Final trimmings...

A few more touches added today: outdoor lights, wreath for the door, star to top the tree, tree skirt, our advent calendar from Chi-Chi and the stockings are hung!  Pshew.

Just so you know....

Not to take away from Ian's beautiful pictures, but yes I do realize that there is something missing from our tree!  No angel or star on top!  We're working on it :)

Deck "Vantage Circle" with boughs of holly...

I always remember as a child my Dad being so excited to take down the big boxes of Christmas decorations, and getting all the lights in a row!  My Mom was the machine that took down all the regular decorations, and redecorated the entire house into a winter wonderland!  This year Laura and I did this yearly tradition for the first time.  Here is part of our living room:

Our 1st Thanksgiving!

Laura and I just enjoyed our 1st Thanksgiving as the "Belanger" family.  The menu was short, easy and yielded mucho leftovers!

• BBQ Chicken for Laura
• Veggie Burger for Ian
• Corn
• Stuffing
• Mashed potatoes (we should have invited the whole neighborhood!!)
• Crescent roles

Hope you had a relaxing day too...

On the Lions:  I predicted 814-3...  I was close, 47-10.  Can the Lions just win ONE regular-season game this year??

Jumping the gun?

Laura here!  Just so you know, I just put the Christmas tree up!  Since we had Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, I figured it was an okay thing to do!  I wanted a real one but Ian tells me they are super expensive here, plus we have a dog who likes to eat things.  Ian is out buying Christmas lights right now because apparently we don't have any.  

Is this too early!?!?!

CRAZY DOG!

Hey!  We got home from North Carolina about an hour ago, and the first thing I did after unpacking was wash myself, and wash the dog.  I know at times Ian and I treat and talk about Malik like he was a human being and child of ours....but he's just so funny!  Here's a video of what he does after his bath.

 

Touring "Reed Gold Mine" and my Dad's birthday...

Today is Jeffery's birthday, he is 56.  For some reason, I thought that he was 58, but not yet, just 56.  We got him a card that said he is a "classic" as in classic cars... He like it.  We went to Rosarios for lunch.  It is a local Italian joint that is SOOOO yummy.  Tonight we had planned to go out to dinner, but we all had eaten too much for lunch, so we decided to "86" that, and eat here at the house...and eat my Mom's delicious-looking cake!

Today's adventures lead us into "gold country."  Just to the south here is Reed Gold Mine .  A snippet from their Web site describes it:

Reed Gold Mine is the site of the first documented gold find in the United States. From this discovery, gold mining spread gradually to nearby counties and eventually into other southern states. During its peak years gold mining was second only to farming in the number of North Carolinians it employed. The estimated value of gold recovered reached over one million dollars a year. North Carolina led the nation in gold production until 1848, when it was eclipsed by the great rush to California.

The tour guide was really knowledgeable, and told us a lot about how the element of gold actually came about in the area.   The highlight of the tour was walking into an old mine (50' underground!)

Here is a handful of photos that captured our adventures (all of them are on Facebook )!  We leave for FL in the AM, although it will be sad to leave family, we will not miss seeing our breath when we walk outside or having to wear hats, gloves and winter boots!  :)

More about our walk...the funny part!!

Hey, Laura here, I wanted to show videos of Ian and I playing tarzan today...maybe they're just funny to us,  but oh well!

....and now for Ian.....

Sunday's nature walk

This morning we woke up and went for a walk on a 2-mile trail that encircles Libby and Jeff's housing complex here in NC.  Their community is a huge, planned community and it's quite pretty (even though its so cold!!)

Here are a few photos:

A morning with Libby, and a "shopping bag o fries"

This morning my Dad had to work at the shop, so my Mom figured that she would take us shopping and to lunch.  We did not argue, we know better!

We went to Kohls and really just each got a new pair of tennis shoes.  After leaving, we decided that we were pretty hungry, and my Mom suggested "Five Guys Fries and Burgers ."  I was a little concerned that she only wanted us to get one order of large fries.  I told her that I really like fries, and that I was kinda hungry.  She said "don't worry about it."

Well, as you can see, there was enough fries for like 8 Biggie Fries!  Wow.

We also went to go look at the new drag strip and there was a team out there who had rented out the facility, so we got to see a really great funny car go the 1/4 mile in like 8 seconds!

