The night before we were planning to head up to see David's family, Ruby got a 101F (38.5C) fever and a lot of sniffles. After abandoning the traditional method of sleeping lying down at night Ruby settled on the sling and so David and I took shifts to get through the night. But it did the trick! Her fever was down by morning and all that remains is one hell of a runny nose and a lot of messy sneezing. So despite some grumpiness and fatigue, off we went.

And as usual Ruby had a blast. She (see pics, top to bottom) played mandolin with David, chewed on a valentine's day card that her grandma Pat got her, chewed on grandma's bowl, laughed with aunt Lissa and aunt Ro (aunt's have that effect!) and posed with cousin Ellaina.

In the meantime David and I did about two weeks worth of laundary (thanks Pat!), I helped Pat cook stacks of pancakes for all the family she invited over for breakfast together with cousin Blake (who is a natural cook), we got Blake set up with some extra songs on his new ipod and we all stayed indoors when the temperature outside dipped to 8F (-13C).

-- Marsha