Getting Into The Spirit!

It's that time of year again! Thanksgiving is behind us and the elves in North Reading are hard at work decorating for Christmas. Santa and Mrs. Claus may still be hanging out at the North Pole, but rest assured that they're getting everything ready for Christmas.

Of course the Hansen family is big into traditions, corny and otherwise. Here's a playful nod to the seasonal movie "A Christmas Story." You can call it a tacky "Leg Lamp", but we prefer to think of it as a "Major Award", one that's "Indescribably Beautiful!"

Here's one of the trees through the front window.

Here's that same tree from the inside.

...and here's the Peanuts tree, covered entirely with lights and ornaments featuring the Peanuts gang, particularly Snoopy and Woodstock.

We're well on our way to our full complement of six trees, which should be completed any day now. 'Tis the season to be busy!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It's that time of year again! The leaves are falling...quickly. The temperatures are dropping...even quicker. The days are getting shorter...and shorter...and shorter! It must be Halloween!

We began a couple of nights before, carving our pumpkins and roasting the seeds afterwards. YUM! (Use cooking spray on a large, flat pan. Spread the seeds out flat. Spray a thin coating of the cooking spray over the seeds and then lightly sprinkle salt over them. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour and then watch for when they start browning. Remove them when they are as brown as you like them.)

Here are the results of our carving!

Erik dressed up as a "Woopie Cushion" this year...such a "boy thing" to do!

Rebecca got together with some friends and dressed up as bunches of grapes.

All in all, it was a spooky, fun and SAFE evening!

DON'T FORGET TO TURN YOUR CLOCKS BACK AN HOUR TONIGHT!

Rebecca's Turn - CALs

Today was Rebecca's turn to run. The event, referred to as the "CALs", is kind of the season ending Cross Country race for the Cape Ann League. A number of schools gathered at Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield for the event. This is the beginning of Rebecca's 3.1 mile race.

Here's Rebecca again, very early in the race.

Here's Rebecca midway through the race...


...and shortly thereafter.

On her way to the finish line, which she crossed at 24:16, she had one little mishap, tripping and falling over a tree root that she didn't see. She's fine though and generally pleased with her performance. It didn't cost her much time.

Here's Rebecca and her long-time friend Haley (who she's known since she was 3 months old...REALLY!) after the race.

Cross Country in Gloucester

Today we ventured to the seaport town of Gloucester, MA for an exciting event. Erik joined his Middle School Cross Country team this year. They've been practicing since the beginning of school, but today was their one and only competition. Erik and a number of other students from his school competed against many schools from Eastern Mass.

Here's Erik (right) and his friend Scott (left) before the race.

Here's the team, from a distance, getting in their last minute warm-ups before the race. Erik is in the center of the picture.



Here's Erik on the course, well over halfway into the 1.7 mile race.



Here's Erik as he finishes...16 minutes, 27 seconds.

Since this was Erik's first meet, he was a bit of a "back of the pack" type today. He did well though and we're proud of him. It was a good learning experience and next time he'll do even better.

IT'S FALL!

Our 20th!!!! Anniversary

We took vacation days from work today to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. It turned out to be a beautiful day weather-wise, so we took advantage and visited some local sites. One of the places we visited is the church where we were married 20 years ago to the day. For those of you who were there back then, the weather was MUCH NICER today. It was about 70 degrees and sunny today, much different than the cold and rain on that Saturday afternoon in 1988.

We also visited Minute Man National Park. We began with a wonderful film presentation and various displays at the Visitor's Center and then we did some walking. Here is Anne along the "Battle Road", where local militia harassed the "Red Coats" from Concord back to Boston.

Afer the Visitor's Center, we went to the Old North Bridge, the location of the famous "Shot Heard 'Round The World". While shots were fired previous to the skirmish at the Old North Bridge, like at the Lexington Battle Green, the shots fired here were the first that were actually ordered by a military commander of the Colonies, giving the first shot that famous title.


In the foreground below is the first monument to what happened here, which raised the ire of locals since it was located on the British side of the skirmish. This was subsequently remedied with the Minute Man statue on the other side of the bridge in later years.

Here's the Minute Man Statue itself.

We had a great day off and really enjoyed seeing some of the local sites that are very easy to take for granted. We've noticed over the years that the National Park Service has done a terrific job updating not only their overall facilities, but also their audio/visual presentations. Between these presentations, displays at the Visitor's Centers and talks from some of the park rangers, you get a much better sense of the history of each park. We encourage everyone to take a day and visit one of their local National Parks. It's a very interesting and inspiring thing to do!



HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

Erik's 13th Birthday

Erik became a teenager (yes...really!) on September 13th. We celebrated his birthday on that day with the cake below...a turtle. (Inspired by his pet turtle which we affectionally refer to as the "Duke of Turtle".)

A couple of weeks later, Erik had a movie party at a local restaurant/theatre called "Chunky's", where they served pizza, popcorn and birthday cake along with a current movie. Erik and his friends saw the new animated feature "Igor".

Erik just started 7th grade and in addition to his studies, he's participating in a Cross Country program after school three days a week.