After visiting for nearly two months my sister Gina is on her way home to Boulder, CO. It was so fun to spend the election, Thanksgiving and then Winter Solstice with her. She was a tremendous help when we moved to our new house.
The boys have a picture of Aunt Gina in their room and they've taken to talking to it. They inform picture-Gina of all the latest happenings in their lives, especially when it snows.
We all miss her big smile and warm heart, fair well Gina, we'll see you soon.
The Skunk Train 12.22.08
We were very lucky to have a beautiful holiday season and few of our experiences as a family can compare to the skunk train ride we took with our local homeschool group.
The train tickets are usually $30 per person - far out of our family's reach. However we got a group discount with our Homespun Homeschool Network group and we paid half price!
Even more special was the fact that Aunt Gina was an elf on the train! A bunch of hippie, homeschool families filled a whole train car! We ate sugar cookies baked by the senior center, sipped hot chocolate, munched on popcorn and visited the North Pole to see Santa Claus (of course he had already stopped by our home for Winter Solstice but the boys were happy to see him and have a chance to thank him for the gifts he had brought them)
Gina had told us how awesome the train singer was but I was unprepared for his greatness. He interacted with the kids and sung classic holiday songs. A happier man I don't think I have ever met and he simply enchanted the children - as well as the adults. I know Nykki will remember him when he thinks back to warm, happy holiday moments in his childhood.
What a blessing!
The Spiral dance 12.21.08
We attended the Willits 14th annual Winter Solstice Spiral dance this year - as we always do. It was held at the Little Grange this year instead of the community center and I was really happy with the location change. The grange is a community building- one of the oldest in Willits. The grand ballroom where the spiral dance was held reminded me of the kind of ballroom you might see in a 1940's or even 20's film with swing dancers, or young people doing the charleston. You could really feel the multi generational history of the building and it complimented the community performances, carol singing and of course spiral dancing.
Another reason to be happily back in Willits where the pagan holiday community events cannot be beat! :)
Little Lake Grange
Offline 12.20.08
Seth and I have decided to have an internet free home for the time being. It seems to be more of a time consuming bother than a blessing to us. We are enjoying our local library and concentrating on the real world for a while.
I will still be updating here weekly with new posts and new pictures of our family life, ramblings and thoughts. I've also worked out a blog roll so when I'm online I can quickly check and read my fave blogs and comment too! So my presence will be down graded but I'll still be everywhere important! Hugs!
