Bedtime Reading

Getting ready for bed last night. Chicken Little is one of their favorite books, but we absolutely must deploy the umbrellas to protect them from the falling sky.

Winter Be Gone

Donna and the kids next to a humongous snow bank, a couple of days after the great blizzard of 2010. The one that kept us (sort of) from visiting Arizona.

We just experienced a second big snowfall and the forecast is for another snow event this week. We've had enough already.

Fall 2010 Highlights

Fall 2010 Highlights from Robert Kerner on Vimeo.

We never made it to our Arizona vacation. The helpful crew at Jet Blue deleted our reservations the night before the flight. When we arrived at JFK for departure, they politely informed us that our seats had been re-sold and they were overbooked. So they re-booked us for Monday December 27, the day of the blizzard. Needless to say, we didn't fly that day or at all.

We are sharing this highlights reel from Halloween and early December. This was Sam and Robert's first meaningful Halloween, and they got to share it with their aunt, uncle and cousins just before they moved. The people in the neighborhood were very welcoming to blue-haired strangers.

The remaining footage is representative of a typical weekend morning. Preparation of dad's coffee is the main attraction of the morning.

Enjoy. We'll have some Christmas and blizzard footage in a few days.

Bob, Donna, Sammy and Robert

Christmas Time

Our beautiful children by the Christmas tree last weekend. Despite being run down with coughs and colds, they are always excited to see the tree lit up. And they particularly like playing with the ornaments. This is the first year that they understand the nature of the season. They are fond of saying "Happy Christmas."

We are getting ready for our trip to Arizona to see the grandparents and the rest of the family. Hopefully the kids will tolerate the long plane flight and body cavity searches at the airports! We wonder if they serve juice boxes on JetBlue domestic flights. We'll find out in a few days.

Happy Christmas to all who read this,

Donna, Bob, Samantha and Robert

Thanksgiving Update

Yesterday was the official day of the year to give thanks for family, loved ones, close friends and co-workers. We spent the day quietly at home. There was no one to visit this year. Sadly, Deana, Gino, Matthew and Emily have departed the East Coast for Arizona, so there was no family to spend the day with. We'll get to see most of the family at Christmas time when we make the trip out to Arizona.

We set up the home portrait studio today to assess the feasibility of doing our own Christmas card pictures. It's still tough to get the kids to sit still. Here are a few photos. They were meant to be test shots but they are wonderful as they are.


Samantha, wondering if that's her binky or her doll's



A nice portrait of Robert



Robert and Donna



I was taking Donna's picture and she called Sammy over for a kiss.



Robert had been fussing during his picture. Then he walked over, grabbed the guitar and sat back down. Magic!


Samantha with a screwdriver. We love the look in here eyes.

We hope everyone who reads this had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Donna, Bob, Samantha, Robert

Third in the Trilogy

Haircuts Oct2010 from Robert Kerner on Vimeo.

Vacation

We managed to make some time to get away for a vacation. It's amazing what the passing of time will do to make an experience so much more pleasurable. Our first attempt to vacation with the twins, when they were just a few months old, was horrible. This time we went into it with a different mindset and, of course, the kids are older. We bought a cheap DVD player so the kids could watch movies during the ride to Lancaster, PA our destination for a three day outing to Dutch Wonderland and the Strasburg Railroad. The DVDs were a big aid in keeping the kids occupied.

They immediately took to the hotel room; lots of new things to explore and try to take apart! They slept together in the twin bed without a fuss, something they haven't done since they were tiny babies. And, thankfully, they adapted to eating restaurant food without much of a fuss. It's amazing how a human can eat mac 'n cheese everyday.

Some pics:


Donna and Robert coming down the giant slide



Donna with Sammy on the slide



Robert milking the cow at Dutch Wonderland



Enjoying a ride in the safari trucks



And a few from our visit to the Strasburg Railroad









There are a few more pictures here

They'll be returning to daycare in a few days to meet new classmates. Next trip probably in December.