Bug turns 11 on the train!

Since we were going to be on the train on her actual birthday, we had cake with her dad before we left town. Since she LOVES Harry Potter, it only seemed right to make her a cake that looked like Harry's 11th birthday cake. 

She also got some books about Tuva and Richard Feynman...just what all 11-year-olds want, right?!  ;)

Here we are, waiting at the station.

Until just before we boarded the train, Bug thought that we were riding in coach. I surprised her with a roomette. Here's what she thought of that.

I took Bug to WA for her 11th birthday. 

Here we are, waiting at the station. 

 As we were boarding, I surprised Bug with the news that we had a roomette. Here's what she thought of that.

Having a bedtime snack in her upper bunk.

In the dining car, Chris helped me to surprise Bug with a birthday present. He also got everyone at breakfast to sing to her.

She got Quidditch robes and goggles!

These two were in the same sleeping car as we were. They're from England and the one on the left had recently visited the Harry Potter studio near London. She showed Bug her photos from there. They joined us for Bug's birthday breakfast. Thanks! 

First gyro of the year!

The gyro/hot dog cart that operates on our block came back late last week. It will be here 5 days a week until Sept. or Oct. We are happy. Bug got to order her first gyro of the year today.

Alash - Tuvan throat singing

Bug got to see/hear the Tuvan throat singers, Alash, last night. She was SO HAPPY! She had practiced introducing herself in Tuvan and saying "thank you". They taught her how to say "goodbye" and "my friend". What a great evening. We can't wait to see them again!

We were in the front row.

Bug was very happy. This was the look on her face for most of the concert.

We had reserved seats. Bug is special like that.   ;)

Bug with Ayan-ool Sam, Ayan Shirizhik and Bady-Dorzhu Ondar.

We're still here....

Wow..how is it that I haven't blogged since Christmas?! Busy, I guess.

Bug is still working on her Chinese, though is trying to learn a bit of Tuvan as we're going to see Alash Ensemble in a couple of weeks. They are Tuvan throat singers. She REALLY wants to see Kongar-ol Ondar, but since he taught 2 of the guys in Alash Ensemble, she's pretty excited to see them. She's been really interested in this music since she saw the documentary Ghengis Blues.

She's still thoroughly absorbed in Hogwarts/Harry Potter/Gryffindor. We surprised her with this hoodie the other day.

Christmas 2012 - part 1

 My sister LOVES Christmas. We go to her house each year, the Saturday before Christmas, weather permitting. Last year (too late to make them) I spotted this knitting pattern and knew that she neeeded these slippers. She wore them all night and couldn't stop wiggling her toes.

Her tree was a bit small this year...   ;) 

Bug has been looking at this hat for the past year, at least. She was surprised and very happy when she opened it.

Even better than that hat was this GOLDEN SNITCH necklace that my sister made for her. Look at that smile. 

I said LOOK AT THAT SMILE!

The wrapping of the money - 2012 version

 2 years ago, my nephew's answer to "What do you want for Christmas?" was "Money". If you missed that post, you can see what I did here.

Last year he got a hand-knit hat and seemed a bit sad that there wasn't one piece of tape involved in the packaging.

This year he got money again. Here's what I did.

Since Bug is into Harry Potter right now, I had ordered some empty Christmas crackers, so decided to use one for this.

 There was a sheet of card stock with lines and the numbers 1-20 on it.

20 small squares of paper with the numbers 1-20 on one side and a letter on the other side. 

These were folded and then put inside the cracker.

The cracker was put in a box.

I saw this and knew that it would annoy him. (he's a Vikings fan)

Then I got out the duct tape.  :)

I then used some wrapping paper, then put that into a bigger box and taped the card stock to one of the flaps. 

The larger box got a bit of duct tape....just enough to close it. 

Then I wrapped that. 

He got to the outer box and bit of duct tape...easy.

Then he got to the smaller box....while he went to get his knife, he handed the box off to his helper to see if she could open it. She couldn't.

He finally got the duct tape off and got to the cracker. He pulled it open and the little folded bits of paper went flying everywhere...and he realized that he might need them.

Then he had to unfold all of the tiny bits...

Once he got them in order, he realized that it said "your gift is in the dryer". I love the look that he's giving me here.  :)  

15 years

Today, Bug's dad & I have been married for 15 years. Amazing. We've known each other for about 20 years. I wish that I had the "guitars for sale" ad that was hanging on the library bulletin board all those years ago. A friend of mine had been looking for a new guitar, so when I spotted the ad, I got the number for him. We called and went over to the apt. to see what he had. What he had was a lot of guitars! My friend didn't end up buying one, but I signed up for lessons. :) Eventually, I was working at a music store and he (Bug's dad) rented shop space upstairs. We spent a lot of time together, playing hacky sack, watching movies...finally, my boss asked me when we were going to make it official. LOL.

We ended up opening a guitar shop. This is where we got married. :)

Here's what it looks like now. They're standing in about the same spot as in the photo above. 

We had to move to another building after a couple of years. 

 

 
It's been a great adventure so far and I can't wait to see what's next.

Here's the view out our back door this morning...they say more is on the way, along with high winds. We're waiting to see if we'll be snowed in tonight, or if we get to go out, as planned.

Happy Halloween!

 Since Bug currently loves all things Harry Potter, it seemed obvious that she would be Hermione Granger for Halloween. She already had a hand-knit Gryffindor bag (see blog post about our trip to Portland). I ordered her a Gryffindor robe and a gray, pleated school skirt. We found the right shoes and some tights (it's cold here). Amazon came to the rescue with the perfect tie. I found a time turner at Barnes & Noble....then came the knitting. I made a house sweater for her. She LOVES it! I also made a Gryffindor hat. As we got closer to the first of the local Halloween events, I realized that it was going to be pretty cold out that night, so I quickly made a pair of mittens, too. I think that she looks pretty good, don't you?