Christmas is Here!

Nick likes his Nautica gear

Miranda watches her sister play Guitar Hero

Ward opens a gift from Nick

Ben opens a gift from Nick

Nick opens his XBOX 360

We had a positively wonderful Christmas. We started out on Christmas Eve visiting a friend's Open House up in Issaquah. Then we went to church at Valley View and sang many wonderful Christmas songs, some were old favorites and some were brand new. Then it was over to Pink Grandma' house for ham dinner. We met up with Ben and Christina there. Then at about 9:30 at night, we all went back to our house to open presents and play games. Nick got an XBOX, and he and Ben ended up playing some war game until 2:00 am! I crashed at about 11:30. We awoke Christmas morning bright and early at about 10:00 am. Santa brought Nick the bb gun that used to be Papa's. Nick was pretty thrilled to get his first bb gun. Just like "A Christmas Story"! Next, it was off to Laurece's where we do a kid's gift exchange, a white elephant gift exchange, we had a wonderful roast beef Christmas dinner, and then a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party, which included a "Find the Missing Reindeer" treasure hunt for the kids (Thank you Laurece!!) and Christmas-theme Pictionary for the grown-ups. We all had a really fun time. Pictionary was hilarious. Guys against the Girls. One guy even guessed the word before the picture was even drawn! No kidding. It was too funny.

Now it's the week in between Christmas and New Year's and we are just taking it easy. Nick has a friend over and Ward and I are trying to relax a bit before the busy new year starts.

Enjoy the pictures!!

Guitar Hero

OK, we have found an AWESOME family fun game - Guitar Hero!! This game is made for Playstation, Wii, XBOX that I know of. You press positional plastic keys on a special guitar when corresponding notes appear on the TV screen. What a hoot! It's much more difficult than it looks, even on the "easy" setting. It's fun to play along with classic songs from yesteryear like "Feebird". Of course, Nick is the best in the family (so far, that is!) I actually woke up early this morning, snuck in and practiced for one hour before anyone else woke up! Now that is sick. Hmmm. Extra sleep vs. Guitar Hero. Lemme think! I actually chose GH! I have ventured up to 'medium' on "Message in a Bottle". My goal is to beat my 11 year old son! (and this was a great way to pass the time while we were sick...)

Anyway, if you are looking for a Christmas gift that the whole family will enjoy, try this toy/game. It costs around $90.

Here's a picture of Nick jammin' away.

Ugh! It's the FLU BUG

All three of us have managed to come down with the flu at one point or another over the last three weeks. Nick started out missing a whole week of school and had to struggle to make up all the missed work before Christmas vacation. Then I got sick, then it took down Ward. Just nasty, and with a whole array of symptoms! We all are doing better now, but still with remnant coughing and congestion. We are hoping to be completely back to normal by Christmastime!!

Port Townsend

Ward and I celebrated 16 years of marriage in Port Townsend during the long Thanksgiving weekend. We had a wonderful time. However, on Friday, I was still 'sick' from too much Thanksgiving fun and was horizontal most of the day and evening. I was soooo green and we even had to cancel our lovely fireside dinner reservations at the nicest restaurant in town; an unfortunate consequence for the previous day's activities! I was feeling better by Saturday, which enabled us to salvage two days of fun. We went to the local arts and crafts fair and did our best to stimulate the local economy. The pictures of the bowls are from a local food bank project where you paint a bowl, then later they fire it and then sell it at the next event. All proceeds go to the local food bank.

Ward reserved the penthouse suite of the Swan Hotel, which was absolutely amazing. it had a "crows nest" that opened up to the roof and you could see a 360 degree view of the sound and downtown. I uploaded a picture of the spiral-staircase crows nest access. We just love to hang out, relax, look at the water, shop, read and drink beer & wine. That's a perfect weekend for us!

Thanksgiving Day Bash

Well, Thanksgiving was a HUGE success. I think everyone had a really good time. I must say that the food turned out "pretty good". Not great or amazing; just pretty good. All the anticipated dishes were represented and nothing was ruined. As you know, I am not an excellent cook, so I will take 'pretty good'. The timing worked out well, the presentation was lovely and everyone had a seat. That is what is important to me. Then we proceeded to drink and be quite 'merry'. Much 'Guitar Hero' and pool was played. There were several wine-glass casualties, and people stayed up until they finally crashed. A good time was had by all.