It was the best of times...

Group shot before Theresa and Scott head home...

... and one more with "normal" faces.

... it was the sickest of times. I may have mentioned last week that Juniper seemed a bit under the weather.  That was, as it turns out, a pre-cursor to flumageddon, 2015. By the time Theresa and Scott left us on Friday morning, it had been all the way through this little family, leaving us all relatively incapacitated at one point or another.  It was one of those all-inclusive dealies: respiratory distress, vomiting, full-on body aches, chills and sweats, multiple-day headaches, exhaustion. The FLU.  I got it the worst, by all accounts - the whole week is kind of a blur.  If you want a more "technical" explanation of events, you can check out this week's JuniperAndLinden.org.  You can find it here.

Juniper tries to eat some soup while sitting at the radiator - the only way she felt warm.

It was an indescribable blessing that Theresa and Scott were here - they were able to pick up all the slack that we could not manage, and treat the people who were not ill to some fun and adventure while the others convalesced. It also, of course, sucked, not to be able to actually take advantage of the rare opportunity to just hang out and have fun.  Sadly, this flu also seemed to follow them home - last we heard, Scott was in the grips of it.  Here's to hoping Theresa remains unscathed!! 

A daddy-Linen snow morning

 I do have a few photos to share from the weekend - Linden and I are both a little draggy still, but that did not deter Linden, at least.  There were some outdoor adventures on Saturday morning (while I was at pottery), including the exploration of a massively snowy playground, and the wonders of some sea ice on Buzzard's Bay.

Check out that sea ice!

It goes on as far as the eye can "sea"

Trying to find a buried tire swing (which indicates the depth of the packed snow!)

Sliding, taken to a whole new level!

  See you next week - here's to hoping it is a very healthy one!

Look what the storm blew in!

Some very relaxing blizzard reading

The blizzards have been continuing to rage over here on the Cape, piling snow drifts on top of snow drifts, and whipping the wind around so strongly that there are times I have almost felt like I was back in Newfoundland.  There are many here who are beginning to grumble about this state of affairs (so cold! so much snow! so many school closures!) - and I have to admit, despite having no qualms about the actual snow, the constant school cancellations were starting to get to me as well.  

A raucous game of go fish

This week, however, is very different.  Not only is there no school to cancel (we are currently at the beginning of the week long "February Break"), but this blizzard brought with it some very special guests.  For the first time since we moved here, we got a visit from the much ballyhooed Theresa and Scott (Theresa is Clark's youngest sister). 

Full-on snow play

To say that the storm blew them in is actually not far from the mark - their original plan was to make their way to the Cape tomorrow (ie, Tuesday), but they decided to come a few days early to try and beat the storm in.  Consequently, they arrived around lunchtime on Saturday, and have been whooping it up ever since. In fact, both Juniper and Linden were playing outside when Theresa and Scott rolled in, and Theresa didn't even bother to come inside - she just pulled her full-body snow gear out of the trunk, and joined the fun.  You can see why these two are such special visitors!

Linden has had a full-time train and block companion, which is his idea of heaven

 Despite all the fun and excitement, we are all actually recovering a bit around here - Clark and I decided that we would try staging a trial "sleep-over" for a couple of nights, wherein Juniper and Linden would share a room.  The lofty goal of this exercise was to to see if maybe (maybe!) our two bedrooms could be a Linden/Juniper and Tara/Clark split, vs a Linden/Clark, Juniper/Tara split.  It seems reasonable, right? The kids share a room, and the parents share a room.  Our trial, however, reminded us of why we had fallen into our strange arrangement in the first place - to maximize sleep.  The sleepover resulted in two very bad night's sleep for everybody, which meant a bunch of general crankiness and some actual sickness (Juniper, of course, ended the day yesterday by vomiting). FAIL.  We will must assuredly find a 3-bedroom place to rent when we move, which will hopefully make everything better.

Group yoga, obviously

 Anyway,  Theresa and Scott just left this morning for a little Boston get-away (assuming that the city is even up and running today), but will be back tomorrow for the rest of the week.  That gives us some time to just quiet down a bit and maybe recover from the failed experiment, and rest up for what is sure to be a crazy awesome rest of the week when our visitors return.  Likely this "resting" will involving a sledding adventure today, however, because - really - how can you resist some post-blizzard play?  I hope everyone else who got walloped by this storm (I hear it was twice as bad up north!) gets to have a bit of post-blizzard fun today as well!

