Opening Christmas presents

We had quite a few presents under our tree this year, we don't know how they all got there. So, on Christmas morning, we let Seth open them all while breakfast was baking in the oven.

It took Seth a bit to figure out exactly what he was doing and how much fun it was, but once he got it, he had a good time ripping all the paper.

Oh, these are cool, Seth got a set of building blocks from the cousins in Omaha. They are wood and some are painted and some not. We have had fun building with those blocks lately. They will be fun for a long time I would imagine.

I was glad Christmas presents were done so I could put away the tree. Seth COULD NOT leave it alone, so I was glad to get rid of it from his little fingers.

Zoo lights

The other week we went to our zoo at night for Zoo lights. They had quite a few different lights set up to see. Some parts of the zoo were off limits, but most we could see quite well. I wanted a family picture but it would not have turned out so well, so here are the pictures we did take.

It was a chilly night even though we were there around 5pm. The temp was in the low 30s which is kind of cold for just sitting like Seth had to do. We did warm up in the reptile building; that helped quite a bit.

They had all kinds of displays like this one. The spider has his web and catches a fly, then goes and eats it. Kind of cool to see it all in motion. They also had one for the elephants, but I couldn't get those to post. We walked thru the Hippos' mouth, that was pretty neat.

We had a good time despite the cold, Seth was all eyes and ears. We are glad we went right after they opened it for the night as when we left there were flocks of people entering and not a close parking space in sight!

Oranges!

The other day while in the grocery store they had samples of oranges in the fruit dept cut up with the peeling on. So, I picked one up for Seth. I did not imagine the joy that one little thing caused. I have since done this at home, Seth goes bezerk!

They are pretty yummy, mom, you can give them to me anytime!!

Sledding

Today we went sledding at a hill in a park Jason knew about. It was a good sledding hill. I had to brush up on steering a sled, I haven't done it since I was a kid. Seth had a blast, the hill was long, and we all had a good time.

Ready to go down the hill!

Jason pulling Seth up the hill in the sled. That was the hardest part!!

Seth had to be a part of the action, he pulled the sled very nicely, but didn't always stay on the path but wanted to go in deeper snow.

Going up the hill with Seth in the sled on his stomache, that was really fun!! We wore out the kid, he was in bed by 7:30 tonight!!

Ready to go play in the snow

Seth loves to go and play out in the snow with whoever will go with him. We have had to get him all bundled up to go b/c it has not been so warm around here lately. But, given from his smiles, I think it is well worth all the extra work.


The other weekend, Seth and Jason went out to play in the snow and built a fort and a snowman, that was pretty good b/c we didn't have that much snow outside at the time.

I'm going out again mom, see you later! We will have to brush up on our skills to play in the snow, b/c this little one sure likes it. And, we get our exercise too!!

The end of this year has been particularly difficult for us as we went through a miscarriage. I have found some beauty though despite all the pain and grief. My Christmas cactus did not bloom last year, but this year it can't stop blooming. I counted about 8 buds on there, most have already come and gone, but there are still a couple left. But, I took some pictures as they were just so pretty.

I have enjoyed it and hope you do too.

Trip to Washington

We went to visit my parents who were in Mt Vernon, WA on an interim pastor position the first weekend of December and got to see some sights. Seth went on a plane and boat for the first time on this trip, pretty exciting for someone so young.

Leaving the dock to go to the San Juan islands.

The entry and exit for cars coming off/on the ferry.

We went to Friday Harbor, on the San Juans. We hadn't been there before b/c we did not have time when we were there in 2006. It was nice to see this once.

Seth had a long day and on the ferry ride back he fell asleep on grandpa's lap. He NEVER does that, so he was pretty tired. He stayed asleep pretty much the whole way back to the car too.