Daddy-Daughter Ice Skating Date

Miriam earned a date and chose to go ice skating for the first time in her life. I was impressed with the progress she made in such a short period of time (approx. 45 min.). The key to success is being able to get up after you fall and fall hard.



The video is a bit choppy because I'm no skating-pro either, and this catchy but repetitive song was playing while we were at the rink.

Baby vs Baby

In the last month, Eliza has learned how to crawl. Some people call this natural development. We call it training. We were trying to build up her skill set before we went out to Utah for a week to show her off. Here's the training regimen:




And if there's anything cuter than a baby, it's two babies interacting. See how Eliza's training paid off:




Unfortunately, we didn't get video of the one time Eliza got pinned by her opponent.

Bray Family Movie Trailer

If you've done something twice, does that make it a tradition? The last two times the whole Bray family has gotten together, we've organized the grandkids into making a video. The kids have watched this 20 times in the 20 hours since we finished the video. We had a lot of fun making it.

Bowling Stones

Miriam and Henry both made it to the end of their charts (by practicing the piano, emptying the silverware, etc.), so we went bowling as a family. Quite by accident, we ended up at a small cash-only (in 2010?) alley, with small balls and small pins. Apparently, it's called duckpin bowling. It was a fun twist on bowling and worked out great for kids that can't carry a bigger ball.

A reason to slow down and smile

We decided it was cheaper to buy our kids slippers than turn up the thermostat. As we're not ones to just give our kids things as nice as slippers without a reason, we waited until Halloween and made a trail of pumpkin seeds for them to follow to find their gift. It was fun, but the really special moment was our kids' creativity the next day.



Here's the text from Miriam's note that flashes at the end of the movie.

"Dear Mom
I love you
You givd me a spris so I dsidid to giv you a spris
Love Miriam ed Henry"

Do the Creamery Shake

We went to visit a local creamery on Saturday. They gave out little containers full of milk that just needed a little shaking to become butter. Thus, everywhere we went there were people shaking. It was a fun, free trip.



PS We had a great video last week that got muted by YouTube because we don't license the music we use on our videos. Usually, it just sends us a warning. If anyone has any ideas for allowing us to use unlicensed music, let us know.

Pony Pony

We went to a park that had quite a variety of activities, including pony rides, for a limited fee, and on the way home, the song in the video came on. We debated about whether the background singers were saying 'Ride your pony' at one point in the song. The internet (the ultimate settler of arguments) says yes. Enjoy.