Something New!

Hey, believe it or not, this post will not be about snow, although we still have plenty of it!  O.K, so it's pretty much not a secret to anyone that the Elwoods do not enjoy February Break--a week off from school in February.  February!--a month of cold and snow--translate this to a great time to be in school!  June is a lovely month of long days, warmth and rhododendrons in bloom---translate this to a great time to be out of school! This year, however, we took the "If you can't lick 'em, join 'em" approach and decided it was time for a February family vacation.  We flew down to Miami last week and embarked on a five day cruise on Carnival, and what fun we had!  It really was a dream vacation, and it was everything I hoped it would be.  Hmmm?  Maybe all this time the school districts of the Northeast have been on to something?! ;)

Mini golfing on the ship in Miami.

The first of our nightly towel animals.

Formal night

Our first stop was Grand Turk.  We took a shore excursion out on a snorkel boat to the reefs surrounding the island. It was amazing.  We saw all kinds of tropical fish, a sea turtle, a barracuda, and a sleeping nurse shark!

This is where we ate lunch.  You can't beat the view at Jack's Shack!

Having lots of fun is tiring!

Our second stop was at Half Moon Cay, Carnival's private island.  It was another slice of paradise.

Em spent the day playing in the water and sand.

Early in the day, Cardon and I went to snorkel with sting rays and feed them squid. (Sadly, no photos!).  Later in the afternoon, Chiara and Dennis went parasailing.

The family shadow photo. 

Much of our cruise revolved around food!

We were lucky in the fact that Carnival has some cabins that hold five people.  We were cozy, which was fine because we didn't spend much time in the room.  Dennis and I had a queen bed right next to these 3 peas in a pod!

Our last stop was Nassau, Bahamas.  On good advice from our friends the Tautkuses and Sanvilles, we decided to spend the day at Atlantis.  We had so darn much fun.  It's a beautiful resort--inside and out--murals, fountains, indoor and outdoor aquariums--it was spectacular. Then there were the waters slides.  They were crazy!

This is the Leap of Faith, which is correctly named.  It's a gut wrenching 5 seconds down the slide, followed by a quick blast through a tube surrounded by swimming sharks.  I was so happy to come out alive at the bottom!

Cardon

Chiara

Mom!

This is our farewell shot.  It was time to get on the ship and head for home.

This sandcastle was built by some kids next to us on Half Moon Cay.  Their words on the castle are a perfect summary for our vacation---FUN!

More of the Same

What?  Another post concerning snow?!  Who knew?  Snow seems to be center stage in our lives right now so there's really not anything else to write about. We have now received a whopping 82.6 inches of snow, and very little of it has melted! The kids have missed more days of school than I can even count, and we've even resorted to making our front yard into ice cream!  (Thanks, Cara!)  In case you're interested, 1 gallon snow, 1 cup sugar, 2 cups milk, and 1 Tbs. vanilla make a delicious treat!

I'll start with the good.  It truly is a winter wonderland at our house, and the scene outside our front window is beautiful!

Cardon is at the bottom of our front steps. You can barely see the top of the bush that sits along the landing.

Em's playhouse

Em and Bud in front of one of our various snow piles!

What's left of our mail and paper boxes

Cardon dug a sweet tunnel to sled through.

Dennis had to dig a trail out to our propane tank so our propane company would deliver.  This is not a snow bank.  This is how much snow is sitting in our yard!

This is where the beautiful turns ugly.  On Sunday, January 30th, we started having water leak into our front bay window.  This is Dennis getting "the ox out of the mire" to help stop the leaks. We didn't have any more troubles until Saturday, when to our dismay, we had wet stains in numerous rooms in the house.  

ceiling stains :(

broken rain gutters :(

wet carpets :(

This is where the ugly returns to beautiful.  We had a whole crew of fabulous men from our ward come and help us clear the roof and break channels into the ice dams.  

This is Elder Ficklin doing a flip from the roof onto the snow on the deck!  Shhh!  Don't tell the mission president!

Here's the crew cleaning the driveway of the snow that came off the roof!

What can I say?  It's been a crazy, beautiful, frustrating and gratitude-filled winter so far!  

Snow Shmow!

My thoughts on snow have changed since my last posting entitled, "Christmas Snow." A title made by someone who enjoys snow. What was I thinking! After our Christmas vacation snow, I was walking around quoting Robert Frost's poetry--"the woods are lovely, dark and deep" but that was about 10 snow storms ago (OK, a little bit of an exaggeration--but not much!). We have had snow coming out of our ears since my last post, which isn't necessarily a bad thing except for the fact we've had 3 snow days with school canceled, an early release and a late start, with another snow day baring down on us for tomorrow! Just toss in a MLK day of vacation AND two more snow days forecasted for next week! Aarrggh! No more poetry for me. Just cussing! I have cooked every kind of pancake known to man, and we have watched every movie we own. We are all bored and tired of being stuck home, and tired of playing in the snow but it does make for some great photos!

Em jumping off a snow-covered rock!

Chiara in a cloud of snow

Cardon jumping from a larger snow-covered rock.

My cute kids

Cardon kind of disappeared into the shadows in this photo, but if you look closely, he's on the mountain of snow along the edge of our driveway!

The wreath looks very pretty. Does it not?!

Hangin' in the snow

The view onto our deck from the kitchen door!

ps.  Yup, It's a snow day today again!

Christmas Snow

The Great Blizzard of 2010 that pounded NYC, gave us about 6-8 inches, but the wind did howl, and we had a lot of very lovely snowdrifts. What a great way to spend a day of Christmas break!

Em eating snow off of her scarf

Bud sledding down the front steps

My snow angels!

Chi being put to good use

Bud and Sis having a contest to see who could stand in the snowdrift on our deck the longest!
(It was a tie!)

Christmas

Christmas arrived at the Elwood home again. I love Christmas and all of the excitement and build up to the big day. We had two families, the Singers and the Tibbitts, over for Christmas Eve, and then we spent Christmas Day alone as a family. Our first time ever! I must admit, spending Christmas Day in your jammies is not a bad gig!

Em sharing her wishes with Santa.

The obligatory "kids in front of the tree" photo.

Em with her new snowman nightgown

Bud with his new weapon

The "Santa dumped his sleigh here" photo.

This is such a lovely photo of me, but I couldn't resist the blue bathrobe shot for my family! I received this bathrobe for the Christmas when I had just turned 18, and it's still going strong after MANY years! My family has tried so hard to get rid of it--ridicule, harassment, bribery etc., but I can't do it! It's warm and soft and snuggly! Long live the blue bathrobe!

Chi with the new guitar! Meet country music's newest star!

First Recital

Monday, December 20th, was a night of firsts for our family. Chiara, (my freakishly talented and beautiful daughter), had her first piano recital as a piano teacher, and Emory had her first piano recital as piano student! Chiara teaches both Alaina Tautkus and Claudia Victorino, both from our ward, and of course, Emmy. It was short and sweet and the girls did a fabulous job! Chiara had a short FHE lesson to go with it, and awards, music note charms, and flowers. We finished the night off with lots of treats. A good night was had by all! Way to go, Em and Sis!

The Girls!

Em and Chiara playing a "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" duet.

Claudia

Alaina