A Cerney Periodical

Balloon Guy! Alice has gotten very into decorating balloons and drawing all kinds of stuff. For this particular project, I blew up the balloon, and that's it. Alice got out her own markers, opened them, and drew this face entirely by herself.  The joy! Here's another masterpiece fully inspired by and created by Alice while I was in the other room. I'm sure some of this is spurred on by the magic of ignoring your second child a bit more, but its truly amazing to see her just take initiative and get things done on her own. It's also interesting how much more of a visual learner she is. If she sees someone do something, she's confident in trying it herself. What an amazing little lady.  

There was some miscommunication at the Cerney household, and I must have told Holly I had no pictures from Montana. But then I saw her lovely picture-less post and thought, "hey wait! I do have pics" Not a ton here, but it's something. Here's Holly and I on our first Brockless run, and what do I do? Take us down the longest steepest mogul run with no way out but through. Whoops! This is rest break 2 or 3. oh my. I'm thinking, "why do mountains never look steep in pictures?" Day 2 and the Brockman is back with us Fun tunnel We had great noodles here, but this cat on the counter just wouldn't stop waving at Alice.  Snow Penguin! Montana had a pretty incredible dino museum. Imagine diving with this guy! But not this guy. So many Ceratopsids! This scene certainly doesn't look as ferocious as it did in person. I can assure you though Brock was just excited about the vicious Dino attack going on.  It was a perfectly sized museum to kill our last couple...

 Something to tide you over till I get back on the blog train... Alice's flash dance

 We actually went real skiing this year! I started out the trend with a quick weekender to Mt. Baker in Washington (PC aside: we all got COVID tested before we left) to catch up with my Alaska besties and get some SNOW!! and more snow, and more snow and more snow and more snow and more snow and more snow and more snow.... Megan and Catherine in line for beverages. My friend Susan also made it out from Friday Harbor to complete our foursome from high school. It really didn't stop snowing, but for the 2 hours out of two days we saw sky it was just sunsational! We got up early to take in a river side hike before we went to the top of the hill. The mountain town of Glacier was very charming. But do I have pictures of it or the adorable Airbnb we stayed in? Nonsense.  Oh how I love the greenery of the PNW!! Moss abounds. Megan is a force in the kitchen; her instagram pics are truly magazine worthy- here she shares Empress Gin, made from Peaberry blossom, that turns purple with toni...

 Our closed playground finally reopened a couple of weeks ago! We have been jumping the fence at many other playgrounds for a while now,  but out closest and most beloved Wicker Park has been tightly shut up; it is also very public and seen, so I think there was just less room for shady plays.  Alice is happy to be back in the swing of things! Alice is growing up fast! She is really enjoying the big girl swings now - here she is getting a feel for pumping on her own. 

 Time to head to the summit of Devil's Head Resort in Wisconsin...although a 3 hour drive, it does not take long to reach the actual summit of Devil's Head, if you get my drift (snow drift? maybe another pun opportunity there). BUT, we still love this little geographic feature with snow- a great place to get Brock back in the skiing saddle. Devil's Head Resort is kind of a pit (of Hell! pun opportunity taken at .3%). But I think we still love it a little. It is so 80's ski movie, straight out of hot tub time machine. Brock was enamored and also shocked by the TV - "it's a box mom! Look that TV is a box!!" yeah. The hotel is also infested with bugs! Lady bugs. Which I am not sure why that was "ok", but it somehow was. Our soft spot for Devils Head I guess. Here are our little friends crawling around on the carpet. Oh yeah, and there were also a couple of wasps.  Sweet Alice tried to "play" with the lady bugs and then was distraught when ...

 Is Spring here? Inside, yes.