Also, if you are so inclined, visit juniper and linden's newsite for a fitness-themed broadcast this week!  Follow the link here.

See you next week!

The Enigma that is February

Snow buddies

I honestly do not have much of note to report from this past week, except for the fact that on Wednesday, things finally started to settle back into a bit of normalcy.  The kids enjoyed three full uninterrupted, uncanceled days at school, and I started to emerge from the never-ending-snow-day haze that had settled over our little house.

Linden proudly displaying his creation:  a train, en route to Boston

The weekend, though - man, did we pack it in.  There were outdoor adventures, a breakfast with Ben and Liz, some impromptu family time at the pottery studio, playdates, family folk dancing, a girl's dinner-and-a-movie night out for me (whee!), and to top it all off, we had Nick and Becca (and, as it turned out, Juniper's friend Kea) over for dinner on Sunday night.  Can you imagine the energy levels that evening? Off the charts.  I thought Linden might well explode.  But I do believe good fun was had by all, and that everyone is now raring to begin the one full week we have left before the week-long "February Break" .  No,  I'm not kidding.  So much for actually getting anything done in February.  Anyway, I'll leave you with some random pics and a little video from the week.

There has been a whole lot of popcorn these days

Exploring the cool branch sculpture at Highfield Hall

The picture of studiousness

I now have proof that, at least for this small moment in time, I am considered Juniper's BFF

Ben and Linden, drawing trains (and animals on trains) at breakfast

Becca made it on the blog!! With Kea and Nick (and Juniper and Linden, of course)

Finally, here is a little random video from the week.  If you want a few new newscasts, don't forget to visit JuniperAndLinden.org!

Oh, THERE'S the snow

The first hints of snow

It seems as though winter is finally here, and Mother Nature clearly decided to make up for lost time.  I'm sure there are many, many east coasters who can relate.  In our neck of the woods, this particular storm threw the town into a tither.  The snow started flying on Monday afternoon, which meant all after-school activities where cancelled.  Then, of course, everything shut down on Tuesday, including WHOI.  Wednesday, school was still cancelled, which was understandable - though it was a gorgeous day, there was still mountains of snow to be cleared.  

What is this fluffy white stuff?

But then Thursday, and FRIDAY, the town still hadn't gotten its act together.  Everything was open, except school. Juniper actually got really upset on Friday when she realised that the next day was the beginning of the weekend, which meant that she wouldn't get to go to school AGAIN.   And here we are, on Monday, with another storm.  This will be the fifth day in a row that school has been cancelled. I may never get back to writing my thesis again, ever.  And the kids may never get back to school. Anyway, it is not as bad as all that -- for instance, we miraculously never really lost power through the whole ordeal. And there was, of course, a crazy amount of snow week fun to be had, which I documented as faithfully as I could.

Linden helped a whole lot with snow removal

Juniper did her part, mostly trying to eat her way through the drifts

Making "snow bread" and "snow cakes"

Check out the blizzard raging in the background - we were undeterred!

The digging out of our HUGE quinzhee begins

Close-up excavator

Check out how roomy it is! Keep in mind that Clark was way at the back, taking that photo.

Kunio braves the blizzard to come hang out

The next day: Sledding at WHOI! (We tried to go to the golf course, but were stopped by diggers trying to plow through 6-foot drifts on the road to get there)

The picturesque setting where we decided to forge our sliding slope

Forging forward! (Some very determined sledders)

Nick joins us for a few runs down the hill, creating "team yellow".  Maybe one day Becca will make it on the blog.

Clark steers, and Juniper covers her eyes

In between our outside romps, there was a whole lot of popcorn and hot chocolate.  There were also some quiet snow day activities, including:

Diligently "helping" with the dishes

Group reading.  Safety first, of course.

If you follow "juniperandlinden.org", this week you're in for a treat:  it's all about snow, and it's all done by Linden!  Check it out HERE

And finally, I'll leave you with a snow days compilation video.  Stay safe and warm out there!