Winter Break

A technical glitch gave us two First Class seats on the way to Florida. For takeoff Bryn sat next to me but then traded with the other person sitting next to Ken so she could watch videos with Luke. She was impressed by the bigger seats, and apparently 10 minutes after making the trade to the back of the cabin, she asked if she could rejoin me in First Class! By then the switch had already been made, so I got 2 hours to myself to nap and read the Steve Jobs biography (very interesting, by the way).
One highlight of this Christmas break was spending time with Beckett, who was four and a half months old at the time. He was a little sturdier than when he was first born, and could hold his neck up, so he didn't seem so fragile. He was learning how to roll over, but he'd get his one arm stuck under his torso. Bryn and Luke took turns giving him a bottle, playing with him, and even helping with a bath in the kitchen sink!


Another highlight was learning from Sam the art of building large sand castles and sculptures. Ken and Paul got in on the action with full-size shovels, and Luke would spend at least an hour working on this new art form. Each day that we were in Florida, the size of the sand castle building crew increased, as did the size of the overall project.

On the 29th Ken organized everybody -- and I mean EVERYBODY -- to help with building a sand castle. The Colvins and Chipmans all participated -- 11 grandchildren in all.
Sam left before New Year's Eve, so Bryn and Luke were left to their own devices.
But they learned a lot about the art of sand sculpting in just a few days, as you can plainly see:

A third highlight of our time in Florida over winter break was the beautiful weather. We probably could have worn shorts our last two days there, had I packed any. Temperatures easily climbed into the 70s. We were able to spend time on the beach every day. Bryn would probably add that she liked going to trivia, and Nichole ate most of the cookies in the myriad bins.