So Far, So Good

*Disclaimer to Nana...you are probably better off missing this post. At the very least, look no further than the first picture. You won't like it. You just looked, didn't you? Darn it. Don't say I didn't warn you!*

I know I promised lots of lovely adventures for the New Year, but these things take time. We're taking it nice and easy this January. It probably has something to do with the weather. It's cold. And it's been snowing a lot. Maybe that's just my imagination, because I'm told it rarely snows in Belgium, and if it does, it melts almost immediately. Apparently, I have a very vivid imagination. This is what my canal looks like today. (Yes, it's my canal. I called dibs.) There wasn't much going on there today. It was just me and a couple of frozen ducks. They have a very vivid imagination, too. Remember the Ice Age 3 Ice Sculptures exhibit in Brugge that we went to? It seems that they didn't anticipate all of this snow, either. Heavy snow built up on the roof of the massive tent that housed the ice sculptures, and caused it to collapse. The exhibit met an untimely end. Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident, but they came away with interesting stories to share with their friends and families. At least we were fortunate enough to see it before it all came crashing down. It was a very impressive exhibit. In all, we've had a pretty great New Year to date. I'm trying to stick to my resolutions. It's only been 4 days, so it's going well so far. You might want to check back with me next week. Still, I managed to actually enter the gym and.... (drum roll, please).... worked out! I'll give you a minute to recover from the shock. I also came up with another resolution to add to my list. No one in the family is allowed to adopt a snake. This one never occurred to me until the New Years Eve party at a friend's house. We were all having a good time until Brandon came up to me and said, "Hey, Mom...check this out!" (Nothing good ever starts with this phrase, by the way.) Yes, it's real.

Then, to make matters worse, he passed it off to Jessica. They took turns carrying the thing around for hours. In it's defense, it was very tolerant of their attention. It tried to make the occasional run for it (or slither), but for the most part, it just let them do what they wanted. I let them have their space. I am not a fan of snakes. This is one resolution that I feel confident will make it through to the year 2011 intact.

In all, it's been a pretty quiet and relaxing new year. Well, I did get that call from Denise, telling me about the man carrying a kangaroo by the tail through her back yard this morning, but that's another story...