Phoenix: Animal Antics

Over the weekend after Martin Luther King Day (because it gets so painfully neglected, we decided to celebrate it instead) we traveled to Phoenix to visit Katie's sisters. We had a marvelous time there - in truth, we would have had a marvelous time anywhere that wasn't cold or covered in snow, but it was especially nice hanging out with some fun family.

Clara gets some perspective on life and the playground.

How much sand can I get in my socks?

Clara chose the surf and turf for breakfast.

The pictures didn't look quite appetizing enough, so she prettied them up a bit.

And then sang to them. 

The cute-o-meter on my camera actually broke after taking this shot.

(no caption needed)

Clara's first meal at In N' Out consisted almost solely of ketchup.  Those of you from California might think this heresy, but the Canadian blood in her probably made this circumstance unavoidable.

In this picture, she considers the mind-blowingly miniscule probability that both her dress and Alexis' dress would happen to be made of the same material.

Inadvertent artsy shot.

Katie protecting Clara from the carnivorous giraffe.

Watching the tortoise stealthily make a break for it.

Who needs words when the sentiment can be so succinctly expressed without them?

Clara applies the lessons learned from her studies of the lion that morning.

New Year's Eve and the Day After

Now that we've finally managed to dig ourselves out from under the heaping piles of snow, here are some of the pictures that have been accumulating on our computer like so many snowflakes. Hopefully they're more welcome than the snowflakes are these days...

We spent New Year's Eve and Day with a few friends in Connecticut, enjoying the tropical 45 degree weather and eating at celebrityly-frequented pizza joints (go adverbs!)

Clara was an outspoken proponent of sparkling.

Elliot, on the other hand, wasn't as sure about his position on the matter.

(hopefully this didn't turn into a green building)

Spontaneous sessions of "Ring Around The Rosie" were said to occur here and there.

Duck, duck...where's the goose?

Clara and Julia try to make the couch spring ahead prematurely.

"What does this thing have to do with the silly hat that Mom's wearing?"

Happy Halloween!

Halloween tally 2010:
Houses visited - 2
Candy consumed by Clara - 2 lollipops and 1 three musketeers (funsize)
Trick-or-treaters - <10
Left over candy that will be consumed by Chris in the next 24 hours - 3 bags

Over the hills and through the woods.

A few weeks ago we all piled into our buggy and headed to the rural backwaters of Connecticut to visit Clara's grandparents. Actually, we got in our new Subaru Outback which still retains some of its undoubtedly mildly toxic newcarsmell, merged into the torrent of traffic headed down I-90, and visited my folks, who live in a suburb of Hartford, pop. 877,312. Either way, we still had to go over the hills and through the woods to get there.

Upon our arrival, Clara attempted to sate her tremendous hunger (such a long trip!) by munching on a mylar balloon.

Of course, Grandma's house is not the sort of place where little girls go to lounge around and eat bonbons. No, it was work, work, work.

Clara then decided that she had strong feelings about work, work, work.

She did condescend to clean out a bucket that needed to be carried all over the house, however. Naturally, Grandpa was designated as the recipient of whatever the previous bucket contents were.

As a reward for all of her work, she received five from Grandma.

Claraglish.

As we strive for mutual understanding in our bilingual home, we are constantly confronted with what linguists describe as "false friends." The false friend of the week is "up," which has a variety of meanings in Claraglish, including "please stop filming and show me super cute video footage of myself."

Aunties and Apple Acquisition.

Katie's sisters and Clara's aunts visited at the same time a few weekends ago, and we simultaneously celebrated their recent arrival and lamented their impending departure by going apple picking in search of the eastern cider donut (Donutos Cideryumus). Due to the depth of experience present in the hunting party, we bagged quite a few exemplary specimens; after proper dressing and preparation, we also managed to relocate many of them from outside our bodies to the inside thereof. Coincidentally, in the course of our hunt, we also kept stumbling upon apples which were unusually ripe and delicious, so we decided to take these home with us to snack on in order to break up the monotony of the donut diet.

Clara resolutely prepares herself for the upcoming pursuit.

Alie helps Clara store a last-minute talisman (aka that minute's lucky rock).

"If I just take a little bite, I'm sure no one will notice."

Mmmm.

Discovering that Elliot doubles as both a cousin and furniture.

Apologizing for her furniture confusion.

Apology accepted.

Can you tell that they're related?

Newfoundland, Part 5: Ferryland

After gallivanting all over a good portion of eastern Newfoundland, we headed back to St. John's to visit a few more friends and catch our flight back to Boston.  We lucked out in general with the weather on our trip, and nowhere was this more the case than the last day that we were there; we drove down to a little town named Ferryland and had a picnic with some friends at a lighthouse waaay out near the ocean.  It was lovely.   

Well, that's it for the highlights of the trip - we hope you enjoyed the tour through our tour. Of course, if this hasn't quenched your thirst for vacation pictures, I have a couple of thousand more that you can check out.