Christmas Day

Christmas Day
December 25, 2009
Falls Church, Virginia

The kids had a "sleepover" on Christmas Eve with their sleeping bags spread out on the floor. They left cookies out for Santa and carrots out for Rudolph -- they were amazed Christmas morning when all they saw on the plate was a pile of crumbs. Andrew woke up at 3:30AM, and Gracie woke up at 6:00AM -- both VERY excited. We have a video recording and some other pictures from Christmas morning that we will share with anyone that is interested.

New table for doing art projects that Munga bought the kids for Christmas. They LOVE that they can draw on the table. Katie spends all day with the chair -- up and down -- up and down -- up and down. Katie also got a french beret hat for Christmas from Heather Francis.

Our little "Superheroes," off to save the day -- with Katie leading the charge. Sarah made these capes for the kids for Christmas, and they LOVE flying around the house in them.

Gracie got a baby bottle for her dolly (named Ruby) for Christmas. When you tip the bottle up the juice inside disappears, as if the baby is drinking the juice. When you tip the bottle back down the juice re-appears. Sarah also made a superhero cape for Gracie's dolly.

Andrew got a tractor book for Christmas and was very excited about it -- especially since it makes real tractor sounds.

Gaylord National Resort

Gaylord National Resort
Christmas Eve - December 24, 2009


Gaylord National Resort is a hotel located on the Potomac River in Maryland. There was lots to see -- including the lighting of a glass Christmas tree inside the hotel, a model train exhibit, and a water fountain show put to music.

The harbor was aligned with boats, and the community Christmas tree was center stage -- it was over 100 feet tall. Santa showed up on a jet ski, but so did the Grinch -- Santa dumped the Grinch.

"ICE" was a life-size ice exhibit at the resort. It included 2,000,000 pounds of ice covering 15,000 square feet of space. A team of 40 sculptors from China spent 40 days sculpting and coloring everything from Santa's workshop to a penguin village to a castle complete with ice slides (which the kids LOVED). Inside it was 9 degrees, which required all visitors to wear the special blue jackets seen in the photo above.

Andrew and Gracie and one of the many ice sculptures.

Daddy and Andrew ice skating in the rink outside the ice exhibit. Both Gracie and Andrew loved their first experience on ice -- they got better and better as the day went on -- just as Daddy's back got worse and worse from holding them up. We had fun.

It's Winter Time!

It's Winter Time

December 2009

The Girls. Our first snowfall of the year. The kids had a BLAST, as we had a family snowball fight.

We got our Christmas tree this week. Gracie and Andrew LOVED decorating it. Katie stays busy un-decorating it.

Andrew and Gracie play like making sand castles, as well as SNOW castles.

The Washington, D.C. Visitor's Center is lit up with 500,000 lights every year (similar to Temple Square in Salt Lake City). This year was no exception. The kids could not get enough of the lights, and they loved the musical concert held inside.

Daddy and Gracie built a snowman, complete with two eyes, a nose, a mouth, hair, two arms, and a button-down vest.

Outer Banks, NC - Part II

Outer Banks, NC
November 2009

The beach-front house in Avon (southern part of the Outer Banks) we stayed in with two other families -- 6 adults; 8 kids (all six years old or younger). A little chaos is good.

Picture of the beach and the pier from the upper deck of the house. The weather was great for this time of year (sunny, but cool).

Andrew, Gracie, and Katie loved the beach. They made sand castles and collected LOTS of shells. Katie mostly just ate sand.

One of the many lighthouses along the coast.

One of the harbors where the chartered fishing boats would arrive after a long day of fishing to unload their cargo (a lot of tuna).

Outer Banks, NC - Part I

Outer Banks, NC
November 2009

During out trip to the Outer Banks we stopped at the Grave Digger monster truck exhibit, which Andrew LOVED!

Eight kids -- all six years old or younger! They had a BLAST playing with each other. They all played so hard that none of them had trouble falling asleep at nap time or bed time.

The kids loved the indoor spa and the outside hot tub.

This was one of the families we went with -- our friends, the Strattons.

At Studio 12, the kids got to work with pottery -- they loved painting them and drawing designs on them. Once they were "cooked" they always had to have their "special" dish and cup at dinner time.

It's Fall...

Fall
October 2009

The kids LOVE to play in the leaves. Yes, that is little Katie throwing leaves at Big Brother, Andrew. She LOVES to tease him most of all. Gracie's friend, Chloe Francis, is in the background.

Gracie dressed up as a horse for Halloween. People thought she was sooo cute that random strangers would stop and ask if they could take a picture of her.

