Shooting Range

Sami and Chris at the shooting range.

It's been our tradition for the last 4 or 5 years to go to the range with Chris whenever we're in Charlotte. Even though Sami doesn't practice regularly, he is an excellent shot.

Today the range was very busy, so I watched though the window and didn't shoot. I'm not very good with the handguns anyway. I'm much better with a rifle or a shotgun... something with a scope.

We Play Wii

Sami and I went over to see Chris's new condo. (There was still some stuff in boxes, so I didn't take pictures.)

Chris loves games of all kinds and so he has the Nintendo Wii. We'd never tried one before and it was a lot of fun.

First we played the tennis and bowling and boxing... Chris and Sami laughed at my boxing style, (they said I looked like I was drumming) but I got a KO on my first try!

After the sports games we tried one of the other games that comes with the Wii. The game instructs you on various positions for how to hold the remote (or Wiimote as Chris called it).

Then you have to complete the action show on screen in the alloted time. It's silly but a lot of fun.

Here Sami had to slash this log with the samurai sword.

It's amazing how the controllers work with the game... how they know what you're doing and reproduce it onscreen.

I took a video of Sami playing to give you a better idea of how it all works.

Actually Sami took a video of me too, but he held the camera vertically and movies can't be rotated the way pictures can.

Mrs. Edith's Gutters

The day after Chrismas we went over to see Mrs. Edith and take her some cake. We used to live across the street from her before Andrew was born and she is like an extra grandmother to us.

While my parents sat inside talking with her, I went outside and cleaned her gutters.

Cardinal (m) - Cardinalis cardinalis

Sami decided to stay safely on the ground and take pictures of the birds in the trees.

Actually, I'd been hoping to get some really great bird pictures on our trip. Since there are so many hardwood trees and the leaves fall off, you can see the birds pretty clearly in the winter. Also, the Cardinal is a favorite and we don't have them in Oregon.

Cardinal (f) - Cardinalis cardinalis

Unfortunately, the weather was grey and rainy for almost the entire week.

This is a good thing for NC after the long drought, but really disappointing to us. It was just like being in Oregon, except a few degrees warmer.

Merry Christmas!

Andrew, my youngest brother, loves Christmas lights. This year he managed to decorate the front of the house very tastefully.

He also decorated the tree house and the back porch. The screened in porch was just added to the house last year.

Unfortunately my mom had to work at the hospital on Christmas day. My brothers, Matt and Andrew, decided to stay up late on Christmas eve and make a special breakfast for her.

They set up the coffee maker with the timer, and made several different kinds of cookies, with hand written cards listing what kinds they were.

Daddy and Matt watching TV.

After opening presents on Christmas morning, we did a lot of sitting around flipping channels.

Andrew gave Cody the dog a giant bone.

It was so large she could barely chew on it. And on the following days she nearly woke the whole house up by dropping it on the hardwood floors in the kitchen.

On Christmas Day, Andrew cooked the turkey and Sami and I made biscuits, mashed potatoes and a rhubarb pie made from our own rhubarb we canned last summer.

We told my sister Becca that she could make the vegetables but she declined.

My mom came home just in time to make the stuffing.

Sami carving the turkey.

Sami loves to use the electric knife. My mom offered to give it to us, but we don't make turkey very often so we decided to leave it there.

If you're wondering why the cabinets look weird, it's because the kitchen is in the middle of a remodel and the cabinets have only been primed, and not painted. They used to be a dark brown.

Moon Halo.... Maybe Mars?

On our flight from Portland to Atlanta, the pilot pointed our the moon and mars but we were on the wrong side of the plane to see it.

Later, at my parents house in Charlotte I took this picture of a moon halo. Mars might be there too, but I'm not sure which bright spot it might be.

I was setting up my tripod and taking a couple pictures of it when my brothers, Matt & Andrew, came outside and said "Cool! How did you do that?" Although I'd like to take credit, it's a weather thing. When there are ice crystals up in the high-level clouds, they act like tiny prisms, bending the moonlight and making a 22 degree halo.