Wintertime brings more hope and tears.

Ninth Month

Greeting Papa at the gate.



The finished fence and reclaimed shed.  Granddad and Grandmom come to visit.

They debated numerous times how and with what settings to take their photos with.

Playing with shadows.

Chilling with Granddad.

On a boat!

And now to the Zoo again.

Time to drop them off at the Teleportation Sation.

Tenth Month

Well time to change things up again, Adventuring Parties do not stay in any area for very long, especially after completing their given quest.

Experimentation with bread rising...never again in the microwave.

Rennaissance Faire Time!

The Magical Fortune Telling Stick strikes again...our Party shall be expanding in the middle of the following year.

First time on horseback for the two of them without Papa or Mama.

Last night sleeping in our lodging in the City.

The new accommodations not only accounted for the upcoming party member's arrival...but a whole extra party worth of space.

Our move from the City to the Crab Kingdom has all the earmarks of being a great move up.

The Minions certainly look like they like our new living conditions.

Eleventh Month

"Hey guys, I think since we've cleaned up our old house and moved to a new one, we should go back to the Mire Kingdom and tell everyone about it. M'kay?"

Well it is November and all, so that's a fair argument.

Sunlit looks gorgeous in the fall foliage.



Grins having a good time snuggling Lord Hickory.

Pop-Pop and Grandma's house.

Papa getting a chance to share the yard he grew up in with the Minions.

Climbing into the Clubhouse.

This was just a weird line up of title names. 

Adventuring in the wilderness, unlike in books and tabletop though...we stop for potty breaks.

Visiting Pop-Pop on the job was a very exciting time for the Minions.

Then down to visit Great Grandpa and Great Grandma H

Then back up to the Lowlands.

We headed North to visit Quickflaire's family next.

Dragon riding again.

Eggers is an amazing turtle.

Lord Hickory and Lady Hummingbyrd dropped the Minions off with their grandparents and then snuck off on a special quest.  A Murder Mystery and Minimoon at a nearby Inn.



Getting into our roles was fun, being Minionless was strange and fun.

Hickory undergoes Electroshock Therapy.

Not sure it helped any.


Views from around the Village.

We went up to visit some ancient burial mounds while we quested.

Forest brigands have set up tree houses above the mounds, we need to be careful.

Rupert the Great, only the most eloquent and verbose Leopard Gecko one could ask for.

Rupert is Granddad's Animal Companion, he is helping guard the Minions.
Meanwhile...

Minion cousin time.

Down to see G-pa and Nana while we still could.  RIP Nana.

Storytime reading for E'Bella and Dash.

Feeding the deer.

Spooty and Slanter

Discovering the magical kingdoms of inanimate creatures of great patience.

An quest to learn of all things John Deere.

Discussions with Rupert.

Exploring the Mire Kingdom wilderness.






The Mire Kingdom is full of strange and odd characters.

On our way back home, we stopped over to see great Aunt Pat one last time.

Love Aunt Pat's face in the mirror.  She is missed.  RIP.

Home Again.

Grins adds a tattoo to his nose and snow arrives.

Twelfth Month
Christmas at Mount Vernon

Grins and Papa having a great time.

Hickory is a very well loved person by both animal and minion.


CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!!!!!!!

Reading Corner.

Snow arrives, we are ready for Christmas now.

Sunlit LOVES the snow, the Snowdog blends right in.





Helping Papa shovel the walk.



Hickory finally gets a chance to work on that old trunk from the Peach Kingdom.

Hummingbyrd tests it out, almost done.

Winter adventuring.

Christmas time has finally arrived.

Lord and Lady Greycloud came to visit.

Look Lady Marine....(inside joke).

Never has a year been so full of emotional good-byes, prayerfully no years from now will ever see the loss of so many beloved family members in a twelve month period again.  Thus concludes the ninth year of the millennium.