Merry Christmas!

Yesterday we traveled to Kachess Lake for a little post-Christmas snowshoe. Dood loved reuniting with the snow!

Abe and Frannie modeling their Christmas Pjs. (The pink tutu is separate)

Merry Go Round

We took the train to have lunch with Mom & Abe had his first merry go round ride.

Jacob & Hannah's birthday party at the Ship Canal Grill.

Bath with cousin Frances. (Moms Emily, Sarah & the other cousins had a bath in this same tub over 20 years ago)

Ahoy to the World!

Today we put up our Christmas Tree. I got a little over zealous and cut a little too much off the top. But it still looks pretty good - actually a lot better than I thought it would. We only got as far as putting on the lights and hanging up one ornament each before we had to head down to Seward Park for the Christmas Ships. Down there we saw a horse drawn wagon, a bonfire, and we all shared some hot chocolate and cookies. And of course we listened to some good Christmas music performed by a choir on a ship. The moon was out and the air was crisp, which made it a perfect night to listen to some music. I didn't even wear a hat!

There is the Christmas Ship that had the choir on it. Previously there had been more ships that follow it around. This year there were only about three other ships - probably because it's early into the season.
We were hoping we could hop a ride on the horse drawn carriage before the show. But it looks like you had to buy a $50 dinner if you wanted the ride. Maybe next year.
Abe sure did love getting close to the horses. He even touched one!
Everyone getting ready to listen to the music.
What a great night for some outdoor Christmas music on the water!

Christmas Tree Cutting 2011

Starting in Alaska, Emily and I like to go out into the woods and cut down our Christmas tree. And this Sunday it was a beautifully clear day so we decided to go out and get ourselves a tree. The sad thing is that there isn't money in the budget to plow the forrest access roads this year so we couldn't go where we went last year (around Exit 44 on I-90). But we say that our neighbors got a tree yesterday, and they said they went to exit 38 and had no trouble, so there we went.

About to head out and go find ourselves a tree!
Banjo loved being back in the snow. He ran all over and rolled around like crazy.
The area where we were was filled with really big trees. Which means there wasn't a lot of room for little trees to grow. But there was this clearing on the side of the hill that Emily decided to scope out. She ended up finding us a good one, but we had to hike down about 200 feet. And the snow had a layer of ice on it making it a little tricky to get down.
Emily happy that she found our tree.
Making our way to cut down the tree.

It's kind of hard to tell, but our tree is behind me.
A beautiful and clear day up on the Pass.
'Dood just love the snow.
TIM-BIRRRRRRR!!!!!!
Abe liked using the walking pole.
Back at the car with our tree.
Emily made some hot chocolate. It sure tasted extra hot and good after our outdoor adventure.

Asian Santa at the Wing Luke

On Saturday the Wing Luke museum was visited by Asian Santa. And since we had membership card (thanks to Grandpa Clave), we were able to get one free picture. Of course in true Abe (and Daddy Neil) fashion, he cried while he was on his lap. Afterwards we made some Christmas tags and cards with colored glue-glitter and cut-out pictures. And we had some yummy snacks as well.

Even though Santa offered candy canes, Abe wasn't too sure about that guy.
We watched other kids go see Santa from the safety of the theatre seats.
Uh-oh, don't put me on!
Santa tried to relax Abe by reading him a book. Good try Santa, but no dice.

Haning 'round the house

Just a few pictures of us lying around the house. Since we bought a new camera before we went to Mexico, I was playing around with some of the settings. Hence the graphics on a few pictures.

After dinner one night, Abe said he wanted me to take a picture of him and Mom. So I did. It's probably one of the better smiles we have of his.
I've shown Abe a few of Casper Babypants' music videos on the computer. Of course 'Babies getting up' is his favorite. Here he is dancing along to it.

Saturday night fun

Today Neil and Hannah and I went for our last long run before the big race next week. It was cold out, but it was a really nice day! Afterwards we all went to Geraldine's for a little breakfast/lunch. Abe was a big fan of the tomato soup.

Then this evening we had an early dinner (since we skipped breakfast we were hungry). Then we popped some popcorn and successfully lit our first fire in our fireplace (last year we couldn't get it lit).

We played Farkle. Abe actually beat us both.
For some reason Abe liked to lick our heads for good luck when it was our turns to roll the dice.

Reindeer!

On Tuesday Abe's school took a little trip to see the reindeer at Swanson's nursery. Having lived in a town where reindeer are penned as pets in people's yards, it actually exceeded my expectations. Abe was most impressed by the donkey and camel. There were also 2 reindeer. We saw them sleeping, and for some reason Abe asked if they'd brushed their teeth. I told him that I didn't think they had, but it was okay, because they didn't eat any sugar. Well, that really made an impression on him. Now when he tells people about the reindeer and how they don't brush their teeth.

Curly and Moe were the names of the camel and donkey.
We had circle time in the hay next to this little sleigh they had set up.

There was a pretty cool model train set up that all the kids enjoyed watching.

"Shhhhtays in Mexicoooooooo!"

If you get the song reference in the title, way to go.

Here are a few more pictures of our trip in Mexico. One thing I will miss down there is how warm it was. It was HOT!!!! Even if you were relatively cool in town, by the time you hiked up back the hill to our house, you would be soaking wet and on fire. Good thing the pool was there to cool down every time.

Hannah found some hikes we could do around town, so one day the kids (i.e. everyone minus the grandparents and Abe) tried one. It was just a hike on the same hill that we were staying on. And by 'hike', we just walked up a really steep road. But the view was pretty nice, which was similar to the one from our house.
Grandpa Clave brought his iPad with him, which meant lots of Angry Birds and some can game.
At la playa de muerto we helped Abe make a sand castle. I think we had more fun than he did.
Ole!!! Abe and Emily sporting some local flair poolside. Abe sure looked good in his sombrero (and 100 SPF flame suit).
This is the scorpion spider Calvin was writing about. After playing games one night Jacob and Jenilyn went down to their room, and a few minutes later they were back up with us. Jacob said he saw the biggest spider of his life, with really long legs and huge body. Then everyone decided to go try and kill the sucker, but I missed all of the fun because I was getting Abe back to bed. But I could hear Hannah scream a few times all the way from downstairs.
Abe and Jenilyn at the main beach of Sayulita.
Abe and Emily holding hands.
We had an umbrella at the house that we could use to give us shade. Here Abe is with his new friend Nick, helping him burry the umbrella so it won't fall over.
Here we are at La Playa de Muerto. I think it's called that because we walked through a graveyard to get to the beach. We set up in the shade so we could cool off after playing in the ocean.
Abe getting down an dirty in the sand.

We'll post some more pictures when we get around to it.