I thought I could...

How can we put this in the most positive light? Hmmmm... Let's see. We can honestly say that not one single person left the reading disappointed. We can also honestly say that nobody in the audience was bored. Ever. Of course, we also have to say, if we're on this whole honesty kick, that nobody was actually in the audience. But, that didn't stop us from doing a dress rehearsal for Senor's benefit. He loved it. The two seconds he paid attention to anyway. "Why are all those boxes taped to Papa?" he was probably thinking, but we can't be sure. He was fairly busy pulling books of the shelves, and we didn't really want to interrupt him. At any rate, the library staff asked us for an encore performance, one which folks will hopefully attend, in February. So the show goes on!



Our next stop is Broadway, most likely.


On to a totally different topic. Here is probably what is the most awesome resume ever prepared by mankind. Mr. Cole could teach a thing or two to the folks over at career services. Testament to it's effectiveness is the fact that every single dangling scrap of paper with his phone number has been removed. If any of Dawson's fellow '05 classmates still need a job, I recommend this approach. Find a grocery store frequented by those big time lawyers at those big time law firms, and post a flier. If you have killer references, don't be shy about mentioning it! And if you can explain why you lost your last job, go for it. The law school didn't mention this approach to Dawson, even though they prided themselves on being thorough. Well, you learn a new trick every day. Killer Refs! Lesson learned.

Here's what Mister likes to do while Mama is cooking.


And here's how we watch football games. It's effective, in that we know who wins at the end. But we sure lose something, particularly when it comes to the trick plays. Incidentally, hooray to Hawk and the Buffs! Sure they lost, but after being down 27-0 early in the game they battled back to make it close. It seemed like a good game, from what we could tell from our end. They'll be in the national title hunt in no time at all. Believe it.





And what else have we been using our new computer for? Why, viewing quality DVDs from the library, of course. The Polar Express, There's Something About Mary, Austin Powers, and Lost in Translation. Good stuff for the holidays!

Chocolate Extravaganza

Now that's a hot Friday night activity! The title says it all. It was pretty much the highlight of the week around these parts.

Museum of the Aleutians presents the Chocolate Extravaganza, a chocolate filled delight! Join us to celebrate the New Year and enjoy delectable chocolate truffles, cake, cappuccino, and much more! Tickets available at the Museum's front desk or from Museum staff and board members.

The Chocolate theme didn't have much in common with the actual Museum of the Aleutians collection, but we aren't complaining. What's more exciting than chocolate? I can't think of many things. The celebration was actually in conjunction with the final day of the Camp Q exhibit. Camp Qungaayux is a cool thing the community puts on every summer, where they host a camp and teach all the rugrats in town about traditional Unangan subsistence living and culture. If Pax Rev is still around these parts in a few years, he'll love it.

What does the following image look like to you?


If you guessed train, you are our new best friend! I'd like to say it looks more like a train from a different angle, but unfortunately that's not true.

As for reading, we've been hitting the Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever pretty hard. I think we've both reached double digits on that one. Snowboard Twist and Snow are also frequent reads, and no it's not Orhan Pamuk. Yep, Pax Rev is finally getting pumped about books, and he brings them to us almost as often as he brings us his shoes and coat. The picture to the right is a selection from his favorite page.

Along those lines, we've been busy building a human size train. We're handling the Saturday Story Time duties at the library tomorrow. Every Saturday, somebody comes in and tells a story to the rugrats in town. We finally signed up. We chose to read The Little Engine That Could. It's a fitting theme to start the New Year off with. "I think I can I think I can I think I can..." Genevieve is doing the reading, and Dawson is playing the role of each of the trains in the book. Our trains kind of require a certain amount of imagination to actually see that they are trains and not a series of cardboard boxes duct-taped to Dawson's body. But fortunately for us, kids have great imaginations. And the kids here have never seen a train anyway. Thank goodness we live on an island!

Other than that, just snow-filled adventures await us. The rain is gone and in its place are two inches of nice new snow, so we aren't complaining. And neither is Paxson Revel Shackleton. And we've got our very own snowshoes arriving on Monday, so the sky is the limit.

Merry Christmas!

The stockings were hung on Buck with care. But not enough care as we learned in the midst of Christmas eve dinner. Paxson's new stocking came down with a surprise right into Dawson's T-Bone Steak. It escaped unscathed, though, and the steak stayed tasty. At least it didn't land in the lobster butter.

It seems blasphemous to eat lobster around these parts, as it comes all the way from the Atlantic Ocean (Canada to boot) and we've got some of the world's tastiest crabs right here, but the lobster came to us by way of our modest donation to the local museum. And it's very tasty, so we aren't complaining. The local crabs understand, I'm sure. Speaking of the local crabs, the opilio season is about to open. Mmmm... snow crab!

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. But a little Boodah was thanks to a cold and a night fever. His frequent night stirrings, and attempts to bungee off the bed from 1:45 through 4 AM weren't enough to prevent him from hopping out of bed stoked at 6 AM. Pax Rev's second Christmas was even better than his first. Although he still appears far more delighted by the packaging than by the gifts... but I guess we should enjoy that economical approach to life while it lasts.




Note: The above video definitely falls into the "Grape" category, so beware.



Mr. Paxson Revel is probably one of the only kids around who gets pieces of psychological testing kits for presents (thanks to Grandpa Buck). He appears to enjoy them though, even more than the wrapping. And another of his favorites is the dishwasher safe football. That will fare much better than his deck of puppy dog playing cards. He put them in the dishwasher and alas, they didn't fare well.



Here's a random selection of Boodah pictures, in the grape spirit of things.

It has been a great holiday, definitely a white Christmas as they say. Lots and lots of powder. There was no snow on the ground less than 2 weeks ago, so the snow has been greatly appreciated. Senor Shackleton has kept us motivated to get outside, and we haven't been letting him down. Here he is, telling us its time to get our cross country skiing in.

On Christmas Eve day we were blessed with an incredible sunrise, blue sky and pink mountains. We decided to head to Pyramid and give it another shot, this time armed with snowshoes. We weren't disappointed.

One person stayed with Senor and sledded, while the other hiked and enjoyed some powder turns. On account of the Aleutian weather, it didn't take too long for our glorious conditions to change to near white out with heavy winds. Which Senor found made for perfect indoor activities, like racecar driving practice.

Extreme Mama in action.

Christmas day turns, atop Ballyhoo. The weather's a little burlier today. We live down there, about 200 yards inland from the big T dock. Normally there are other big mountains to see, but they're obscured by the weather.

Inaugurating Pax Rev's extreme 4X4 wagon. He loves that rake! Too bad there aren't any leaf bearing trees on this island.

Merry Christmas 2007 from Team Wilco to you!
Thanks for reading about our grapes!

PS. Oh dear, it's raining. Christmas ends early!

The Great Motivator

Here's our little Ninja Turtle all fired up and ready to go. "Hey, take the cross country skis, why don't ya!"

Alright man, you're the boss. We'll go to Summer Bay.



"Faster!"



"See ya!"



The only problem we had with this set-up was Boodah's frequent desire to do a high speed barrel roll exit from the vehicle. I guess that's why it came with a seatbelt. Now where did we put that thing?



The end.



What's next?