Tree shopping

We went up into the Santa Cruz mountains to get our tree for Christmas. We had to hike into the woods and cut our own tree down. I surveyed the land for a good tree atop my pedestal.
All that work in the outdoors made me hungry. Fortunately Mirabelle shared her apple with me.

Right after Christmas tree shopping, Mirabelle got a new baby sister, Mayanna. She's a go-getter right out of the gate - here she is wrestling 'Boo.I'd better watch out - the two of them might gang up on me someday. I think I'll need to get a sister just to even out the odds.

A few days later we decorated the tree. We strung up lights and hung lots of ornaments.

Daddy and Mirabelle took charge of the top of the tree.

After all that work - where are the presents?
Santa better not stiff me, I've been totally good all year.

Philadelphia

My other stop on the east coast trip was Philadelphia, to visit my Dad's family. My grandparents took us to see the Camden Aquarium. Note that you can see the skyline of Philadelphia in the background, just across the Delaware river.
Surprisingly, my future status as world leader is well known in this area. The aquarium director tried to ensure himself a post in my government by building a shrine to me!Back over the river, we went to visit Tom and Ann Marie, friends of my Dad's.I also took a trip to the park near my grandparents' house. Someone parked their steamroller there and left with the keys in the ignition. I decided to practice driving one of these contraptions, as they will likely be useful for crushing my enemies some day. "Think safe, act safe"? Not likely...

The park had lots of fallen leaves. We don't get that kind of foliage out here. So I had a blast kicking and throwing the discarded leaves.

Washington DC

For the Thanksgiving holiday, I brought my parents along to visit Linnea near the nation's capital. I got on her good side by bringing a present.She liked the present so much she started to undress me. Ladies can't get enough!Or maybe she just likes zippers.

Linnea took me to the petting zoo to check out the animals. There were lots of cute, non-threatening animals like sheep, geese, ducks, pigs, goats, etc. They'd make good minions - they will do anything for food.
However, I wasn't prepared for what hid behind the green door...
Lookout for the giant snake! Run!

The next day we went to see the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. They have lots of spy planes and satellites. I spent most of my time surreptitiously copying down blueprints and schematics. Take that, Homeland Security!This plane will be my Air Force One.

Thanks to Linnea's parents for having us visit. Sorry for giving everyone a cold.