Almost Christmas Fun

Lately the boys think everyday is Christmas! We've been doing lots of fun holiday things (which directly translates into lots of sugar).

Decorating our tree

Making gingerbread huts with our friend Haley

Emerson and Haley are buddies

Doughnuts at Frost

Elliott's balloon Rudolph from the Mill Creek Town Center Santa's Coming to Town event

The Mill Creek Santa parade:   The Grinch sitting in the train was a favorite.  We also saw dancing, music, fire trucks, horse carriages and of course, Santa.

 The train ride around the nativity.

Did I mention it was COLD?  very cold

Kristi's birthday

We celebrated Kristi's birthday by starting the Christmas season!  She was very happy with her packing cubes for her upcoming trips around the world!

After chocolate fondue, we started decorating the tree. 

And climbing on me.

Both boys turned out to be very serious decorators. 

Elliott had the honor of putting the star on top. He really wanted to do it himself and tried using a very short stool and chair for a few minutes before he finally gave in and let Jason be an "elevator" to lift him to the top.

I've never sent out a Christmas photo card before, but with this family photo I'm tempted....

Hillsboro

Our weekend trip to Hillsboro was non-stop fun. We went to visit our dear friends and take our like-minded kids to Kids Legofest.

 These two little guys took to each other immediately and played all weekend.

So did these two. :)

Our gang about to enter the Lego Kidsfest.

They had lots of life size models to see. (This is Bobafet in case you aren't a Starwars expert).

Elliott's tree that he built during the 2 minute competition to build something you can find in your backyard.

The boy next to us built dog poop.

Elliott spent tons on time in the City section working on an airport.

This little guy tuckered out during the Master Builder session.

Refreshed after a yummy Portland lunch.

  Lots of readers in this group.

And finally, on our way home.  He just couldn't get enough of Legos but eventually drifted off to sleep.

Wenburg

In August, we escaped for some weekend camping.  We made it a whole 3 miles before our new (old) Westfalia camping van broke down on the freeway. After a tow home. we transferred all our camping stuff to our other van and headed out a few hours later than expected.    Even though we were disappointed about not getting to try out our van, we had fun sleeping in our tent.  

Emerson choose the giant marshmallows at the store and enjoyed every single bite. 

 Emerson also LOVED the lake. He'd run in and fall head first and come up crying. And then do it again. And again.

The boys spent all afternoon carefully constructing an elaborate  waterway in the sand. They filled it up endlessly with buckets of water and watch it drain back to the lake. 

Reading time with our new library books.

Glow lights were a big hit....and the deal we made with the boys to go sleep in the tent by themselves. They got to play with several glow lights, connecting them into big circles. After Elliott fell asleep, Emerson collected them all and slept with them all night. He woke up a few times to make sure he still had them and that they were still glowing (they were).

First Day of Kindergarten

Elliott was so excited for his first day at Port Gardner. He ran around the house chanting "I'm going to Kindergarten!" all morning. 

First Day of Preschool

This morning was Emerson's first day of preschool!  He's been excited all summer since he turned 3 and an official "big boy who gets to go to preschool and bowling."

He said his favorite part was making a fruit loop necklace.  Many more favorite parts to come, I'm sure.

A Night at the Races

This weekend we went to Skagit Speedway to watch Uncle David race his motorcycle. It was absolutely terrifying (for me).  We got to watch go-karts and motorcycles and they went SO fast. And the boys loved every minute of it, especially Elliott who declared that he would be doing that soon.

(Above photo courtesy of Emerson)

Equally as much, the boys enjoyed the concessions both.  

 Emerson did wear earplugs part of the time. He repeatedly took them out, put them in his mouth and tried to spit them out like a rocket ship. Then we put them back in his ear. Gross, I know. But I only had the one set. Next time I'll bring two sets: one for his ears and the other for spitting.

Bird Watching

I ran into our neighbor at Qdoba yesterday and she casually asked about what we were up to that afternoon.
I replied, "We going bird watching in Leavenworth," and it was definitely an answer she was not expecting.

But bird watching is exactly what we did and it was fabulous.

We started our adventure on Blackbird Island.

Here they are on the hunt for birds. This whole experience was Kristi's idea. Kristi has gotten Elliott interested in birds.  They sit around and practice bird calls.  Cute and weird all at the same time.

Listening to birds on Kristi's phone.  Emerson's version of the bird calls were kissing noises. Not effective, but again, very cute.

 Emerson had to be carried some of the time because he had a tendency to run off....and there were signs all over warning us to be on the lookout for bears (really) and reminding us not to run.  Emerson was a prime target so we kept him as close as possible.

  Elliott carefully documented his bird sightings.

Elliott's looking for birds (fake) hidden in trees. 

We all really enjoyed finding the hidden birds. It was a bit like looking for Easter eggs!

Inside the museum, we check out their snakes, spiders, tortoises and fish.

Here Emerson is dissecting an owl pellet and examining (breaking) the bones of a mouse.

Elliott really liked the owl pellet and we really washed his hands after.

We had lots of fun jumping between beds doing fancy StarWars moves.

Emerson couldn't quite make it. Jason kept encouraging him to taking a running leap. And he did. Smack into the side of the bed. Jason and I giggled about that off and on for hours!

We were all tuckered out when we finally decided to head home. Especially Emerson who feel asleep in between ordering our McDonald's food and receiving it.