It has been a long time coming

In just two hours, Obama will be sworn in as our new president. Finally, I can say our president without squeaming! There is such a wonderful electricity--perhaps for me partly fueled by Oprah and her daily up-to-the second count-down of his swearing in?--and so many others also feel as though this moment is deserved, especially after enduring eight long years of He Who Shall Not Be Named.

On to other obviously more important news--snow has been building up like crazy here (at least it seems like it has been) and has not been melting back. Besides running on the unmaintained trails on Prospect Hill (which make me feel slow and miserable like some prehistoric creature stuck in a tar-pit), the only other inconvenience for me is trying to climb up this steep, slippery hill and over a chain fence en route to school. This morning I sank into the giant fluffy, dirty snowdrift on the other side of the hill, which borders a parking lot at the edge of campus. It was snow-tastic.

Campus this morning

It's Cold

It is definitely the coldest morning of the year so far: weather.com says it is -6F (-21C), but our thermometer says its 2F (maybe it froze on its way down?). At least I don't have to go running today, though now it's time to walk to class :o(

Bahamian Birds

I forgot to post some pictures of the new birds we spotted in the Bahamas. I haven't yet looked up what they are, though I do know that the black bird with the massive bill is a smooth-billed ani (a cuckoo!). If anyone can identify any of the others, let me know ;o)

Smooth-billed Ani

...a better view of that impressive bill

Believe it or not, there is a hummingbird on that telephone wire (try to spot it!). It was the first hummingbird I saw in about two and a half years!

(a different angle)

From a Northern Christmas to a Southern New Years

Seth and I took off a few days before Christmas and headed to his home in Geneva, NY. Chrissy, Jens, and Erik were there, too, and Tory and Melissa visited often, so it was nice having a great big Christmas (well, big compared to my usual Yule-tide routine). In fact, it was my first time celebrating with Seth's family in NY.

All the girls in the kitchen

Christmas dessert

Asking Santa for a new dirt bike

Pure mayhem

Diving into the tree for a few more gifts

For New Years my parents treated Andrew, Jennifer, Carter, Seth, and me to a four night cruise to the Bahamas. Seth and I flew down to Orlando and met everyone for the trip. It was the first time we had all been together in at least two and a half years, so the best part of the trip was simply getting to see everyone.

Day 1: Running in balmy Cocoa Beach, Florida

Cocoa Beach, FL

Day 2: The island of Cocoa Cay, Bahamas

Lunch on Cocoa Cay

Funky iguana

Cute towel animal

Day 3 (New Years Eve): The trip highlight--an early morning run in Nassau, Bahamas

Kiwanis!

Fruit stand

Need to ask for directions...

Still a little unsure...

Time for a pit-stop, right, coconut?

Heading back to the ship

Back to shore with the family. Dad is looking to increase his conch shell collection (seriously).

Road-side artist

Our hero, Columbus

Preparing for the big midnight New Years parade, Junkanoo (I think it is a little like Mardi Gras)

A fort

My one random "dinner picture"

Nassau, later that evening, was still preparing for Junkanoo

Almost time! Too bad we would not be able to stick around to watch

Midnight on the ship


Day 4: Introducing some of the ship's head crew members

Our cabin. We have company.

Day 5: The Landstrom Family II enjoying breakfast before departing the ship

The Cavalier and His Christmas Crabs

After Seth’s final exam on Wednesday (the end of his first semester teaching), we spent the following day hanging out in downtown Boston. We first walked through Chinatown and then heckled the squirrels in Boston Common before catching a show, Dinosaurs Alive!, at the Omni (IMAX) Theater at the Museum of Science. Considering we hadn’t seen a movie together in the theaters in about a year and a half (Tales from Earthsea, in Perth, Australia), it was a particular treat to go to the IMAX.

After the movie, we killed time (and froze!) in Downtown Crossing before buying student rush tickets to see the Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker. For dinner we then headed to Chinatown to eat at the Gourmet Dumpling House, which was totally packed even though it was earlier than 6pm. We noticed that most of the people in the restaurant had ordered these gorgeous, gigantic hot pots and bowls of soup. Being a chilly night, we were very, very interested in getting one of these soups, but the menu was long and confusing, and the waiters spoke little English, so we got two “safe” dishes (noodles and dumplings), and went for one unfamiliar dish we hoped might be a soup. It turned out to be a plate of smallish whole crabs, with no utensils or hints on how to eat them. We spent an hour wrestling with the little buggers, navigating through lots and lots of shell, trying to find little morsels of meat (which, of course involved crunching on tiny pieces of additional shell). We are still puzzled over several pieces of crab anatomy, including the orange blob in the body, the green paste in the shoulders, and the random spots of yellow goo, and are still wondering if they truly were edible. We didn’t get terribly bad stomach aches afterwards, so they must have been ok.

After dinner, we went to the Opera House to see The Nutcracker. I love the Christmassy-ness of this ballet, and Seth had danced the leading male role for multiple years with the Triangle Youth Ballet, so it was fantastic to see it. The only bad thing was that the seats in the theatre were poorly laid out and it was hard to see much of the stage, but we eventually moved to good seats about halfway through the second act.

The rest of the night involved getting a Dunkin Donuts coffee while waiting for the bus, then falling asleep on the bus and nearly dropping that same beloved coffee. The perfect end to the day.

The squirrels of Boston Common

Frog Pond

Perhaps not as big as the tree in NY City, but far more majestic.

So what are we supposed to do with these??

Building a gingerbread house Seth's parents brought for us. Notice Seth's house-nipples.

Somehow this gingerbread tree transformed into a gingerbread man.

Just like the picture on the box!! (Well, not quite.)

Seth out running in the first snow storm of the year. I decided to do yoga indoors, instead :o)