ice update

Our power went out for about an hour and a half last night, thanks to our own tree. Someone happened to be passing by and managed to video one of the explosions. The video is a quick loop of one of the explosions, and you can click here to watch. I should add that this video was shot a block-and-a-half away from the actual explosion, just to put it in perspective. The spot at the very end where you see the sparks falling is where our house is.

The branches were touching the line right outside the kitchen window and we endured three or four incredible explosions. After the first one, the power came back on, which gave us just enough time to get to the window to look out, just in time to nearly blind ourselves with the flash from the second explosion. Again, the power returned, only to "cas-plode" yet again. At that one, we all screamed but I really screamed like a baby, which didn't really help Jed and Macon feel any better about the situation, but eventually, the power went out for good. We finished cooking pizza on the stove top, visited with the linemen, and then sat down to a candlelight dinner with a Harry Potter reading. We were just about done when the lights came back on, and despite a lot of ice and some wind, we're still powered up.

Here are some photos from last night and this morning . . .

watching the linemen

Mr. Jackson is having a hard time looking dignified without a tissue.

Someone left an ice bag on the sidewalk, which made me laugh.

ice all around

Jed's plans for his snow day

top left: building a snowman                                top right: having hot chocolate with Macon

bottom left: snowball fight with Jed clearly winning      bottom right: on the sofa, watching Star Wars

So how has Jed's vision compared with reality? Well, we have ice rather than snow, so no snow man or snowball fights, but we have had hot chocolate and we've been sledding, and they are currently in their own soft chairs on the floor watching The Rescuers, rather than on the sofa watching Star Wars. 

We started off with sleet.

But the ice started around 1.

And about two hours later, things looked like this . . . 

Sledding on Ice

Macon is in the bright yellow/green pants and he refused to go down sitting up and facing forward.

basketball time o' year

Jed has been playing sports at the Salvation Army for a few years now, but today was Macon's first game. He loved the first basketball practices, so we were a bit surprised when he balked at taking the court this morning. After some tears, he decided to watch form the bench for a while . . . 

 but when he finally checked in, he immediately bobbled the ball . . . . 

which sent him back to the bench in tears. 

However, after a bit more watching, he got back in the game and this time, he never looked back, later declaring the game, "so, so, so much fun." He was exceptionally enthusiastic, and he took two shots, made several passes, and ran faster (and more violently) than anyone on his team, but I was most proud of his joy: he was so happy for his whole team when his fellow players scored! He was a real team player!

dribbling down the court

defense

Macon is no. 6, leaning out for the post-game hand-shake. 

The next David Family game of the morning was Jed's. He's 4 and because their goal was at the opposite end of the court, I had a difficult time getting good offence pictures. He, too, passed the ball a lot, with several passes leading to his teammates making shots. Jed's team has a few chuckers, meaning kids who run down the court and chuck the ball toward the goal, but he seemed to have fun, too, and I was very proud of his team spirit. I'm not sure he took a single shot, but his game has improved a lot since last season and he had at least two good rebounds!

Jed's collecting a rebound, behind no. 2. 

starting the new year off

We started 2016 with hikes at Umstead State Park and the city's Durant Nature Preserve . . . 

but then a stomach bug felled Jed. Hopefully, we've done enough laundry and hand-washing that others will stay upright, but only time will tell. 

In the meantime, we spent today watching for snowflakes. They proved elusive, but we got to see this:

happy new year!