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.

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.  

We

Catching Up

Okay, I'm definitely a little behind. Here are some pictures from our trip to Estes Park. This was two weeks ago, but right after that Jack got really sick, and then I did, and then it was report cards and now parent teacher conferences, and Mike's getting sick. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Despite not feeling well, we've been getting ready to go as well. Mike has had all sorts of meetings with realtors, movers, our financial advisor, etc. We'll leave Tuesday to drive up to Seattle.  Jack and I will fly back Sunday so I can do my last 3 weeks of work, and Mike will stay to start his new job. 

We drove all the way to Estes, and first stop had to be...the playground. 

Then, we had to stop for snacks and hot chocolate. The playground was chilly!

 We finally used our gift certificate for the Stanley Hotel.

 

By lunchtime, Jack was running a fever and starting to get sick, so we had to head home early! 

Trick or Treating

We took Jack to the zoo on Sunday for trick or treating. It's hard to tell if he was more interested in the dirt, the animals, or the candy!  He was scared of the talking pumpkin though.

 We had to work on it for days to talk him into wearing the cape and belt. He wouldn't wear the mask or arm bands at all, but isn't the cape that Grandma Harper made cool?!

Just a Bucket of Dirt!

Jack's obsessed with dirt! What little boy isn't I guess, but he needs his dirt time.  However, Friday we had our first snow and today it's been 40 degrees and raining, so we needed another solution! Since Jack's daddy is such a nice guy, he put play sand in a plastic bin in the garage, and Jack's been in heaven!  He's spent hours out there this weekend! And, we've swept the floor countless times too, of course!

 It's hard to get a good picture  because every time Jack sees the camera, he says "smile" and immediately runs toward you. The result is lots of pictures like this one, where he's blurry and right in front of you! I had to take quite a few just to show you his sandbox.

 He and Aspen did get outside briefly yesterday in the afternoon when it warmed up to almost 50 degrees for a couple hours.

 What did he want to do outside, more dirt and more tractors of course!

It's been a nice and relaxing weekend. We'd planned to do a bunch of fall cleanup in the yard today, but since the weather didn't cooperate we've mostly stayed inside today. Of well!