happy 2008!

wow, it's alread january 13th! happy new year! it's been a busy few weeks here for us: christmas came and went. we had a great couple of days together here at home. on christmas eve robin, bobby and i ate m&m's and lasagna and salad for dinner. we also kicked off our new holiday tradition of hot fudge sundaes on christmas eve. yum. i think that went over pretty well! later we laughed our way through the movie "a christmas story" (which we now own in 2 DVD 20th anniversary version).

on christmas day we opened our presents! under our tree we had a very repectable pile of gifts from each other and family. robin had the most, of course. he got some great new books, a wierd animals calendar, knit cotton boxers, a quilted tennis racket cover, a new watch, a toy hummer, a boy's-only diary, a make-your-own bird house kit, a jump rope, a che guevara t-shirt direct from cuba-and more. the pictures are of my cupid charm from bob and robin's t-shirt. unfortunately it was a little too dark for the video to come out well.

later on, our good friend oceana and her guy geoff came for dinner. since they only visit once a year from san clemente, CA, we were really excited to see them! we had a terrific christmas meal and visit. even though the weather was rainy and chilly i think they had a nice time, too.

the next day the 5 of us decided to go to the hot springs together. hot waterfalls and piña coladas-always a treat!

new year's went off without much fanfare-bob had a gig at a beach party. robin and i had a ginger ale toast and were in bed by 9pm.

normally by january the rainy season is loooooong gone, but not for us this year! it has been raining almost every day (with a few exceptions) since september. uh! then, on january 2nd a BIG wind and rain storm hit the region. for 10 solid days! we had gale force winds and sideways rain that just wouldn't quit! it was crazy. i mean, we ARE in the mountains on a wind corridor and the windmills should be your first clue that there are strong winds up here, but this was just wild. electric poles were leaning and snapping and giant trees were falling over. we didn't leave the house for like 4 days. of course during this time early on we lost electric and phone. the water even went out once. that was fun. luckily the roof stayed on. there were a few wind-related incidents with the house that bob helped to take care of (that tool box i gave him for christmas is already paying for itself). it was like survivalist training during the storm. we ate everything that was thawing out in the fridge and played endless rounds of gin and go-fish by candlelight. luckily we had everything we needed-food, propane burner, candles, flashlights, a car battery charger for robin's DVD player :) and each other-to make it through safely to friday when robin and i left for the sunny (and windless) beach for 2 days. right after the beach trip we headed to san jose for 4 days! by the time we returned home on thursday night, everything was pretty much back to normal. the electric poles are newly replaced with concrete ones, the phone is back on, the sun is out and it's NOT raining!

too bad for me that i came back from the city with a terrible head cold, so i'm still stuck in the house with my box of tissues and bad television programs for at least another day. the immense amount of yard work will just have to wait a little longer.

last night robin lost his ninth tooth. so far, so good! for the $2 that the tooth fairy delivers each time a tooth is left under the pillow, he's still a believer. then again, he could just really still believe. he is the only kid i know with his own imaginary pet poodle....

hugs, steph and robin