First Christmas with my Husband!

Erich and I decided to have Christmas as a family and wanted to have a quiet one together. Didn't take any photos, but we had a really nice day.
He got me a digital photo frame, and I got him a figurine he'd been wanting. Alfie got a doggie seatbelt.

Flight home, and Family Christmas party

A super early morning this morning, what with having to catch a flight out of the Seattle/Tahoma airport at 8.30am. Wendy is fine with driving again, and even though there is still snow on the ground, it is pretty clear. We took a small car ferry across instead of driving around the freeway, SO COLD!

For the first time I saw a plane I was traveling in get de-iced before takeoff. That was kinda cool, if disconcerting.

Arriving back in California was great, I missed Erich a LOT.

In the afternoon we headed up to San Francisco to Erich's aunts place for the family Christmas party. SO LOUD! everyone talked so very loud a couple of times my ears rang.
After the kids opened all their gifts, the adults played a game of White Elephant, which is similar to my family's $2 pressie game. In White Elephant each person brings an item from their own home that they no longer want (new stuff!) and people take turns to "steal" or open a new gift.
it was a fun night. :-)

Washington - Friday

A nice bright cold day, and Wendy was feeling up to driving in the snow a little, just up the road enough to find a slope to let the kids sled down.
The first spot we picked wasn't quite sloped enough
So we moved to a slightly steeper part and the kids were off! Wendy was even feeling good enough to slide down once or twice
After all that fun, it was time to sleep

Washington - Thursday

We had a good dumping of snow which meant of course it was time to play in it again! The weather forecast is for worsening weather, so I'm a little worried about my flight back to California on Saturday morning. In the meantiime, we're staying snug inside.

Washington - Wednesday

More snow!
and look, I drove in it... eek!

Washington - Monday

Well, this is what the dog thought of our snowman...
yes, that is a hint of yellow snow on the right.

Washington - Sunday

Had some snow today - Cool!
The kids had all sorts of fun jumping on the trampoline and sliding down a small slope, though since the snow wasn't really deep (at all), sliding was a bit tricky.
Of course, we made the obligatory snowman, but lack of snow kept his size small
Wendy was even feeling ok enough to come out and help

Washington - Saturday

Drove to the hospital with the kids to pick up Wendy, she is apparently recovering very well. Since I am an "alien" I cant get onto the Naval base on my own, so Logan was very proud to sponsor me through the gate checkpoint to get in. Took Wendy home and we had a quiet day.

Washington - Friday

Woke up EARLY and drove Wendy to the naval hospital this morning. Much easier done with GPS. Yay! taking the kids to the bus stop afterwards, and picking them up again after school. Will be picking Wendy up some time tomorrow.

Had a call from the school in the morning, they needed some stuff for Gabriel, but Wendy had forgotten to give me directions on how to get to the school, so the principal decided to drive around and pick it up. Helpful!
Picked the kids up ok at the bus stop, and all going well till 4.30pm ish when the power went off. Two kids, no tv, no lights, and its really really cold outside..
Charades, hide and seek, homework by candlelight, figuring out how to run a power cable from the van to the house... all fun and games.

Washington in Winter

From the 11th to the 20th Wendy (my bridesmaid) has asked me to fly up to Washington to help her out while she has surgery and is recovering. Her husband is currently deployed, and the rest of her family are tied up with their own Christmas preparations and are from out of state too. Since I can work from just about anywhere and I'm not busy with anything right now, I'm able to go up and help her out. I'll miss Erich though, he cant get the time off work. :(

Headed out of San Jose airport at 11.45am and arrived in Seattle/Tacoma at 1.55pm, so was a nice short flight. Wendy met me at the airport and we drove to her place which was another 45 minutes away. When we got there we unloaded the van then we went to pick up her boys Logan and Gabriel from the bus stop. That is one of the reasons I'm needed - Wendy won't be able to drive for a week after her surgery, and the boys need to be dropped off and picked up from the bus stop for school each day, as well as needing me to drop off and pick up Wendy from the hospital tomorrow.

Thanksgiving

Erich and I invited Ted over to share Thanksgiving with us. We just stayed home and watched a movie, but prepared a lovely dinner. Ted contributed the salmon, and we had a roast, sweet potatoes, warmed rolls and of course Pumpkin Pie.
Pumpkin pie was a first for me, the closest I've ever had was pumpkin soup, and since in my opinion eating pumpkin is akin to eating dirt, I was a bit hesitant to give it a try. BUT it was good. More cinnamony than I expected, sweeter and thicker than I thought it would be too. The sort of thing you can only eat one piece of.
In a word, dinner was MMMMmmmmmm

Dance Show - Saturday

I had a better position for the photos on Saturday, and tried to catch a few more of their tricks. Again, it was cool, and the dancing was great.
Peter Pan

The Tiki Room

Cars

I can't remember what song this one was to, but they had awesome moves!

Erich's group - Friend like me - Aladdin


Prince Ali


We are Siamese if you please - 101 Dalmations - or is that Lady & the Tramp?

Jungle Book


Enchanted

Lion King

Dance show - Friday

After countless practices, this Friday and Saturday San Jose Dancesport hosts "Wish Upon A Star", a dance show with all the performances to Disney songs. Erich would be performing to "Friend like me" from Aladdin which is a Jive/Lindy hop. I was taking the photos. The same show was presented both Friday and Saturday.
Some Friday photos:
Peter Pan

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest

Cinderella

The Little Mermaid

Mary Poppins

Aladdin (Yay Erich!)



Lady and the Tramp

The Jungle Book


Enchanted

Lion King


There are heaps more, but the photos I took at the Saturday show are better, so they'll be up soon.

Halloween in America

Arrrr! It be Halloween and I'm a Pirate Puppy!

Ah ha! Check out that Shi'tzu lass in her saucy devil costume!

Friday night dance party at San Jose dance sport was a costumed affair, so, in costume we went.
This'd be my Treasure Hunter/Indiana Jane look. Erich wore Stargate tactical gear.

Peoples costumes were wild and varied.




And the Biggest, Baddest wolf of them all...

Yikes!
We were going to head back closer to home to watch the street revellers but it was rainy, and there was an accident on the freeway on our way home, so we decided to call it a night.
All in all, I was surprised at how early I saw decorations come out on peoples houses (one house that I walk Alfie past most days had decorations at the end of October) I was surprised at how elaborate the decorations, costumes and buildup to Halloween is, and I was surprised that it is something that isn't just a "Kid thing". It was fun to go to a costume event though!