He was so excited, and took the day off to get stuff ready, and is now on his way to drive it for the first time out by Derek’s place.

I’m thankful the temp’s closer to zero. It was -20 earlier this week, but only -2 last I checked. We had all four brothers here this afternoon, as Jay put the skis back on the machine. Natasha pulled on her boots so she could be out with them watching.

Both girls have enjoyed the stream of activity going through today. An hour after the youngest three brothers left this morning Rachel came by to eat her lunch with us, and we got to talk a bit. Then she returned to work and, again within the hour, Isaac returned, this time with Derek.

Natasha’s been really into this Eyewitness book about skeletons, so she pulled it out as soon as she saw her wider audience, and, while at first she was asking Uncle D to read with her (explain the pictures), she ended up doing most of the explaining.

It was more than a little gratifying to see how much she retained from our time reading together. I overheard her explaining shark teeth, and talking matter-of-factly about the big teeth on the lion skull.

“Those are for he tears out big chunks of ham.” Ham is currently her generic for meat.

Melody was enjoying pulling the earflaps down on Uncle Isaac’s hat. Kept her entertained for a good 5-10 minutes.