David Multer

It’s crazy hair day at Monica’s school today. Looking just a wee bit crazy.

The baby birds are getting big incredibly fast.

The babies are growing fast, but not fast enough with this nasty bird formula. It really brings back the memories of the kid’s formula days. Fortunately these babies don’t wear diapers. They are really funny when they eat. They bob their heads a mile a minute until their crop looks like it’s ready to blow. They’ll be feeding themselves really soon now.

Val is out of town for the weekend, so our bird collection temporarily grows by one. I’m hoping the big parrot doesn’t eat one of our cockatiels for lunch.

George, Ellen, and the kids are down for another visit. Our kids always love playing with their new dog. She’s quite a bit cuter than our baby birds.

Charlotte took her dad Gordon down to Moss Landing to enjoy the day. I think they had lunch over at Phil’s Market, which makes me really jealous. They checked out the harbor and the vessels of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Insitute (MBARI). The institute does some amazing research and they get to play around with some really great high-tech toys. Makes me think about those years long ago when I considered a future in marine biology.

Val and her family are off to ski country and Max is staying over with us. Abby always enjoys having a friend over to play. Sure wish Joe was here too. In between storms, we head over to Capitola to check things out. The rain breaks for long enough to have some fun on the beach. No chance of getting a tan this time of year. Plenty of driftwood and shells worth checking out. ...

In an effort to stay up late enough to see in the new year, we followed dinner with a movie marathon. Plenty of action and comedy to keep everyone awake. The minute there’s the first signs of drowsiness, it’s time to get some sugar into the system. Charlotte bought all the fixings for some pretty heavy duty sundaes. Nick and Monica show of their creations. We all made it through the night, so it’s time to make a bit of noise. Not like the spectacular fire show up in Michigan, but plenty of fun anyway. ...

Time for a bit of post-holiday roaming, even if the weather isn’t cooperating. We swung by a very cool knitting place called The Golden Fleece near downtown. Charlotte has been knitting lots of scarves, and this is one of her favorite places to oogle yarns and things. Gabe and I hang out nearby after checking out the Roaring Camp train that just went by. He’s either not happy about the rain, or me taking his picture. I’ll let you decide. ...

It’s the big morning and everyone is ready to start tearing presents open. The excitement is nearly unbearable, but the wait is finally over. Plenty of great stuff this year including a new bike rack for Charlotte, a new scanner for me (and the website), lots of handmade scarves, movies, games, software, and music. I’m looking forward to getting back to loads of scanning. Even Abby got a new hedgehog. ...