An Unforgettable First Christmas

O.K.'s first Christmas will not be soon forgotten--at least by his parents. We had a WONDERFUL time visiting family, but in between the fun was filled with...well, "adventure" is the most positive way to put it. One day (probably soon) we will be able to look back at this trip and have a good laugh.


Things didn't start well. We missed our flight out of Philly, but thankfully we were able to get a flight to Seattle for later that day. Oscar was almost as antsy as his parents to finally get on the plane.

Once settled in our seats, he konked out pretty quickly.

When we arrived in Seattle we picked up our rental car and drove through dense fog to Portland. We could see only 20 feet in front of us. Add to that the fact that we were on "east coast time" which put it somewhere around 1:00 AM for us when we started. By the time we arrived, we'd been awake for over 24 hours.

Grayson had stayed over at Nana's, so when we awoke on Christmas Eve Day, he was there! We loved getting to spend some time with him.

Nana and her grandsons (and Eli, the dog).

Grayson snapped this shot of Elizabeth with her camera.

We had a wonderful day, relaxing after our long journey, playing games, opening stockings and gifts, and eating, eating, eating. (Have we mentioned before Nana's talent for "throwing together" a terrific meal? She makes it look so easy.)

Christmas Day we headed out to Newberg. Again, the day was filled with good food (and coffee), stockings, caroling, hacking, plenty of picture-taking, and lots of catching up. The days that followed were filled with more of the same sweet stuff.

Oscar and Darcy made some noise.

We even took in a 3D movie with the siblings.


Uncle John and Aunt Erin took some great pics of O.K. at the park.
Here are a few...

And then, Oscar got sick. So did John and I. Then Pop (aka Gum), Uncle John, and Aunt Erin got it. And then it hit Uncle Pete, Grandma Williams, and our cousin, Derric. It was a knock-you-down kind of sick, but thankfully it didn't last more than a day or so for most of us. Oscar, however, continued to be pretty ill. Being sick kept us in Newberg longer than we'd planned.

Is THIS where O.K. picked up this nasty bug?

Finally we decided we needed to get back to Portland to get in some more Nana time. It had started to snow, but we figured if we hurried we could make it there before it got too bad. We left at 4:00 PM. We made it up Rex Hill to Sherwood in about 2 hours (this normally takes 8-10 minutes). There we stopped to put chains on the car and contemplated turning around. Right about then we heard on the radio that Rex Hill was now closed, so we kept going toward Portland. To make a long story short, it took us SIX HOURS to drive what is normally a 35-45 minute trip. As if that weren't enough, O.K. continued to be sick during the drive. Once again, we were so thankful to finally walk into Elizabeth's cozy home.

BUT, the next day Oscar was still not well. He was getting more and more lethargic and he didn't want to eat or drink anything. We were worried, so we took him to the emergency room. Once there, the docs tried some less invasive treatments, but they didn't help. O.K. ended up with an IV to replenish lost fluids.

One sad kid.

A week and a day is not nearly long enough to get to see our families properly, but when the time came to leave, we were ready to be done with this adventure and back safely in our own beds. Unfortunately, only hours before we left, Nana was also hit with O.K.'s nasty bug. We worried for her (and for the passengers of our flight), but we could not get on that plane fast enough.

Oscar is not yet 100% but he is on the mend, thankfully. After a long sleep, he opened a few presents left by Santa. Some day we will tell him the story of his first Christmas--including all the joy of being with family as well as the "adventure" that made it truly unforgettable.

22+ Inches Later

Out In It

Here's the snow a few hours later
(note: it is so high we are unable to open the backdoor).

After a pair of socks, then leggings, then sandwich baggies, then shoes, followed by snow pants and jacket, all three of us ventured out in the snow with the sled.



I'm going to guess it was more fun for the two Parents than it was for O.K. But if he felt this way, he kept his comments to himself.

First Snow

John's Aunt Jane sent us the most beautiful wooden sled just two days ago. It had belonged to her son, Ben, when he was young. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, as snow was predicted for this weekend. We bought O.K. a snow suit and tried out the whole ensemble in the living room (well, almost--we never did find boots).



Today the snow is here, and while we haven't yet tried out the sled (still working on how to McGyver O.K. into it), we did manage to get outside and at least look at and feel the snow. Oscar observed the new look of the neighborhood with a serious face (or is the so-puffy-I-can't-move snowsuit getting him down?)



The following picture was taken around 1:15 this afternoon. The snow continues to fall, so we'll see how much more we have in a few hours.

Holiday Firsts

Last weekend we started two of hopefully many Christmas traditions: we took a family picture for our "holiday" card, and we went to see Santa.

It took Oscar a minute or so to realize he was on a giant red-clad stranger's lap. Luckily, the photographer took the picture before he figured it out.

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful...

But the tiled-over fireplace is so delightful.

And since we've no place to be,

Let's hang in pajamas and trim the tree.

Thanksgiving

We're already fa-la-la-ing our way to Christmas, but I don't want to forget what a wonderful Thanksgiving we had. With the best excuse of Family, we cooked plenty of tasty food: roast turkey with mushroom gravy, brussel sprouts with apples, maple-glazed carrots, apple pie, and pumpkin tart. The food was delicious, no doubt, but the highlight was an actual relative to be thankful with (and for), John's cousin, Kimberly.

Oscar thought Kimberly was pretty great. She sang new songs to him and let him play with her bracelets.

The day after Thanksgiving we had to make two when-out-of-towners-are-here stops (in spite of all the t-day food)--first to Jim's for cheese-steaks (wit' wiz), and then to Isgro's for cannoli. Kimberly entertained O.K. as we waited in the long line at Jim's. We're so glad to have a bit of family on this side of the country with us.