The Abominable Pink Snowbaby (and the Inauguration)

Mayumi received a very fluffy snowsuit from her Grandma Glo for Christmas. In it, she looks like a child twice her age. It is very useful; she could be wearing the lightest piece of clothing and go out in very cold weather with this snowsuit round her body. As inauguration day was quite chilly, she donned the snowsuit and went to Great Falls, Virginia. Great Falls National Park has a fabulous visitor's center, complete with an "Environmental Training" board that Nate is pointing to (suggesting that we flush the toilet but once a day). Apparently kayaking down Great Falls is great fun (yeah, like a root canal) and Mayumi seemed interested. Mayumi (read: Nate) enjoyed playing with the puppets in the gift shop.

The ice-skating rink

The strip of land between our house and the next has become an ice-skating rink. I'm not joking...look at this picture! The water is pumped out from below our basement, an arrangement that I believe is called a sump-pump. Funny story about the sump-pump; a huge rain storm hit our town before we signed on the house but after the sellers had moved. Worried, the sellers asked us to do something...anything. Nate met our realtor out here with a 50-ft extension cord. Using his Spanish skills, he made arrangments with our neighbors to plug the sump pump extension cord into their basement electrical outlet (as our power was yet to be turned on). Anyway, this sump pump could be a blessing (no flooding durring heavy rains) but it is also turning out to be an icy burden. We aren't quite sure what to do about the problem now; we do have plans to divert the water to our GARDEN in the spring.

I can't help but include some cute photos of Mayumi. Not being a photoshop pro, I have not even tried to eliminate Yumi's evil red-eye from this photo.

I AM able to switch my camera setting to black-and-white and sepia tone:

And finally, I cannot resist--I must include a video (worth a bazillion words, my friend Micah said). Speaking of words...see if you can pull any out of the following monologue:

What are all these videos about?

So the three people who actually look at my blog regularly might be wondering...why all these videos, all of a sudden? Ah. Great question. Nate's parents very generously provided us with a handy recording device for Christmas (thanks again!!!) and we've been having a BLAST recording things. Nate joins me in wishing we could just "record Mayumi's entire life" for review later when she's grown and gone. Mayumi is just so unbearably cute that I just can't HELP but record her. You'd be amazed (ha!) at my discretion...I've had to stop myself dozens of times from posting every little clip I've recorded. I'll still post photos and whatnot, and I should get back giving the brief little updates on what we are doing. But these videos are just TOO fun.

Learning to Walk

Warning: the following contains content graphic in nature and is not for the sensitive viewer.

Stories

Nate puts Mayumi to bed each night.

Why are you a monkey?

Mayumi took us to the National Zoo today. She, like her father, loves animals.

One small step for Yumi...

Mayumi on the Move

Woops--didn't realize that I had to hold the camera 'horizontally'...enjoy!

Mayumi in the Lights

Enjoy Mayumi's first demo!