All Things December

Around the first of December we had a record snow fall of about 7-9 inches in the Corvallis area followed by a cold snap lasting more then a week with temps dipping down to the single digits at night.  They say this type of storm only happens every 20 years.  This was definitely the most snow I have ever seen here.

 

We had to sweep off the truck before going into town. 

 



 

Gabe enjoyed sweeping so well, he took the liberty to do all of the vehicles.

 

The snow was so dry it was almost impossible to even make a snowball.

 



 

Our first trip into town. This is our local Safeway parking lot.

 

 

We did get out to play in the snow too!

 

 

Since the city does not have the resources to deal with this amount of snowfall followed by freezing temperatures, the downtown area remained icy for over a week.

 

 

Gabe was helping me decorate for Christmas.

 

 

The Gingerbread Construction Project.  Dan said you must decorate the sides first before you elevate the structure.  I definitely think that was a wise choice.

 

 

Of course Gabe had to sample all of the candy.

 

We were all very proud of our little candy house!

 

 



Gabe opened the marble maze as his Christmas Eve gift. It was a big hit!  He has enjoyed playing with it every day since.

 

 

 On Christmas morning, I got up early and set up the fully charged video camera to record the whole event.  In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Gabe hadn't really seemed all the excited about it, so we weren't sure what to expect. He started opening presents with a pretty calm attitude....at first. There were some books, etc. in the first few gifts, so he was happy about that.  The second gift was a Tractor pulling a trailer, so he started to get a little more excited.  The Third gift was a remote control Monster truck, and that was the moment everything changed.  After recovering from his surprise, he jumped up into the air, spun around chanting something that we couldn't quite make out, and proclaimed "It's present opening day!" in the most excited voice I have ever heard.  From that moment on, bows and ribbons were flying, wrapping paper was ripping and the rest of the present opening was somewhat of a frantic blur.  It was so much fun.  Okay....so the reason I went into great detail about this event was because later on in the afternoon I accidentally deleted the video I had taken of Christmas morning and, despite all my efforts,  have not been able to recover it.  I guess it will have to live in our memories.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy a very prosperous and joyful New Year!

Holiday Parade

Gabe and I rode on the Benton County float in the Holiday Parade again this year.  We had alot of fun, although Gabe was frustrated because he wanted to be with all the kids on the street getting candy.  Luckily our float was toward the beginning of the parade, so we jumped off at the end and circled back around to watch the rest of the parade and gather candy with the other kids.

 

 

Halloween 2013

Sir Gabriel, The Dragon Slayer!

 

Fall Fun

This year we visited the Airlie Hills Farm for their annual Harvest Festival.  There was lots of activities for kids, but Gabe really enjoyed the various slides the most.

 

This weekend we had a visit from Dan's Mom and Grandma.  On Saturday we carved our pumpkins. Gabe was not too thrilled about getting his hands in the gooey, slimy pumpkin insides so the rest of us ended up doing all the work.  He was, however, insistent on the pumpkins having mean, scary faces.

 

 

Gabe was showing off his biking skills for his Grandma.

 

Labor Day Weekend in Seaside

Gabe and I drove up to Seaside to spend the Labor Day weekend with my folks and my sister's family.  We stayed at a condo right on beach.  This place had it all too and the location was great.  You just walk right out the door onto the boardwalk, beach, or busy shopping district. 

 

The boys had a great time in the "kiddie" pool, but they did spend time in the big pool and the hot tub too.

 

There are swing sets along the beach, and there happen to be one right in front of our Condo so the boys took turns being pushed by Greg (he is such a good sport!) while Erin and I sipped our coffees in the morning sun.

 

They found a hole in the sand and spent a few hours playing in and around it...sending their cars, trains, and airplanes down into the hole to be ultimately buried in sand.

 

 Enjoying a morning stroll in the surf.

 

 Gabe was very excited to fly a kite, so we let him and Ian take turns holding the string.  There were a few dropped exchanges, but we managed to retrieve the kite every time.

 Here comes the best part....So I had to leave on Monday to head back to Corvallis, but I left Gabe with my folks to finish out the week on the coast with them.  The rest of these pictures my mom sent me throughout the week so I could see what they were up to each day.

 

They found a nice playground the first day.

 

They headed up to Fort Stevens State Park the second day.

 

 

They got to take a tour in the back of this cool truck.  I hear that Gabe was very excited to ride in it and he may consider a career in the army after that experience.

 

 

Of course you cannot go thru Astoria without a visit to Fort George

Brewery.  Okay, I am slightly jealous about missing this part!

 

 

Going to the Oregon Coast was a great way to spend the last official weekend of Summer before everybody starts school again.  Because of the crowds, we are planning this trip again for a different weekend next year.

This Kid......!

Ok, so we arrived home about 5pm Sunday evening following the purchase of Gabe's first pedal bike.  It was a birthday gift from his Grandma, but since we were on vacation, this was our first opportunity to get it.  We immediately took off the training wheels, because I told Gabe he did not need them.  He complained alittle at first, but after working with him for about 15 minutes, he was up and riding on his own!  He practiced all day yesterday while I was working, and by the evening we were riding around the driveway like he'd been doing it for years!  Two years on the balance bike, and there is no reason to use training wheels.  This kid has amazing balance!

Montana

We set out on our two- week road trip to Montana with our first night in a campground in Pasco, Wa.  It was certainly no "destination", but it was a quiet, safe place to stay the first night and it would take us a good part of the way to my folks' house in eastern Washington the second day.

 

Mom and Dad live in a real nice RV park in the summer months up in Northeastern Washington.  We pulled the camper right up into the driveway and spent the night there.  We took advantage of the pool and hot tub right there in the clubhouse before settling in for the night.

The next day we went to a nearby community center that had a really cool water park with all sorts of slides and structures to play on.  My folks had been talking about how much they thought Gabe would like this place, and boy were they right!

 

Gabe and Nana going down the slide together! 

Splash!

 

 And then there was the Big Slide!  Nana and I had to take turns going down the slide with Gabe until we were finally both waterlogged and convinced him to take a break for awhile.

 



 

After leaving my folks' place in Skookum, we headed east thru Idaho and into Montana where we decided to stop for the night at a campground on the Clark Fork river.

 

 

We arrived in Missoula early the next day and took care of some logistics; fishing license, fuel, food, laundry, beer (or course), etc. We spent that night with our friends in town before heading up the west fork of the Bitterroot the next day.

We met Nate, who had been camped up there for a few days, and settled in for five days of camping, fishing, and playing.  (oh, and some relaxing too!)

 

Gabe, Case, and Kellen readying their butterfly nets.

 

There was a great stretch right in our campsite that yielded many, many fish during our stay.

 

The Boys waiting patiently for someone to catch a fish.



 

We had a great time up on the Bitterroot.  The weather had been very hot and dry, so we could not have a camp fire.  We did make it thru a very intense thunder storm that brought with it true "golf ball" sized hail.  But except for that day of rain, we had very mild weather the whole time.

 

We all headed back to Missoula on Sunday.  Everyone was ready for a shower by then!  The boys always found something to keep themselves entertained.  I know Gabe really loved having kids to play with during that first week.

 

 

Since Gabe's 4th birthday was the next day (the day we were leaving), I got him a little cake and we had a birthday party a day early so all the kids could help celebrate.

 

Monday morning we headed out for the next leg of our vacation; Mary and Rogers' house in Columbia Falls, Montana.

 

We saw a few things along the way worthy of a picture.  All the way in Montana, and a big semi dec'd out in Oregon State Beavers logos!

 

We arrived at Mary and Roger's house on Monday afternoon and set out exploring our new surroundings.  They have a beautiful piece of property in the forest and a really nice house they had built about 5 years ago.

 

Mary Kay's Garden.  She has an electric fence around it to keep critters out.  I am proud to say that I am the only one that did not get shocked during our visit!

 



 

Knowing that it was Gabe's Birthday, Mary baked him a brownie cake shaped like a heart, and after dinner we all had brownie cake with ice cream topped with huckleberry sauce.  Yum!

 

Mary and Roger had the next few days off, so the next day they took us up to the big mountain ski resort and we hiked about half way up the mountain to a very lucrative huckleberry patch!  The view was awesome.  You could see the entire Flathead Valley.

Gabe did great on our hike.  I cannot believe he hiked over 2 miles that day!

 

Later that evening, we headed into Glacier National Park.  We had stunning views of the Rocky Mountains.

 



 

We stopped at a place called The Loop.  This is the starting point where the Going to the Sun Road heads up across the Garden Wall to the top of Continental Divide at Logan Pass.  We actually did make it all the way to the top, but it was getting dark and I was personally pretty freaked out by the whole experience to remember to take pictures at the top.  I highly recommend going to the top of Logan Pass, but it is definitely not for the faint of heart.  It was absolutely amazing and definitely the highlight of the trip for me!

 



 

The last day with Mary and Roger, we decided to take it easy so while Dan and Roger headed out to do some fishing, Mary and I took Gabe on the Gondola at the ski resort, and swimming in Whitefish Lake.

 

Mary showing Gabe her rock collection.

 



 

We really enjoyed our time with Mary and Roger.  Gabe was crying alittle when we left, and he has asked about Mary and Roger from time to time since we've been back.

 



 

On our way back home the next day, we camped on the Columbia River in Boardman.  We had another cool thunder storm that brought the temperature down enough to finally sleep.

 



 

As all vacations do, it finally had to end and we are now settling back into work, chores around the house, etc.  It was a wonderful family vacation though, and we will remember it for a long time to come.