Martha walks down the steps at Nottoway, the big plantation. We stayed overnight in the "bridal suite", which turns out to be the best room for bringing kids.

We spent the night in this swamp near Gibson, Louisiana.

Here we are in front of Jackson Square, at the heart of the French Quarter.

We visited the Blaine Kern Mardis Gras museum, with its fabulous displays of parade sculptures and ornate costumes like this one.

White Christmas

It's snowing in New Orleans! This is the first snow since 1989, and the first white Christmas EVER! Now, tell us why we had looked forward to a warm Christmas "down south" and had travelled all the way from Seattle...? (Seattle is over 50 on Christmas day...)

Gramma-Gramma

The kids are having a great time visiting with their great-grandmother, and the family dog Reny:

Merry Christmas comes before Christmas at Christmas dinner with Granlea!

Sisters: Martha was just beaming when Leah invited her to sleep in her room on Saturday night. She started on a sleeping bag, but soon ended up in bed along with her sister.

Leah's Hip-Hop Video

Leah and her friend Jacob danced a HipHop Christmas with her partner Jacob and here's the video.

New videos

I spent the weekend getting caught up on some of my video editing and I made several new ones, including short clips of the kids on a visit to a blueberry patch, and walking around a pond while in New Hampshire last Summer.

 

Both videos were designed for a widescreen (16:9) TV display, so they look a little scrunched.  I would love to hear if there’s a Windows Media player that supports the different aspect ratio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leah has rediscovered an old friend, "Saru-chan", the stuffed monkey doll I picked up for her on a trip to Japan many years ago. She and Saru are inseparable, and she dotes on him with motherly attention to details of what he eats, studies, and wears. In this photo, she dressed him with clothes borrowed from a Madeline doll.

Mommy and Martha cuddle by an early morning fire.

Martha and I went on a date this afternoon, to Peet's Coffee. She wanted to talk about fish, and afterwards we stopped at Larry's to buy sea bass.

Mercer Island is visited by a Christmas Ship each year and we went to watch the arrival at the Beach Club.

The kids bundled up and watched with wonder from the lake shore.