Have you ever seen eating like that before?

"By jove, that looks uncivilized!"

"Goodness, me.  That's not how you're supposed to eat!"

"Hey guys if you think eating like this is weird..."

"Look at me!
  Look at me!
  Look at me now!"

"Hrumph!  Dreadful.  That's what I call it.  Back to my nuts and I only read Flaubert and only listen to Wincenty z Kielczy.  Gaude Mater Polonia!"

Note to readers:  The animals in the pictures are talking.  SM quotes Dr. Seuss' "The Cat in the Hat" and then conducts Beethoven with her feet.  The fussy English squirrel thinks her eating style, her taste in literature, and her taste in music is bad.  He states that her eating style is dreadful.  He only reads Gustave Flaubert who wrote Madame Bovary.  Flaubert is famous for "le mot juste" and writing in sullen solitude.  Finally, the querolous squirrel only listens to Polish composers with Wincenty z Kielczy, or Vincent of Kielcz, a Dominican priest from the 12th century, topping his list.  Gaude Mater Polonia is Vincent's big hit and is the most popular Polish anthem.  It was often played after victories, although Poles won few battles.  The Battle of Grunwald in 1410 probably being the most famous Pole victory.  Grunwald was famous for the oak trees and their abundant acorns which squirrels, including the one in this post, love.  It's circular baby. 
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Hidden Falls of Battleship Rock

I think that title sounds like the third movie in the National Treasure series.  If Nick Cage can keep the home invaders with fudgesicles away, the third one should be on its way soon. There is our target - a little over threescore furlongs (12 km) away.

How did we make it so far you might ask?  There is a reason orangutans give birth only once every eight years because alot of the "hiking" looked like this:

Baby SM rode the whole way like this.  Here is a picture with her beautiful momma less than 200 feet from the falls.

We made it!  SM asks can you hear the water falling?  You have to love the LOE when water like this becomes a landmark.  You can't make this stuff up - The historical marker said that this and McCauley Springs (17 kms away) provided the two primary bathing locations for the Jemez in the 1800s.

Don't you love it when the kids find out that they have to walk back?

 

 We sure had a great time.  We chased the hike away by eating an extra-large pizza at Dion's --- can you say mmmm- Bop?

SM's First Diet Variation

Don't call me a baby!  Babies can not do this!

Yes, I, SM can now sit up.  This opens a new world of possibilities...

One of those possibilities is eating things other than formula and rice cereal.  Things like pureed peas!  Serve them up!

You'll notice one of the perks of living in the LOE is the relaxed rules regarding outerwear.  I got served with no shoes, no pants, and no shirt.  Score one for freedom.  The peas started off okay.  But then I started to taste them...

I haven't tasted many things in life, but there is a reason peas share a name with a bodily function...

I wore this face until the second course (pureed carrots) was served.  That made me happier!

Harry & David pureed peas is not an acceptable Christmas gift this year!

Happy Fifth Birthday M!

It's that time of year again!  Yes, M turned five and she did with much aplomb.  This picture was snapped as the town bus drove along our road in the background!

The Beastie Boys once wrote, sang, and performed a song entitled "She's Crafty".  They were obviously singing about my beautiful momma!  With apologies to Hank Williams, Jr., look at the aprons she made since "All my Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight".  (BTW she ran out of the letter A and I and had to buy more).

We got to decorate our aprons, our cupcakes, and our own individual pizzas.  The pepperoni ran out when it reached JC.  Big surprise.

But kudos to him for not dragging down my birthday party with any guy humor.  Oh wait, he did do that!

After the eatin' came the openin'.  The openin' of presents that is...

Later, came my family party.  We asked Neville for a recommendation for a good restaurant.  He suggested the Dubonnet.  Imagine our disappointment when we got there and it turned out to be a supper club!  Next time we'll ask Dorcas.  In the end, we ate at Sonic.  A truer restaurant, quite frankly, doesn't exist.  Afterwards we opened family presents.

I got many presents, but this was the only one that gave me this face...

The greatest present, however, was saved for last.  The late, great Alan Rickman (i.e. Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest [ i.e. the only movie that's better than Unstoppable]) once said, "If you could build a house on a trampoline, that would suit me just fine."  M concurs.

Thanks for all the presents!