Christmas, Part Tres

Monday we went to the California Living Museum (CALM)! This was a pretty cool little spot! The animals here are all unable to be released into the wild, either due to injury or dependence on humans. Here we are looking at the black bears: Cinnamon Black BearWe saw all sorts of things--golden and bald eagles, a kestrel, kit, red & grey foxes, raccoons, coati, coyotes, skunk, bobcat and a host of snakes and lizards . . . this is a black-tailed mule deer And this is a Very Sassy Roadrunner! He was so territorial, he kept running up to the edge of the enclosure if someone leaned close and bopping the glass or hopping against the wire mesh. One of the workers said that he had a friend--a wild roadrunner--who hung around. And we saw him on the outside of the enclosure on our way out! He comes to keep company, and apparently brought his whole family with him last spring!!Hard to imagine back in cold, wintery Wisconsin, but it feels like early fall out here right now.We came home and pulled out all the leftovers before Andy headed back to Sacramento.
One more post to come before our house emptied completely!

Christmas, Part Deux

We came back to Bakersfield on Christmas afternoon; Erik got a quick nap and headed off to work. What a trooper! He worked Friday night too, but was able to see everyone before he went. Ben, Pei & Mom arrived a little before 8pm and we had a late supper. Then Noelle & Andy rolled in at around 9pm! Erik left for work and we played an exciting game of Cranium before bed.

Team Rabbit celebrates a moment of victory--it was a close game!Can you guess it? Can you guess it? If you said "Blowfish", you got it!Ben bashes down the Berlin Wall Christmas morning we got a bit of a late start. . . getting the turkey in took precedence! ;-)

Then Ben read us the Christmas Story . . . and we opened stockings!Rosie liked the ribbonMom with the yummy boxes from the SearlsYou don't get the crackers for the toys. . . or the jokes. You get them for the paper crowns!!After much revelry comes much tiredness . . .Christmas dinner COUNTER-clockwise from bottom right: Erik, Noelle, Andy, Bill, Ben, Pei & Mom

Then it was time for more napping . . . before the game playing commenced! Ben & Pei had to head home after lunch on Sunday. We played some more games (and tactfully tried not to notice the game Noelle & Andy were playing!)Christmas Carols Oops! Somebody forgot to let the Erik in when the dogs went out . . .Mom cutting veggies for turkey soup On Monday we went to the California Living Museum before Andy had to head back home--pictures of that in the next post!

Christmas, Part One

I'm finally sitting down to post some pictures from Christmas, but in the interest of your (my) attention span, I'm going to divide it up. This is the first installment. . . Christmas with the Ruddy Family!

Everyone got into the spirit of Christmas. . . even the dogs!Patrick tries on the antlersThis was a unique Christmas for our family. We had the opportunity to meet Erik & Patrick's dad and brother who came from Tennessee to spend the holiday!
Back (L to R): Mike, Debra, Patrick
Front (L to R): Michael, Jr., Christel, Erik

We spent Christmas Eve chatting and eating all sorts of delicious food that Debra prepared. Mmm... renzas.... Also went to a lovely candlelight service and later got a chance to see Laurence and Bonnie and their family which was so much fun! Christmas morning we spent together opening gifts and drinking (or in my case spilling) coffee and then went to Christmas mass with Hazel. Erik and I had to head back after lunch as he had to work that night.

Christmas CrownsErik with his childhood stuffed animal (a tiger who had all his hair picked off!!) The Michaels sent books of The Chicagoan, for which Arthur Ruddy (Erik's grandfather) did interior artwork and several magazine covers! Erik was excited to discover that Mike's hobby is geneology/history. He brought a CD for each of the boys with all sorts of family history and also has a website with all kinds of information. Right up Erik's alley! We were also excited to learn that Michael plays WoW, and online game that Erik & I have been enjoying with Ben! Santa was good to everyone . . .The Ruddy BoysIt was a great Christmas and so fun to start to get know Mike & Michael!

Busy Week!

I know everyone is busy getting ready for the holidays, and so are we, but that's not all that's keeping us busy this week.

