New Years Eve at the Beach

On New Years Eve, we headed to the beach and enjoy the day. Oh how New Years Eve has changed for us. :) We picked up Grandma Debbie and headed to Newport to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium! Since we visit the zoo so often, we weren't sure how much Henry would enjoy it, but he loved it! Since all the exhibits were up close (mostly big fish tanks), he just ran up to them and watch the different ocean animals! Checking out the birds with Daddy . . . Exploring some of the fun art exhibits and displays . . . Seeing what starfish and sea anemones feel like . . . And of course running up to all the big fish tanks! . . . Colorful jellyfish . . . Oh no! We lost Henry in the fish tank! . . . Well, OK, he crawled through the tunnel with Daddy to the inside viewing bubble. . . Crawling through another fun tunnel . . . And of course a family picture (thanks for taking our pic Grandma!) . . . After that we headed home for an exciting evening of watching the ball drop with some sparkling cider! But amazingly we did stay up until midnight (Nate and I, Henry of course headed off to bed), so we consider it a successful New Years Eve. :)

Christmas!

We had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas. Henry really got into opening presents and playing with all his new treasures. We had lots of time with family and friends and of course lots of good food and treats. :) Here Henry is discovering all the wonderful things that Santa and others had left under the tree . . . "Is that wagon for me??" . . . Checking out everything in his stocking . . . Yay!! And taking a ride around the house in his new wagon from Santa . . . Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Mike came over to help open presents and check out the new toys. I guess we were too busy playing to get any family pictures or unwrapping pics, but trust me, we had fun. :) The day after Christmas, Grandma Connie & Grandpa Gary arrived for a visit us and even took Henry on a wagon ride outside! . . . Henry playing with Grandpa Gary and one of his new presents . . . Thanks for visiting Grandma and Grandpa! We had a lot of fun and can't wait to see you again! After Christmas we were also able to visit with Cassidy! And some random Christmas photo shoots . . . So much fun with friends and family! We weren't ready for our vacation to be over and head back to work!

Santa!

This morning we headed out in the rain to see Santa! We weren't sure how Henry would do, but he did wonderfully! There was even the Channel 8 KGW news crew in the room with him and he didn't seem worried at all. I guess we'll see tonight if we made it on the news. :) Trying to figure out who this Santa fellow is . . . Accepting a candy cane . . . And even posing! What a wonderful experience! He also told Santa what dinosaurs say (Roarrr!!).

Holiday Festivities

On Friday Mommy, Daddy, Henry and Grandma Debbie headed out to a local tree lighting and Christmas celebration. Henry loved the cookie decorating part, and especially eating the cookie afterward! . . . Yummy icing! . . . They even had some reindeer that Henry enjoyed watching. They're hard to see in this picture, but they're behind the gate. . . They even had some fake snow to play in. Henry had a blast digging in the "snow" . . . And then later in the weekend we all celebrated the Ducks big Civil War win!! Go Ducks!! . . . Pointing out the Duck mascot in the picture. He loves that duck! . . . And on Sunday we headed out to the zoo to meet some friends for zoolights. Henry loved running around and looking at all the lights and what animals were out . . . The lights from the train . . . Although it was a bit chilly, it was a perfect dry night to explore the zoolights. Definitely a Christmas tradition to keep each year!