Mele Kalikimaka

OK, we're ready to go on the annual Lockwood Family Christmas tree hunt!The angle of this picture is strange. Can you tell that Greg is walking down a big hill after scouting the forest from above? I didn't think so. Well, he is. I'm taking the picture looking back up the hill after slip-sliding my way down. BooBoo is hanging on for dear life!Talk about the lap of luxury! Those girls just whined and fussed and rode around in the sled all morning. I fear Greg may have three women "helping" him with the tree cutting. And everything else he does for the rest of his life.Close up of the lounging ladies. It was pouring down rain, but they were pretty snug.Critiquing the technique, I think. We just wanted a small tree since we aren't going to keep it up for very long. You'll see why at the end of this post, if you haven't guessed already.TAH DAH! The best one in all of Alaska! Yay Daddy!OK, raise your hand if you want to get back in the truck.... I think Amelia's hands were frozen to her jacket. Hey, wait! There are three girls in the sled! Let's go in for the close up...Wow! Hope Daddy ate his Wheaties today. Actually, the girls and I sledded all the way back down the big hill - about a half a mile, while Greg dragged the tiny yet perfect tree back down to the road.Mush, you huskies! Get to work, girls!Here, little child, carry this dangerous saw and snap to it!Ooh! The money shot!Let's put it in the truck now. Show all the contestants what they could win, will you, Dearie?At last, the angel. And a topper for our little tree.Merry Christmas from these Cutie Patooties and their parents!

Some observant readers will no doubt have pondered at length the title of this post... "Mele Kalikimaka". Good show, dear readers - you have discovered the secret.... we won't have our tree up at Christmas this year, because we will be in Kona Hawaii on the Big Island with Greg's whole family!

In the flurry of packing and racing around rather aimlessly, we have completely missed sending cards this year. Instead, many of you will receive colorful postcards in the next few weeks. We hope you relish these tokens as you welcome in the new year. Look for plenty of tropical pictures to come.

Happy 2009 everyone, and...

merry CHRISTmas!

Missed one!

Oops.

In my haste to get some new pictures on the blog last week, I omitted a particularly important one. In the following photo, please note that the granddaughter, Gwen, is only four and a half years old. I won't tell you how old Granny is, but she is not quite 5'2". I think we will have at least one very "tall" daughter.

Let me elaborate on why I've placed the word tall in quotes. In this family, "tall" is a relative term, literally. My family's tallest immediate member (my brother - correct me if I'm wrong, Adam) is a whopping 5'9 (and a half)". Greg's immediate family has three people over six feet tall - Greg, his dad, and his brother.

So it is distinctly possible that while Gwen only grows to about 5'9", she'll be an amazon in my family. And a pipsqueak in Greg's.

OK, after all that, here's the picture:

It really won't hurt my feelings if...

... you would all just flat-out admit that you do not come here to listen to me blather on about anything and everything. I know you only check in regularly for the pictures.

Well, I aim to please, so enjoy...

Clowning around in their PJs:At the mall for trick or treating:

Halloween dress-up day at Gwen's preschool. Amelia thinks she is a big kid, too: The girls just couldn't get enough of Granny. Here they are at a new restaurant in town. Thanks again to Granny for treating us at "Japanese Steak Teriaki Sushi Bar" - Hey, that's exactly what the sign says. Anyway, look at these big hugs! My mom loved it!Auke Lake with Mendenhall Glacier in the background:

At Rotary Park with Daddy on one of his lunch breaks:

Sisters marching in the park. Man, doesn't Amelia's attitude come shining through in this picture? She is in charge and she knows it!

Granny and her eagles...

My mom is here from Ohio and we are having SO MUCH FUN! She and the girls are just finishing the same book for the 1100th time this morning. now there are starting a new Pooh video. Yes, a real VHS video. Anyway, the girls are so happy that "Granny" is here. They will sure miss her when she goes next week.

Last Monday, Greg took the day off work. So Granny and I (me sans kids for the first time in almost five years!) went to Haines Alaska via the Alaska Marine Highway System for the day. We were on the F/V Malaspina and went up specifically to see the world's largest concentration of American Bald Eagles. It happens every fall at about the same time; thus, this: http://www.baldeaglefestival.org/index.html. We opted to avoid the people crowds so we could focus more on the eagle crowds. We must have seen about 500 eagles, maybe more. It was hard to tell since they wouldn't stay put. They were just magnificently mingling, as they are wont to do. The weather was great, the company first-rate, and the eagles were certainly abundant. Well, see for yourself:

Fortunately, we didn't stumble upon the brown bear crowds...
We will sure miss Granny when she leaves but have had a super time with her. And we still have five more days! Yay!