Dr. Tanner and the Velocia Raptor Incident

Let me tell you, Miss Tanner loves stickers. She spent HOURS carefully stickering all of us over the holidays. These particular stickers had the dubious honor of being stuck all over my (adorable, ravishing, not at all stinky) feet, then removed and stuck back to the sheet, then stuck all over my father's and uncle's feet.
Eek. At least I was first.

   

Stick sticker. Remove sticker. Stick sticker elsewhere. Remove sticker.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

One evening, we had Jurrasic Park playing on BOTH televisions, because ya know one room showing the O.G. J.P. just isn't quite enough.  Naturally, there was an ongoing volume battle.  To make it even more interesting, the synchronization of the independently running films was off by about 3 seconds, so depending which room you were in, you either had a slight preview or echo.  Made the attack scenes especially interesting.  It was the only point at which I was glad DVC was not in attendance, as he would NOT have enjoyed it.

Possibly my favorite story from the holidays this year - later that night, Lisa awoke suddenly in the bunkhouse, so startled by the horrible shrieking coming from a velocia raptor outside that she rushed to wake her kids and bring them to safety.  Turned out to be the neighbor's dog.  Sleep tight!

And the Surprise Outing Is...........

 

Each year at Christmas my dad likes to plan a Super Secret Outing, which involves extensive planning and giddy excitement on his end, a number of teasing hints being dropped at all those not "in the know" [read: everybody] and plenty of creative speculation. (And occasionally insufficient information being provided to everyone else on what's necessary to bring with us to the surprise event.)

ICE SKATING turned out to be this year's adventure, at the Madonna Inn in SLO, and the insufficient info

technically wasn't Dad's fault, since he had no idea it would be THAT freezing inside the place. 

Good thing we had Auntie Jeanne to rush north and bring us all extra layers of coats, scarves and sweaters!

Everybody line up for (stinky) (used) skates!

 

We are ready!

(some more than others)

 

Off we goooooooooooo...

 

Taking a breather (about 15 minutes in - skating is hard work!).

AJ + TI

 our biggest fans and total BFF's.

Then - shockingly painful to watch, probably even more painful to experience,

 certainly not suitable for young audiences, 

we were suddenly thrust into... 

The Ice Rink Incident.

And for once in his life, Kris was not the victim!

Though our ankles were sore something nasty the next day, we all had a blast. Thanks for a fun outing, dad!

Happy Bday AL!

My sweet Aunt Linda's birthday falls just a few days after Christmas, which means it often gets a bit overlooked in all of the holiday madness, so we always try to do something extra special for her.  This year, we went to a group favorite for dinner - Old Juan's Cantina in Oceano.

 

Happy Birthday Auntie Linda!

The Almost Chicken Chomp Incident

Life on the farm. You know, morning deck feedings, daily egg collection, generally peaceful coexistence. 

A terrific start to Christmas, all is calm, all is bright.  Until the neighbor's dog crashes the party...

  

We were having a lovely holiday morning, feeding the girls (that's the chickens, mind you) and letting the girls (now we're talking children) hold them (back to chicks).  Even Daniel got in on the chicken-cuddling action.

    

So we're sitting around on the deck, enjoying the 80 degree weather, when we heard the next door neighbor (Randy) hollering for his dog.  Which is a Rhodesian Ridgeback (the dog, not the neighbor).  Also known as African Lion Hound (still the dog).  Originally bred to hunt lions (possibly Randy, definitely the dog).  Freaking scary man.  The hair along its spine actually grows in the opposite direction from the rest of its coat, forming a spiky ridge along its back.  Even just the name!  It sounds like a friggin' dragon! 

A dog breed info website states:

A fine hunter, the Rhodesian Ridgeback is ferocious in the hunt, combining speed, power and endurance. It is good natured, but some do not do well with small children because they may play too roughly and knock them down.

If while on best behavior this beast will knock down small children, you can imagine what it would do to a poor little unsuspecting chicken when in full on attack mode.  So as soon as we hear Randy trying to track down his dog, lo and behold it comes trotting around the corner of our house.  Within seconds it has locked eyes on the chicks and bolted into a dead sprint, bursting through the fam in a beeline toward its prey (still just a few feet from the kids).  We all suddenly realize what's happening, how grim the murder we are about to witness will be for the small children still watching the sweet birds peck at the grain on the deck, but it's a little too late and the hunt is on and the chickens are no match for an animal strong enough to bring down large game. The birds scatter and we all scream and the dog leaps and streeeeetches out his neck to make a grab for the slowest chicken who hasn't managed to make it out of harm's way. Lisa's nails dig into KK's arm as we all brace ourselves for the blow. Then out of nowhere, Daniel leaps across the deck onto the dog's back and tackles it to the ground just as its jaws snap closed mere inches away from the yellow chicken's delicate neck. 

And we. Are all. Gaping. 

  Wednesday, bloody Wednesday, averted.