which was a former seminary now in a state park. It was a slower day to rest and recharge for our final push to see Ume!

Ferry seen from our Mukilteo hotel room

The treats waiting for us in our Kirkland hotel

Otto, our otter ambassador welcomes us to our Kirkland hotel

Seattle sprint day 1

D dragged M to Seattle for a whirlwind trip, ostensibly for his 30th high school reunion but really to try to visit Ume, the adorable tapir born at the Point Defiance Zoo in February.

They stayed in Mukilteo to take advantage of the amazing view from their hotel, which was right on the water.

Day 1 was an attempt to visit three pre-WW1 forts guarding the Puget Sound. We have visited Fort Casey on Whidbey Island many times, but never Fort Flagler or Fort Worden. First, they drove up to Deception Pass, then down to Fort Casey. However, they messed up their ferry timing and instead of taking the ferry to Port Townsend, they had to detour back to Mukilteo, then take the Clinton Ferry. It was a fortuitous delay, because they saw a cute orca blocking the way back to Mukilteo.

There were lots of nice views of Mt. Rainier on the last ferry ride, from Bainbridge Island to downtown.

They also saw a bald eagle and some deer. Overall, it was a successful day of forts, ferries, and fauna! 

Bolder Boulder

H ran the race for the third year in a row and shaved nearly 5 minutes off last year's time, despite rainy weather.

Snowball

R got a new kitten, a Maine coon named Snowball. Snowy (as M calls him) is playful and easily entertained by a laser pointer. H and Geo have been begging for a cat, but half an hour with Snowy caused D to sneeze nonstop. Plus, they never did anything to care for their fish.

Three recitals in three days

On Saturday, M and D had a chamber recital. They played Stand By Me (D's chance to shine on double bass) and It Takes Two (a tango) with their string quintet.

On Sunday, M and Geo had a duet recital and played Sarabande by Carl Bohm.

On Monday, Geo will have his last FRYS concert of the year.

Geo is angling for a full-sized cello because he shot up in height the last few months. M is in denial and wore heels to the recital, but Geo in his sneakers was still taller. 😑

I'm flying!

Geo got to go to iFly for a friend's birthday. He had a lot of fun flying around a wind tunnel. Hopefully this doesn't make him want to jump from a plane.

Spring break staycation

M and D wanted to go away to mark their 25th anniversary, but D had to work. So M stayed at home and tried to sort through the boxes from the storage unit. Aside from a romantic trip to Buc-ee's, the highlight of her break was washing our Ikea sharks, installing a zipper in Sherlock, and rechonking them. Here are some pictures.