All smiles! You would not believe how the leaves fall and fall and fall from the trees. There are so many leaves that the city has to send out a "vacuum truck" three times during the months of October and November to suck them all up. The residents all rake and pile their leaves on the street and the piles extend the length of the steet and are LITERALLY 5 FT tall in some neighborhoods! Andrew dressed up as a fireman for Halloween (yes, that is a fire hydrant in the background - Sarah thought it would make him feel more like a real fireman).

All of the kids got a chance to pull the "guts" out of their own pumpkin and carve a crazy face on it. Even Katie got in on the Halloween fun! I think Halloween wore the kids out this year. They actually had FOUR Halloween parties this year -- one at pre-school, one at my work, one at the ward, and one in our neighborhood. By the way, our neighborhood goes all-out on holidays. For Halloween, everyone chipped in some money for pizza and food for a block party. A friend with a truck hitched up his trailor, threw some hay in the back, strung up some lights, and hauled about 25 kids around the neighborhood so they could show off their costumes. Another friend installed a mechanical arm on his roof that was attached to a stuffed, white sheet designed to look like a ghost. At night there was just enough light to see it circle the top of his house. All in all, the kids had a great time. Namma and Munga and Grandpa were here, too.

Luray Caverns - Shenandoah Valley

Luray Caverns & Shenandoah Valley
October 2009

We rented a van and went to Luray Caverns in the Shenandoah Valley. The kids loved the underground caves, especially the self-guided audio tour (they got to wear headphones). Namma went with us.

The Shenandoah Valley is a national park in Virginia with hundreds of acres of trees lining the hillsides. Every fall around mid-October the tree leaves begin to change color -- reds, yellows, browns, greens, and everything in between. It is pretty incredible.

View from a small town near Luray Caverns in the Shenandoah Valley.

Incredible views and colors of the hillsides.

Bright yellows and browns deep within the forest.

Video of Katie Clapping

Video: Katie loves to clap these days. Not sure why she claps left-handed, since she does everything else right-handed??

Video of Katie NOT Eating

Video: Katie finished dinner and was not going to eat -- or drink -- anything more.

Video of Katie Blowing Kisses

Video: We taught Katie how to blow kisses -- now she does it non-stop!

Out of This World

Out of This World - Hillsboro, Oregon
August 2009

Out of This World is a play-place for kids (of all ages - yes, I did go climbing around in there). They have a three-story jungle-gym, a rock-climbing wall, a scooter track, inflatable slides, obstacle courses, and lots of pizza. It is very similar to Pump-it-Up in Beaverton, Oregon, except Out of This World has a jungle-gym, too. Adults are admitted for free, and it only costs a few bucks for each kid...A great price to pay to get the wiggles out!

Our two monkeys on the ropes course.

Wheeeee! This is actually a pretty steep slide - the kids loved going by themselves because they could jump from the top of the slide before landing near the bottom of the slide on their bum. They liked going with dad, too -- "in a train."

Up, up, up we go! [Don't worry, what you can't see is that they are only about one or two feet off the ground, and the wall only extends upwards about one or two additional feet.]

Gracie scaled every inch of this wall, which extends across the back of the building a total of about 50 feet -- at some points almost doing the splits to get to the next foot-hold. Next stop -- Mt. Everest.

Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing
Horning's Hideout - North Plains, Oregon
August 2009

Father and son off to the fishing hole......Horning's Hideout provides you with fishing poles, bait, a net, a tool to de-hook your fish, and fish cleaning supplies all for a few bucks.

Andrew nominated himself as keeper of the worms. When needed, he did the "dirty work," if you know what I mean.

Aunt Amy caught a crawdad. They stock the pond with lots of fish and crawdads, so it is difficult NOT to catch anything, which makes it fun for all involved.

Andrew looked like a natural with fishing pole in hand -- always poised and ready to reel in "the big one."

Gracie, on the other hand, took the more leisurely approach -- enjoying every moment.

Voodoo Doughnut

Voodoo Doughnut - Portland, Oregon
August 2009

Uncle Blake & Sarah in front of Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon. This place is similar to Georgetown Cupcake in Washington, D.C. As you can see below, these doughnuts are one of a kind.

Yes, that is BACON on top of one of the doughnuts! Oddly enough, it was pretty good.

Video of Katie Walking - 2

Video: Here she goes again...She's up...She's down.

Video of Katie Walking

Video: Katie walking...sort of.

Yellowstone, Wyoming

Yellowstone, Wyoming
July 2009

Huge bears looking for food that the workers hid under rocks earlier (in the Bear Exhibit). This was not like the zoo, where you never see any of the animals, or you only see them from a great distance. They were very active, and were very close.

A nice piece of furniture :)

Of course, Old Faithful.

Lots of kids had lots of fun -- Reed, included.

"Hot Pots" section of Yellowstone (bubbling and hissing pools of very hot water/mud/steam). There were also lots of animals in the park that you could literally drive right by (which stopped traffic for quite a while).