After a whirlwind of post-Thanksgiving school, we’re all on break again for the winter holidays. Griffin is at an all-day D&D game with some friends. Maggie and Oliver, meanwhile, are building an epic from-scratch gingerbread house with Sarah.
Update: See below for a few pictures of the construction process and final product.
Oliver has been working on learning countries around the world. This week he completed a map of Europe. He hasn’t labeled everything yet, but I love the creative spellings (Itle = Italy; youkran = Ukraine, etc.).
While we were loading the car today, we heard gales of laughter from the cabin. We returned to find Oliver decked out as a miniature Sarah.
We celebrated Oliver’s sixth birthday at the cabin. Oliver prepared by creating a schedule for the day with his siblings:
In reality, we didn’t really follow the schedule, but the key elements were all there: cupcakes, playing, presents, and games.
We pared down our feast a bit this year to make it work without plumbing at the cabin. Instead of a full turkey, we roasted a partial bird. We made the stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and pies in advance. At the cabin we added mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts.
We arrived at the cabin after dark. Clear sky with the Milky Way above. Wolves howling across the lake. Snow on the ground, but not much shoveling required. Temps dropped to 10° overnight. Warmed to 35 by noon which feels balmy. Ice on the lake is thick enough for walking near shore and hurling the tennis ball for Piper.
Griffin has had a great season with his volleyball team this fall. The team has been unfailingly positive even in the face of defeat. (Though they’ve done better this season than last year, with a few decisive victories and many close matches.) It’s been a joy to watch them duke it out on the court every week.
Here’s a short video at the tail end of one of their closest games. Alas, after getting 1 point from victory, they were ultimately defeated, 25-27.
I turned on the outside floods in the dark before dawn and was greeted by this lovely sight.