Furthermore, my Mom's golf cart is the only one there that does not have anything to do with Nascar, beer or wings!  haha She has flowers and a orange safety flag.  Someone, please PIMP MY MOM'S GOLF CART!

This looks pretty good:

Waking up in North Carolina this morning...

We got to Ian's parents place in Concord, NC at about 1am last night.  It was so, so cold--14 degrees!

So ya, look at those lows!  This morning when I went out to take the rest of the stuff out of the car, I had left my coffee cup in there, and had maybe three sips left---it was frozen solid!  There was also FROST all over my windows---ugh.

So the point of this post is all about the weather man today.  First off, his name---Larry Sprinkle!  Are you kidding me?  Who is going to take this guy seriously.  Is my name Ian Science?  Hahaha  

So his little forecast this morning went like this:

We started off a cool 14 degrees this morning, and we are already almost to our high of the day, its 31!  

I was like, "and I just left FL for this?!"


Hahaha  Anyways, my Mom took us out to lunch today and we got one large fry to split between the three of us...  You'll see in the next post how it was really a "shopping bag o fries!"

House is now... Done!!

So ya, our house is now fixed, carpeted, and safe! Come visit.

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I thought I saw snow!

So I was letting Malik out this morning, and ice crystals could have formed on my coffee.. 42 is so cold. I stayed inthe shower anextra few today just to warm up!!! Think warm thoughts for us!!



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Christmas card list... Add this name!

When doing your Christmas or holiday greeting cards this year, take one card and send it to the address below.

If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.

Too bad they didn't have internet during Vietnam and Korea.


         A Recovering American Soldier
         c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
         6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
         Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

COLD SHOWERS!

So.

Ian and I moved into our house in June of this year.  We were excited that house has a lot of energy saving appliances, including a tankless water heater.  We have noticed that the water in the house has never really reached the classification of hot, but since weather in Florida is so stifling hot during the summer, the water has never really seemed that cold.  UNTIL NOW!  Now that the weather has been relatively cooler, we have had to take lukewarm showers.  So finally we called our landlord, who called an electrician.  Turns out whoever installed our water heater crossed the wires, and it wasn't getting nearly as hot as it was supposed to.  So he fixed it, and for one of the first times in 5 months, I took a HOT SHOWER today!  LOVELY!

Mommy and Malik

Today "daddy" had to go to class, so Malik and mommy went out for a day on the town.  First we went to Petco.  Malik gets soooooo excited when he gets to go there and meet other dogs and stiff everything in sight.  We bought some natural rawhide bones that he finishes in 1 day he loves so much, and a ball on a rope.  I thought the ball on the rope would be useful because his idea of "catch" is chasing the ball, bringing it back, and playing keep away!!  Right before we left we were sure to look at the kittens to make sure there wasn't one we couldn't live without, and then Malik almost got eaten by a German Shepherd!!  In true Malik fashion, he barked right back even though he was 1/10 the size of the other dog.  

After Petco, we went to Dairy Queen and got us a "puppy cup."  I don't know if you are aware that Dairy Queen gives out free vanilla ice cream in a cup for dogs, but they do, and it's great!!!  

I have included some videos of the highlights of my day, a hamster who didn't know how to use his wheel at the pet store, and Mal Pal with his new favorite toy :)

Ian is famous, again...

This is why Ian has been so busy lately... One of the professional development classes I have been teaching.

Another article for your reading enjoyment!  :)


Highlands Today article

Ian in the local paper!

http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2008/nov/12/la-whats-a-blog/news/

The only correction is that I teach "advanced academics."

Day off...

Laura and I had the day off today to celebrate Vets day!  Whoot Whoot.

We went to lunch at the OG (Olive Garden) and went to Circuit City to look at some stuff she wants to buy for her school.

What a nice day of rest.  It is about 75, and breezy.

Malik grading Ian's papers!?

Ian usually spends alot of time on Sundays grading some papers and typing lesson plans.  Malik decided to help out today:

Halloween hayride and trick-or-treating!

One of Ian's co-workers invited us over to their house to enjoy a Halloween cookout and hayride down in Lake Placid!  It was alot of fun.  Here are some of the photos: