Seattle with Santa

CATCHING UP

(What we were up to in December)

Kaden & I spent another fun weekend up in Seattle. This time it was for my little cousin Erica's 6th birthday party. The party was a breakfast with Santa at the Marriott. Santa even brought his reindeer for the kids to check out. Very cool!

Erica, the birthday girl (with the pink crown) & her friend Lola getting their balloon animals.

A balloon elf hat!

My aunt Anita, Erica & her friend Ethan. Kaden thinks that Ethan is his coolest friend!

My cousins Anna & Alexis & another friend.
We braved the snowy weather & made it out to Redmond Lights that evening. It is a really fun walk along the river with music & goodies along the way. It ends up at Redmond Center, a fancy outdoor shopping area, all the resturants offer samples out in the courtyard areas, so yummy! Although the weather cooperated that evening it had been snowing all day & alot of the booths & musicians pulled out. We really missed the live nativity with a complete petting zoo this year.


As it warmed up we started to shed some of our layers.
Face painting at Starbucks.




Playing with the Red Robin mascot.

We always have so much fun up there!

Christmas Activities

Cutting down the perfect Christmas tree.

This was our Christmas card shot, it had a caption bubble above Kaden saying "Merry Christmas" & a thought bubble above Wickett saying "I asked for a pork chop!" Too funny. Storybook Land in Albany.

We got some snow at our house.
Mandy moved in next door & we were treated to a visit from Robyn!

Christmas x 3...

We started Christmas with Brad's family at his mom's house.

Kaden & Howard always have fun with Great-Grampa, Papa A.D.

Playing doctor with Grama Betty.

Lots of great toys!

Then we had Brad's Dad come to Christmas at our house.

A great big hug for Papa Bill for the super cool train table!
Then it was off to my folks in Prineville for round 3.

We decided to do homemade gifts for each other this year (with a couple exceptions for Kaden) & unfortunatly I didn't get pics of many of the great things that were created. Here though are a couple.
Love how my sisters dog Dobber got into this shot.

Kaden got his very own fishing rod from Papa 'eve.

Grama Nana made him a heating pad froggy to keep him toasty at night! I'm not sure how good of an idea it is to teach him to put frogs in the microwave!
Uncle Dave trying to burn the house down with his demonstration of how to use the flint stone in the survival packs he made. Very creative!
Bathtime fun with Grama Nana

So much Snow!

Right after Christmas we went sledding up on Santiam Pass.

Kaden & Brad

Brad told him to just roll down the embankment to keep him from sinking into the snow everytime he tried to walk where it was really deep.

I guess it doesn't taste so great.

The girls made a cool snow cave.
Roar! Snow cave monster!
Even snow monsters need to rest.
Funny Erica.

Brad goes to India

Brad recenlty went on a business trip to Hyderabad, India.

Golconda Fort - Famous military outpost in the Andhra Pradesh state.

The Charminar - Mosque of the four minarets. One of the most popular landmarks in Hyderabad.

Mecca Masjid - Popular mosque in India. It was bombed two weeks before and a few weeks after Brad was there. Probably not a good place to site see.

Statue of Buddha on the Hussain Sagar Lake.

Brad playing cricket with some of the locals.