6th Grade Recital

6th Grade Recital
Originally uploaded by J-Travels

The boys put in a couple months worth of practice and managed to put it all together for 1 minute and 7 seconds. I'm told that four kids received the top honors and two of them reside in my house.

Great work.

On a side note, the boys are working on their eletric guitar skills in case concert musician gig doesn't play out. In addition to that, I can't recall any tell all bios about Yo-Yo Ma and his groupies but the Stones certainly have a few stories to tell. I wonder if the boys will need a roadie?

Click the pic to see more images and then watch their performance. Enjoy!

Alpine Valley Action Video

Okay, Lisa complains that I only take video of her when she's going really slow. This video presents evidence to the contrary as John, Jacob, and Lisa head for a path through the trees.

At approximately 42 seconds into the video you'll notice Jacob take a spill (very right side of the frame) and Lisa's maternal instincts engage in a battle with her survival instincts. I'm not saying which one prevails but you'll note that she does the motherly thing and took evasive action to ski around him.

It could have been worse. She could have skied right over him. Enjoy!

2011 Super Bowl Skiing Alpine Valley

2011 Super Bowl Skiing Alpine Valley
Originally uploaded by J-Travels

The family took to the slopes at Alpine Valley on Super Bowl Sunday. For some reason the slopes weren't all that crowded even though the temps hovered around 30 degrees and fresh snow fell throughout the day. Something about a football game. Whatever.

We had a lot of fun. I'll be sure to post the videos from the adventure and you'll be impressed that no injuries were permanent.

Can't wait til next time!

Picture of the week

So the skies are blue and the wind chill registers as 'damn cold' but what matters is what you make of it and the photos that capture those moments. This is one of the photos.

2011 Big Dig

2011 Big Dig
Originally uploaded by J-Travels

On my first try I was able to locate the hydrant. Now that I've done my neighborly duty it's time to think about going to the healthclub.

View from the street

Clearly I did a better job of clearing the drive than the city did clearing the street. That said it took them all of 30 seconds to clear the road and undo the last 6 feet of my work!

2011 Blizzard - Mission accomplished

2011 Blizzard
Originally uploaded by J-Travels

It only took 90 minutes to clear the drive. Now I just have to wait for the plows to seal me in again.

2011 Blizzard Boys

2011 Blizzard
Originally uploaded by J-Travels

Look at the smiles on those faces!

2011 Blizzard Fetch

2011 Blizzard
Originally uploaded by J-Travels

He wanted to play fetch. For some reason he just couldn't find his toy. I guess I was being mean.

Instant revenge: At the end of the clip he decided to pee on the patio.

2011 Blizzard First Tracks

2011 Blizzard
Originally uploaded by J-Travels

Jingle makes the first tracks out the back door. He's not dainty but he is effective.

2011 Blizzard Boy Fun

2011 Blizzard
Originally uploaded by J-Travels

I would have joined them but somebody had to hold the camera.

2011 Blizzard Reveal

2011 Blizzard
Originally uploaded by J-Travels

If I had the theme music from 2001 Space Odyssey I would have used it as a soundtrack for this video.

Luckily the drifts didn't form against our door but as you'll see in the subsequent photos and video the drifts were significant farther down the driveway.

The dog had fun - he's now back in the house. The boys had fun - they're now back in the house.

This is the most significant difference from the videos I've seen from the Blizzard of '67. In those videos people had to shovel and kids pitched in to help or played in the drifts. In 2011 the kids played (briefly) and then headed indoors for the Xbox.