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!