tales from a far-land

Our December was filled with holiday festivities, gatherings and traditions. Thankfully, we felt like this year's holiday season was a little more back to "normal" than last year. We were, at least, able to celebrate some of our annual traditions with many of our friends once again. That, for sure, made the holiday a little bit more joyful and bright. We began the season by decorating the tree.  The kids were very excited to assist this year.  I think that only two ornaments broke this year.  It may be a new record.  I am very thankful that my kids really like to kick off the holiday season with me. Tree Decorating One of our most favorite events to attend each holiday season is the APS Electric Light Parade.  Last year, the event was cancelled due to COVID-19, but it endured again this year.  As in typical fashion, we reserved the patio at Sun Up Brewing, so that we could imbibe and eat pizza while watching the parade.  The kids were lucky enough ...

 After playing and enjoying flag football through the CCV Stars program in the fall of 2020, Aiden wanted to continue to play.  CCV Stars did not start their new season until March 2021, so I began to research other leagues that he could join to fulfill his desire.  PrimeTime Athletics has a North Phoenix division that isn't that far from the house and it worked for our schedules.  We spent every Saturday from January 23rd through March 6th watching Aiden play flag football.  He played every position, but really enjoyed being quarterback and defensive line rusher.   With this league, they do a single elimination tournament on the final day.  Prior to this final day, his team had never won one game.  They had improved each week, but had never been able to win a game.  However, on this final day, Aiden's team won their first game and proceeded to move to the next bracket of the tournament.  It was so exciting!  And even though th...

After the bustle of the holiday season, we were delighted to have a fairly low-key January.  We spent time outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather and wildlife.  We celebrated Shabbat and Tu B'Shevat.  We visited with friends and family.  We enjoyed just being.  It was a wonderful start to the new year. Attending a Porch Yard Concert ~ Vinyl Station Celebrating Tu B'Shevat Playing Jenga on Shabbat A beautiful backyard sunset And, observing our hillside mountain lion.

Although this holiday season was a little different without some of our traditional gatherings, we still brought a lot of holiday cheer into our lives with various friends and family members: The kids baked holiday cookies! First with Danielle And then with Grandma They made Candy Cane Cookies. We experienced a couple of different holiday drive through light shows.   Seeing holiday lights while also social distancing. We decorated gingerbread houses with the Langhofers. Kory and Rachel clearly won the competition.   We rode our bikes through Moon Valley at night with the Bukatas to surround ourselves with holiday lights.  We made sure to make our annual stop at Candy Cane Lane, too. And, we enjoyed an evening at the Fairmont's "Christmas at the Princess".  Our evening included so many fun activities: Madilyn getting pictures with all of the cute holiday characters The kids ice skating Eating dinner and roasting smores at our firepit Riding the Christmas Car...