Our short trip to Hueston Woods State Park

...was one in which we forgot the camera. Unbelievable, I know. So this family self-portrait will have to substitute.

This past Thursday-Friday, we traversed across the Ohio border for 2 days & nights at Hueston Woods State Park - just outside Oxford, OH (home to Miami Univ.) - intending to suss it out as a potential Gieser family reunion location for 2013. Huge state park with beautiful trees, lake, horse trails, mountain bike trails, disc golf, boating, paintball, swimming pool, volleyball and tennis courts, plus of course a lodge and 30+ cabins. Unfortunately the time we were there were the coldest days of winter so far, and we didn't venture outside much except for one brief walk - but you know it's too cold when the toddler starts crying and whimpering, "cold...cold...". We tried to picture the park in summer when it is warm, green and busy, as we huddled next to the warm fire in our cabin (and enjoyed watching Duke & UNC basketball games back-to-back on ESPN. Yes, we were roughing it.).

A memory from last month

One of Gemma's favorite activities at Christmastime with Nonna - snuggle time while carefully looking at all the ornaments.

Indoor Obstacle Course

Gemma's new favorite indoor activity: ready, set, GO! Crash! Repeat.

What do you do when...

...your 1 year-old runs to the front door, gesturing and yelling, "Walk!"?

You bundle up and go for a walk, of course. Even when you're just washing up the breakfast dishes and still wearing your PJs.

...or when the sun comes out in January?

You bundle up (in stripes, if you are a toddler) and head to your favorite park. Who cares if you are the only crazy parents out there? Gemma wanted to work on her climbing skills, and boy is she getting good. In fact we have had sun and temps in the 50s for several days in a row, so we have seen quite a few other crazy parents and kids at the park of late. And since this is Bloomington, we regularly hear families speaking other languages - on Monday it was German, French, Arabic and Korean.

Back to the car and a replenishing snack of clementines during the ride home. By the way, Kate, recognize those little Nikes that Lillian wore at this age?

Very merry Christmas, part 3

Finally, on to Christmas Morning!!
The grandparents and four granddaughters in matching pjs. (Do you know how hard it is to get all four to look at the camera at the same time, let alone smile? Well at least Elsie was having a grand time!)

The wonderful craziness of little girls opening stockings - what fun! Lots of little hair bows and stuffed animals and checking out each other's goodies. Gemma did her best to wear a hair bow (which lasted about 3 minutes). Oh well, she will get there soon enough.

And majorly yummy breakfast with cinnamon rolls (J&J's), Noah's egg-bacon rouladen, chicken sausages and coffee. Whoops forgot to get a family pic of that one. It was then a rush to get dressed and out the door for the Christmas morning church service. But we made it on time (and none of the girls cried in the nursery). Lovely service too.
Hmm, Gemma, which is your favorite ornament? Do tell.
Elsie with her Christmas doll! Of course she had to poke and finger the face, with her classic tongue-out concentration.
A little dress-up for Gemma, in the same pink wool dress that her Nonna wore for a portrait at 15 months!! The dress has been beautifully kept.

Very merry Christmas, part 2

A new family tradition for Christmastime? "Imagination Dinner/Chopped/Top Chef" was a smashing hit in its first year, thanks to Mom's initiative. The six adult sibs were paired up and received a bag of surprise ingredients, which we had to use - along with any other ingredients we liked - to prepared one or more dishes for dinner. Fortunately we didn't have to receive any judge criticism after the meal, just a hearty "yum" and content bellies all around.

Noah and I - Jul - received shrimp, salad greens, a grapefruit and yeast. The end result: spicy citrus marinated shrimp salad with avocado, orange slices and a citrus vinaigrette; and yeast biscuits.

Jim and Tiff received cornish hens, Israeli couscous, kale and leeks. The end result: couscous salad with sauteed leeks & kale, and craisins, bacon & toasted pecans; and apricot-glazed cornish hens.


Steve and Katie received the trickiest ingredients: puff pastry, whole pineapple and coconut, and liqueur (can't remember the name). The end result was a custard-filled pastry topped with Nutella and coconut shavings.

Phew. And it All was Delicious. (and no fighting broke out in the process)

Meanwhile, Nonna had no trouble keeping the granddaughters occupied with books and the play kitchen.



Now it's off for a Christmas Eve walk, down the block, around Wheaton's campus and then back home before our noses and fingers get too cold.


The whole family! From Seattle, Memphis, Bloomington and Wheaton - what a joy to all be together this week.

A very Gieser Christmas, part 1

What an amazing Christmas we had with our family in Wheaton!! Granddad and Nonna, all three Gieser siblings and all four granddaughters together in the same house! Added to that delight were the beautiful Christmas decorations Mom had put up - Gemma quickly made a habit of going to Nonna to ask to be picked up to go look at the Christmas tree. We also enjoyed a chance for the siblings to go out Christmas shopping with Dad, a tradition since the Giesers kids were young (men one day, ladies the next); Granddad's train (finally resurrected again after a 20 year haitus...); and many hours of cousin time playing together with the play kitchen and dolls.

Just look at this beautiful gingerbread house that Mom made!


Elsie and Gemma share story time with Nonna one morning.

Beautiful, happy-go-lucky Elsie (9 months old now!).



Bella and Avery are two years old (27 months) and are particularly impressive with their potty training skills. They both love baby dolls and taught Gemma a few tricks on taking care of babies, wrapping them in blankets, putting them in the high chair to eat, setting them on the potty seats, and pushing them around in the doll stroller.

...or pushing Gemma around...

On the day that the dads went shoppping, we ladies ventured the cold and visited Cosley Zoo! Of course the ducks received the most attention, but we also liked the goats and sheep and wolf and chickens and owls. After our visit Gemma has started saying more animal noises, especially "Baa!" It was very neat to introduce Gemma to this small zoo, as both of us went there many times as kids (Jim from growing up there, and me from summer visits to Grandma).


Each married pair were assigned a dinner meal - Jim and I made chicken curry with rice, with malva pudding for dessert. Indian and South African. How can you go wrong with that?