Picture Round Up

 

 My sister’s twin girls have gotten so big since last year.  There were very few pictures that I actually caught them in together as they seem to always be running in opposite directions.

 On Christmas Eve day it’s become a new tradition to go Frisbee golfing.  I caught an action shot of Knut, playing and still wearing Solveig on his back. 

 Silje is looking more and more grown up as I see her with her younger cousins. 

 Let’s not forget my nephew, who is a pretty cool 4 year old!

 We’re realizing Solveig really knows how to work a crowd and get everyone doing her bidding with very little effort.  We’ll have to keep an eye on that.  (Psst…isn’t my sister gorgeous?)

 The cousin picture didn’t work out so well this year, but I’m still looking through all the shots and trying to figure out a way to make it work.  They’re a squirrely bunch. 

 The boys are having fun with their new toys.  I did finish Silje’s homemade present finally, and she loved it so so much.  I’ll have to post pictures of her gift soon since it was handmade.

 On Christmas day we were gathered with extended family at my aunt’s.  One of my cousins who is now in college was there.  He’s half Japanese and half American and now lives in the states going to school, but his parents are now back in Tokyo.  He was handing out treats from Japan (just like I remember getting from my uncle as a child). 

 Elias was having the hardest time understanding that some of the candy had edible wrappers made of rice paper (which is basically taste-less) and the wrappers just wouldn’t come off.  No matter how my cousin Josh tried to explain that you just eat it with the wrapper on, Elias felt he knew better and spent a good deal of time trying to get the wrapper off, without success.

 Josh got such a kick out of this, and Elias got such a kick watching Josh pop candy in his mouth with the wrapper on over and over in an attempt to show him that it was in fact, okay.

I’ve never experienced the technology we had going on in that house Christmas Day.  My uncle in Tennessee Skyped in, and then so did my cousin in China, aunt and uncle in Japan, as well as a phone call from another uncle in China.  We had all these iPads and laptops open in the middle of the coffee table as we sang Christmas carols.  It felt so oddly science-fiction to have us all together like that.

We’ve also squeezed in some cousin bowling, girls night out for coffee, and a mini-road trip (within our road trip).  I’ve been trying to take pictures, and still be disciplined to leave the camera at home and just live a bit.  I’m at that part of vacation that I’m in overload of things to blog about and no time at all to share it all.  What normally ends up happening is I go home, pass out from exhaustion from the relaxation that being a mother on vacation always brings, and just move on.  I end up skipping all those lovely little details without record.  And you know what?  That’s okay.