Flooding down by the arch December 2015

I was reading an article about the flooding in England to Sam yesterday. In it was a quote from a police officer saying, when we issue a flood warning, it doesn't mean 'come and have a look'.  What is it that makes us all want to come and have a look?  I asked the kids if they wanted to go down to the arch and see the flooding and of course they said yes.
It's hard to get down to the arch grounds these days because they are still doing all the construction around it, but there were certainly a bunch of people trying their hardest to get there!!!!

Maggie has rarely been down to the arch and she has never been up in it.  The line was so long to get in, obviously everyone must think you'd get a great view of the flooding, even though it was a very overcast day.

It is hard to tell just how high the water is because of the construction, but I know there is supposed to be a road and parking under here somewhere!!!!  It is supposed to crest tomorrow morning at just under what the flood of 1993 reached.

Huge amount of driftwood everywhere

We walked up by the old courthouse, I love this building

The smell of burgers made us stop off for lunch.  Ben, Maggie and I had fish and chips (actually, quite successful) and Sam had a bison burger.  Nice side trip for us

Maggie found a screen.....

Noah, get your ark out.....

Right after Christmas, we had a HUGE amount of rain. Luckily, all the improvements Sam has done to the house resulted in us staying relatively dry. We had no leaks in the basement, but obviously several of our neighbors did since there are quite a few carpets lying on the curb waiting for trash day.....
We did have some water come through the flashing around the chimney in the family room, but it dripped into my vase and didn't flood the house.  We had some water in the storage shed, but not too bad.  Sam hasn't decided if it's worth fixing or not since it will all be coming off when the extension is done.
Tilles Park lights closed early this year because the park is flooded.  Not really surprised since it floods every spring in the low lying areas anyway.  Still, I have never seen the water this high up by the playground.

Peace on.......Earth is under there somewhere

Remember the Jingle Bells sign from back in October?????

Yes, this event area is DEFINITELY closed.....

We drove by yesterday before we knew it was closed and Maggie remarked on how high the lake was

Maggie:  I wish it would overflow

Me:  Maggie, we live downhill of this......

The little tree that just couldn't.......

Well, our Christmas tree tried to hold on until after Christmas, but it was dropping needles like you would not believe.  As soon as I could, I started taking the ornaments and lights off it to get it out of the door.  There were not many needles left on it by the time I got all the decorations off.

The trash can was almost completely full of needles after I got them all off the floor

The rest of them pretty much came off as Sam dragged it out the front door and abandoned it in the yard

By the time it made it to the curb for recycling, it was bare apart from one small branch.....

This is the last year for a short needle tree, back to regular from now on.....

Christmas 2015

We had 3 days of Christmas at our house this year. On Wednesday night, we had Milly and Rich, Jan and Julie, and Arline for dinner. I baked chickens, Arline brought mac & cheese and Jan brought salad. I made cauliflower au gratin to go with the chicken. I also made key lime pie and cherry cobbler for dessert.  We had our first round of present opening.  Maggie got some new horse riding gear, books and crayons.

They bought Ben a microscope, he spent the evening and all the next day looking at things under it

The Bosch's came over for dinner on Thursday night.  For some reason, I didn't take any pictures at all.  It was our turn to go to them, but Ben wanted them to come over and see our new house, so they came to us again.  We made chili, tacos and all the other things that go with it.  It was a huge hit.  Anne broke our tradition, she came for a short while and then went to her boyfriend's for dinner.  Had to happen sooner or later.....

Sam was the first one up on Christmas morning!!!!  The kids were not long after him.  We bought Ben a computer for Christmas, he really needs one at school these days

We bought Maggie some headphones for her new phone.  She unwrapped them and said "you bought me headphones"....."oh kay........." in her usual cynical manner.  She hasn't taken them off since!!!!  She was still on the Santa kick, but I just put all the presents under the tree this year and she just went with them all coming from us.  Still not sure what she really thinks

Poop emoji pillows-present of the year for many people, it seems.  She carries them everywhere

Caroline came over first thing in the morning and brought gifts.  She even did a gag gift/family joke with some underwear she bought that didn't work!!!!

Caroline bought Ben this stadium rack of 100 colored pens.  We sat and looked at it and realized we should have bought more, we all want one.....

Took this great picture of Milly with her grandchildren yesterday....

Maggie's letter to Santa

The letter says:

Dear Santa
I want a coloring book by How to Train Your Dragon 2 that will be awesome.  Anyway guess what I want next?  Give up.  I am just fooling you Santa.  I will never hurt you.  I will never hurt these people-Ben, Mum, Dad.  Those are the people that I will keep close to me.  Anyway I want an easy book to read that is How to Train Your Dragon 1 and 2.  Thanks Santa.  If you see my Mum or Dad or Ben, say that I said I love them.  Thanks Santa.  Sincerely Maggie Sylar

Best Santa letter ever

Maggie in the church play

Maggie was in the church play yesterday. It was about superheroes being usurped by Jesus!!!  I think Gwen got it off the internet, but it was pretty good.  Maggie was a shepherdess.  It might have been a little better if they had learned their lines!!!!  They would have looked good without their faces in the script.  Still, good job kiddos

Ben's wrist update

Ben had his cast taken off last week. His scar looks pretty good.  All the skin has now fallen off around it and it's pretty flat, so hopefully it's going to heal well.

As soon as they took the cast off, he washed his hands, I bet it felt really good to do that after all this time

He now has a splint and is doing physical therapy to get his range of motion back.  After two weeks, he will be starting strength training.  Hopefully, this will all be over soon......

Garden Glow 2015

Well, after we procrastinated enough by doing the gardenland express and eating, we finally ventured outside to see the Garden Glow-oh great, it is now cold and raining!!  The plus side was that at least we had the gardens almost to ourselves, it made for some great pictures.
This was in the fountain at the entrance this year.

Lit flowers in front of the Linnean House

I think this has to be my favourite lit tree at the gardens

Love these trees behind the benches

Thank heavens-a fire

Another great tree

Wouldn't you just love to live here???!!!!!

The administration building lit up

Light sabers!!!!

The four of us in a snow globe!!!