On Sunday we got to see Laura and the kids (friends in Bakersfield). It's been too, too long and it was lots of fun to catch up over dinner. The girls had fun meeting the pets and kept the cats busy with toys until we went outside to try the hammock and foosball table. It was great to see them!On Monday, Noelle came for a visit. We had grand plans to get all sorts of Christmas stuff done--lights up on the house, cookie frosting, making krumkake, getting the tree. . . It didn't quite happen that way. On Tuesday afternoon, Ben called to see if we all wanted to go skiing on Wednesday because Pei had just been able to switch her work schedule. It was too late for Erik take a vacation day, but we decided that Noelle & I would go. This is how Wednesday went:

3:30am Alarm apparently goes off
3:45am Noelle comes in to wake me up and tells me that I've hit snooze twice and she's tired of hearing my alarm
4:25am We load up the car and leave for Pasadena. As we get close to the Grapevine we see signs that CHP are escorting vehicles along a nearby route and decide again that we probably can't stay until the hill closes as we'd like to be back through before it gets totally dark. Ha.
6:30am Arrive at Ben & Pei's EXACTLY on time. Noelle meets cats and gets quick tour apartment . . . then we watch them search for their ski/snowboarding gear ;-)
7:30am Leave for Summit
8:something Stop to grab breakfast and coffee. . . instead get something akin to dirty dishwater
9:something Start to run into snow; stop at "Chains Required" sign to apply said chainsAfter this the time becomes a bit fuzzy. . . we drove slower and slower in heavier and heavier snow until we finally came into Big Bear Lake--only a few miles to the hill!

. . . except the road to the hill is closed. Snow is plowed up against it actually--seemingly no intention of re-opening it soon. We grumble a bit because now we have to drive around the lake to get to the other access road (and could have come a different way if we'd known). In the meantime, more snow. We can't really see the lake though we're driving right alongside it. It's pretty though!

Traffic is heavier and slower now as everyone is re-routed and joins traffic from the other route. But we're moving. And then we weren't. At all. For a long time. And then we can finally see why. A delivery truck (...uh huh) is sitting in the road, blocking both lanes. Apparently he started to slip as he went up the hill. Then the driver walked by our car, calling out to someone behind him, "I'm not moving! I'll just slide. No, I'm not moving!" Riiiiiight. . .

So Ben gets out to see what he can see. There are cars in the ditch on both sides of the road all around the jam--people who tried to pass and people who tried to turn around without enough room. We help push a couple out and then get turned around ourselves, deciding that it was time to give up and head back.

We don't get very far. Because people further back in the line, apparently believing that the long line in front of them were just taking a little driving break, started passing them. So now there are two solid lanes of traffic stopped and facing the same direction. Smaaaaart. We hop out to help push a car who lost one of their chains, and Ben goes to see how far back the stupidity goes. We tell as many people as we can what's going on ahead so they can turn around and not cause more problems. . . and the majority reply with something like, "But. . . we want to board!" Uh huh. Good luck with that. Ben is helping folks merge into the correct lane at this point, finally making enough room that the 4x4 in front can make a path mostly on the road and traffic can start moving. Now the responses are more like, "But look! Traffic is moving now!" Yes, yes it was . . . and clearly not because THE SMART ONES WERE TURNING AROUND, THEREBY MAKING MORE ROOM IN THE STUPID LINE!

We stopped several times on the way out to help folks push out of the ditch, and had folks stop to help us out once as well when one of our chains came off. We did have one scary moment just when we were almost out of the snow. We'd gotten down to a low enough elevation that there was very little snow piled up on the sides of the road when we hit a patch of snow/slush/ice and spun in a very slow circle through our lane, through the oncoming lane and into a guard rail. Freaky, but we were able to drive away and think that the dent from the guard rail will be able to be popped back out. Thank heavens for guard rails!

2-ish pm We arrive back in Pasadena, stop for a couple frozen pizzas, and head to the apartment where Ben built a lovely fire. Ben & Pei then got stuck with two house guests because the grapevine (the highway through Tejon Pass, back to Bakersfield) was closed due to snow, along with all alternate routes. So we settled in and watched movies, ate yummy chinese food, had a cat fashion show, and SLEPT. The highways didn't re-open until the next afternoon, so we didn't get back to Bakersfield until 5pm--but we did finally get here! An unscheduled adventure, but good to be with Ben & Pei! :-D

Next week we'll be in Santa Maria for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Patrick & Debra, and meeting the boys' father and half-brother, and on Friday night family will start arriving here!

Safe travels and a happy, happy Christmas to all!!

Quickie ;-)

They were lying back to back, sound asleep. . . until I picked up the camera, of course. :-/ Cats are so much easier to photograph in cute, sleeping poses--they just ignore you! How cute is THIS?!?!What Thomas thinks about having his picture taken when those camera-holding hands could be petting or playing. . .Yep, it's another short, pet-filled post. . . but not much else has been going on. We've taken turns being sick and I think are both finally well. Erik's cough is lingering a little, but he's HUMAN again. ;-) I need to get inspired to decorate and bake now--all of a sudden Christmas is veddy, veddy close! We've been chipping away at our To Do list, peppering those in between times with old Rankin Bass Christmas movies and other holiday classics. Fun!! I did shop for baking and holiday baskets today, so time to get cookin'!