End of Vacation

Well, vacation had to end some time, but before we left Seattle, we took some time to visit with Grandma, Raquel's Aunt Georgette, and Neil's friend Chad. It was good to spend time and catchup with all of them.

Family Get Together

While it was unfortunate that everyone couldn't be together for Christmas because the weather, it turned out well that Grandma, Dave, and Jeannette were coming down when Rebecca, Ryan and the kids drove up from Cathlamet so we could all have some time together. We got to catch up with them and they got to see how much the kids have grown. A good time was had by all over a nice lunch.

Snowboarding Baby!!!!

Of course John and Neil had to get out and go snowboarding while we were in Seattle.

We made the 3 hour trip up to Mount Baker (the only place to board).

John sums up the excitement of the day . . .

Can't you tell he's excited?You can see I am.Some shots of the beautiful scenery. This one looks down from the slopes to the top of one of the chair lifts (the clearing furthest down the slope).From the same basic spot looking up later in the day (it was cloudy most of the day).Looking up at Mount Shuksan from the bottom of the slopes.
We were tired and sore at the end of the day, but what a blast! Can't wait until next winter to do it again.

Back to Seattle

After spending Christmas week in Cathlamet, we went back north to spend New Year's week with John, Amy and Grace.

We got out some.

And stayed in some and played with Grace and "Kerbit".

Astoria & Cape Disappointment

We got out and visited Astoria, specifically the maritime museum and Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia River. (It was named for Lewis & Clark's feelings about the location).

We got some fun shots of the girls looking out of a porthole from ship mock up.

While the older ladies did some shopping, Dad, Ryan and the younger girls went to Cape Disappointment. It was pretty windy at the top. It was blowing my glasses around on my face and you can tell that Lila didn't have much success keeping her eyes open in the wind.

Time with Family

Of course, the best part of vacation was spending time with family. Some shots of time with Mom, Dad, Rebecca, Ryan, Emily, Alaina, Lila and Rylan.

Dad, Ryan and I getting the church ready for services the Sunday before Christmas.

Everyone on Christmas Day.

Raquel found another family member in the guest room.Some shots from Christmas day . . .

A Blizzard

One of the cool things of our vacation in Washington was all of the snow. We definitely had a white Christmas. It had snowed before we got there, and it was actively snowing through about mid-day on Christmas. No one had seen so much snow for so long in Western Washington for years. Praise God we made it safely to Ryan and Rebecca's house and were able to stay toasty warm close to the wood stove. (Thanks guys!!)

Here's a shot of some particularly heavy snowfall. This is from Rebecca and Ryan's front porch.

Of course we had to get out and play in the snow. See Rebecca's sledding post on her blog for more pics of that day.

Neil enjoyed playing with Ryan's tractor, clearing the driveway. Here Neil is learning how to lower the blade to prevent the tractor from sliding backwards all the way down the driveway. (We built up a little speed before I figured that out - that made for extra excitement).

Below is a series of shots to show you how deep the snow got over time. This first one was taken Sunday the 21st (the day after we got there). Notice how much space there is between the snow and the bottom of the umbrella.

This shot is from Monday morning the next day. You can tell the snow is much closer to the bottom of the umbrella and is measuring about 12" on Ryan's measuring tape.

This shot is from Christmas morning (3 days later). Can't even see the bottom of the umbrella now.

Vacation Baby!!!

Shortly before starting this blast of recent posts, we completed our Christmas vacation. We were able to take two full weeks and go to Washington state to visit Neil's family. We flew into Seattle and spent a night with John, Amy and Grace before heading out for a quick stop at Grandma's and then the drive down to Cathlamet to visit Rebecca, Ryan and the kids.

Before taking off on the drive, we took some time out to play with Grace. She's a lot of fun to play with, because she likes to make faces of all kinds.

Round the World Tour

For a week and a half in December, Raquel went on a round-the-world tour for work. She had the following itinerary: Houston - Amsterdam - Kazakhstan (4 days) - Bangkok (5 days) - Tokyo - Houston. The first work stop was in Kazakhstan.

For those of you wondering where Kazakhstan is, it sits right on top of all of the rest of the Stans in Central Asia. (I had to consult a map myself.)

This is a picture of some of them at a local restaurant. Raquel's boss (Taco - from the Netherlands) is sitting next to her. Notice all of the cool albums on the wall. The Monkey's made it on wall with Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, the Cars and the sound track to one of the James Bond films.

This is some of the local handi-crafts. It is a bride sitting on a camel.

After a few days in Kazakhstan, it was time to head to Bangkok, Thailand, which is one of the cities we visited on our 10th anniversary trip to Southeast Asia. Raquel was determined to have fun, seeing some the sites (whoops - I mean markets) that we had seen before.

Here she is in the airport, in front of a depiction of a Hindu story of the churning of the great sea of milk for the elixir of everlasting life.

Here is a shot of the city from her hotel room. Its certainly a modern city.While its a modern city, its still Thailand, where the elephant is revered. While they don't let them roam free anymore, they do have them in the city sometimes. This one is working on his parallel parking skills. Looks like he still has some learning to do.Here's a shot inside the Chatuchak market, which is said to be the largest market in the world. Raquel was in heaven.Raquel said she went for work, but now we know what she really went for . . .Of course she won silly - she's beautiful!!

Holiday Party

Raquel was supposed to be gone the first week of December for a business trip, but it got delayed, so we were able to go to the company Christmas party. It was in a nice hotel downtown, had a good meal and some music and dancing. A good time was had by all.

Here is Raquel with some of her co-workers and/or dates. They are from all over the world.

Merry Christmas!!!