The Rest of December

Telling Santa what we want for Christmas.  Another benefit of our small town - Santa spent at least 10 minutes with these two.  It may have been a little longer.

 

Hanging out with Cody the Reindeer.  By far, Nathan's favorite part of this day was racing the reindeer back to the finish line at the end of the race.

 

Almost ready to race.

And they're off!

 

Making cookies for Santa.

Could this day get any better?!

Mom is late posting these pictures, but we haven't gotten over the excitement of one of the best days a kid (and maybe the parents) can have!  Thanks to Dad for setting it all up!

 

First stop: McChord Field Control Tower

We got to touch and try just about everything!  We even got to watch them bring in a C17.  What a unique experience!

Next stop: Airport Fire Station

The crash rescue vehicles are HUGE!  We got to see them drive and spray and we got to get into the front and back of the cab! 

I'm going to be a firefighter when I grow up.

 

Turning off the hose after spraying down some cones. 

Next stop: An hour in a C17!

The pilots (a couple of my friends' dads) and two crew members left nothing out of this experience.  We had the whole plane to our Cub Scout den (about 8 kids on this outing) and we got to try out everything.  Nathan even got to check out the landing gear and see how to put it down from inside the plane.  (Hint: you have to stick your hand out of the plane while it's in flight.)  Here I am wearing a parachute pack.

 

We got to put the ramp up and down several times.  Can you imagine a tank driving up here?

 

If this plane looks huge, that's because it IS!

 

In case of an emergency, don this gear.  It even has a place for a headset so that the crew and pilots can talk to each other throughout the emergency situation.

 

Seriously, we got to touch everything!

Family cockpit time

 

Did we say this day was amazing?

Happy Thanksgiving

We are a little late posting our Thanksgiving pictures.  Must be because we were having so much fun!  We started our day by finishing our Thanksgiving turkey.  We worked on it for a week, each adding a feather every day with something we were thankful for written on it.

 

Then off we went to our Thanksgiving destination--Club Roberts.  First we visited Great Grandma.

Then we hiked at Rosario Point.  (This was a leisurely trip because we didn't actually celebrate Thanksgiving until later in the weekend.)

 

Mom's view from the kitchen while she prepped the turkey.

Answering science questions with Uncle Joe.

We went to a community gingerbread house party and came home with these treasures!

 

 The view from the ferry on the ride home.

We ended our weekend with a trip to the Christmas tree farm.  Let the Christmas season begin!

We hope you and your families enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving, too.  We are so thankful for all of our friends and family!

Evan's First 5K

We have a little runner on our hands!  Evan did great in his first 5K (3.1 miles).  He ran an 8:15 first mile (better than many adults), which is outstanding for a 7 year old.  We're working on pacing for the rest.  Great job, Evan!  It won't be long before I'll have a hard time keeping up!

Fun With Friends!

We had a wonderful day with our longtime friends and their moms.  We are so lucky to see Holden and Karen every few weeks, but don't get to see Abby and Kate nearly enough.  Great day! 

 

Silly kids

More sillies

Beautiful Day in Seattle

We spent a much appreciated middle-of-the-week day off at the Pacific Science Center and topped off the day watching the sunset from the Space Needle.  We hadn't planned on the Space Needle, but couldn't pass up the crystal clear skies and small Veteran's Day discount.  What a view!

Belated Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Evan the Soldier, who wanted to hit EVERY house in our neighborhood this year, and Nathan the hamster dressed up as a Skeleton, who asked every neighbor as they opened their door, "Did I scare you?"  Nathan's other great quote of the night: "I'm so glad I'm wearing my skeleton costume because now I can see inside of me!"  We hope your Halloween was as 'sweet' as ours!

Pumpkin Farm Time!

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin farm today.  We are lucky to have a great place to go just 10 minutes from our house.  We navigated a hay maze, bounced on the largest bounce toy we've ever seen, rode tractors, went on a hay ride, and of course, picked out our pumpkins.  We didn't have time for the corn maze, but Mom might take us back for that later this week.

David and Goliath

AWANA Bible Hero night

Camping with the Ack Attack

This was possibly our last camping trip of the season.  We chose one of the most beautiful locations in the state.  Great company, too!

 

We climbed this rock wall several times - even in the pouring rain!

 

The sun came out for a nice hike up Goose Rock.

Look who found us at the top!  Some serious silliness going on here.

 Running away from the camera, but what a view!

Back at the beach.



Stoking Elsa's 'fire' beside the fort.

Fishing from the fort.

Zoo Fun

We had a great day at the zoo with Holden and Karen!  These two guys did a nice job consulting their maps and leading us to all of their favorite animals.  Karen was harder to capture in a picture, but she spent a lot of the day following Nathan and doing whatever he was doing.  What special friends!

Oma's Visit

We had a wonderful time with Oma last weekend.  We did Halloween crafts, hung out at a lake, spent an evening playing games/reading/stargazing in the tent, went to the Washington State Fair, and celebrated Evan's birthday two days early.  We were sad to see her go!

 I love my new Patriots jersey!  It matches the red, white, and blue nails that Oma had for the Patriots tailgate party she threw last weekend.