Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Next leg of the trip


We drove through Wyoming, into Utah, and then to Nevada on Friday and Saturday. We were able to stop and see my parents and grandma for a very short overnight visit it Winnemucca. It was great to see them, even if only briefly.  Jack liked it a lot because he got even more presents (Yay!), and he got to help feed the cows with grandma and ride on a tractor with grandpa. Oh, and he got to stand on a chair and talk to Iggy, the iguana (which we are not taking home!) who pretended to be asleep whenever Jackson talked to him.



Sunday morning, we headed out Highway 95, traveling through Nevada, Oregon (where the speed limits are slow!), and then into Washington through the Yakima Valley (known for grapes and apples; we'll have to revisit here in the fall sometime!). We stayed the night in Yakima, and then finally made it into Seattle on Monday morning. 

For this first week, we are staying at the Residence Inn by Marriott, which is right near downtown. We settled in yesterday, did some laundry, went for a few walks, and got some groceries. It was very weird to me that the grocery store is upstairs, with the parking in an underground lot below it. Good thing Mike knew where it was because I would have gone right by, not realizing it was a grocery store at all.

Here's what our room looks like... It's a pretty nice, but small one bedroom. They serve a good breakfast downstairs in the morning and we can can do some basic cooking here.  Aspen's not too keen on it, but she's doing okay.


Jack likes the balcony, where he can watch the cars, listen for emergency vehicles, and garbage trucks. There's zero view, but he doesn't care. And, he's already learned to recognize the ding, ding bell of the trolley, so we talk about that a lot. 

 This morning, we had to go ride the "train." He was very excited and spent the ride there and back looking out the windows. I took him down to Pike's Place Market just so he could ride, and we wandered around for a few minutes, but it was pretty crowded. I picked up some shrimp to go with dinner, and we headed back for lunch at the hotel.

No big plans for New Years. I think we will spend tomorrow house hunting. We'll probably go to bed long before midnight tonight too.  Oh well!

Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas 2013

The whirlwind started December 21st when we flew into San Diego. We spent Sunday in San Diego with Mike's dad and stepmom. We had a great visit to the park and beach where Jack spent all him time playing in the dirt. Then, we went to Bob and Susan's house, where we had the chance to visit with Janet and Tommy and their family (Mike's cousins). It was nice to see everyone again there! All the kids are getting so big.


Blue, Anne, Katelyn, Alyssa, and Jack (lots of cousins).




Then, on Monday we headed up to Bonsall to see Mike's mom and dad. While there, we also popped over to Ramona to spend a couple of hours with Great Aunt Shirlee and cousin Donnie. 

On Christmas Eve, we went over to Kami and Jason's house. We had a great time with the family, eating and opening gifts.  Jack, Katelyn, and Alyssa made some great gingerbread houses. I think Jack ate as much candy as he decorated with, but he stayed with it quite well too. He was so excited to play with his cousins and open presents, and catch bubbles in the house!  Of course all the fun made it hard for him to hold still....quite literally, as you can see in the family picture, he's literally a blur...



 On Christmas, Jack and the girls opened presents, and then everyone played outside. Jack was a bit scared of the rolling car, but he liked riding with Katelyn. He also liked playing football.







His aunt and uncle got him a fireman raincoat and boots, which went great with the firetruck that Santa brought.

He enjoyed the dirt at grandma's house, and he also liked running down the hill. 


On Thursday Dec 26, we headed back to Colorado, but we stayed less than 24 hours, just long enough to defrost the freezers, pack some clothes and necessities (like Jack's toys!), and do a little cleaning. Then, Friday Dec 27, we headed for Washington, by way of Winnemucca. I'll post more about that next.



Saturday, December 7, 2013

Santa Visit

We took a break today to visit Santa and do some shopping. Jack is still afraid of Santa. He'd talk to him and even gave him a high 5, but he completely refused to sit on his lap or leave mommy. Santa asking if he wanted a truck, and he said a dump truck. He liked Santa's purple ball and didn't want to give it up, but agreed to trade it in for a candy cane in the end.  



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