Winter Wonderland

For those you keeping track of the news from afar, we are having a winter wonderland in Oregon this Christmas. I guess too many people dreamed of a white Christmas and they got their wish. I know for those Minnesotans out there, you are probably chuckling... how can a little snow shut down a city? Well, it has shut down Portland since Saturday. You see, we have very few plows and most of the roads are on hills here. So, the roads around us are full of about a foot of compacted snow.

I would post pictures of Luke in the snow, but he *hates* the cold. If he seems more agreeable about the snow, I will try to take a few photos. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve already ... my guess is that our church services will be canceled (as they were on Sunday). Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

Quick San Diego Trip

Our family took a quick trip to San Diego last weekend (all planned two days before we left). No, it was not an emergency of any kind. Tom had to meet with some colleagues at Qualcomm in San Diego, and since the price of a plane ticket for me was $300, we all went to San Diego. Everywhere in the country experienced winter weather last weekend, and San Diego was not spared. Fortunately, the sun was out Sunday and Tuesday of our trip and it just sprinkled on Saturday and poured on Tuesday. Even with "bad" San Diego weather, we still enjoyed some time in the cool air and in the sunshine. We spent Saturday in Old Town, shopping and looking at a few museums. On Sunday, we went to Seaworld and enjoyed the park with few attendees. Tom worked Monday and Tuesday, so Luke and I hung out during the day together. We explored the science museum and natural history museum on Monday (Luke even napped, so I could watch an IMAX movie) and we had a great dinner with Tom's colleagues at Buca di beppo. I took Luke to the Wild Animal Park on Tuesday. Of all the animals at the park, Luke was most entertained by the ducks. Luke was an almost perfectly behaved young man on the entire vacation ... until the plane ride home. Fortunately, the gate agent gave us an entire row to ourselves at the back of the plane. Luke had no interest in napping, even though he was extremely tired. We landed in Portland to a winter wonderland. Enjoy some photos from our quick holiday getaway.


Looking at the old stagecoaches


The hotel suite had a big mirror!


Watching the dolphins


At the shark exhibit


Tammy even rode the splash roller coaster!


Watching the polar bears


A walrus


Shamu


What balance!!


Our family - Merry Christmas to you!


The flamingos


What do you see, Luke?


Luke found a computer at the science museum


The xylophones


Luke with one of Tom's co-workers


At the Wild Animal Park


A baby rhino and his mom - Wild Animal Park


The lion cub den


In the bird aviary


Near the ducks and cranes


At the animal show


Wheee... on the carousel

Luke's "first" first birthday party

Some of you know about the "baby" group that I joined after becoming a mom. We have named ourselves the "puddle jumpers" and have about 25 babies in the group! I enjoyed all the time I spent with the baby group while on maternity leave. Now that I am back to work, I do not get to see the other babies and parents very often, so it was great seeing everyone again. The babies with November or December birthdays hosted a party at Gymboree (think of an indoor park) a few weeks ago. It was sure entertaining to watch 20 babies crawl or walk around during playtime.

Luke also had play time with two of his friends from baby group. We enjoyed a great dinner at Kyle's house one evening. I celebrated my first day off from school by meeting Anna and Linh at the science museum for lunch last Friday. I'm not sure if Luke enjoys seeing his friends, but we sure enjoy spending time with the other parents.


Getting ready for the play room!


A tunnel!!


Look at all the babies!


Parachute time!


Luke's first birthday cake


Playing at Kyle's house


Thanks, Kyle, for pushing me around


Mmmmm... spaghetti


Fun with my friend, Anna, and mommy's friend, Linh


OMSI fun

Giving thanks!

A happy (late) Thanksgiving to everyone in blog-land. We certainly appreciate you being part of Luke's life - it really does take a village to raise a child. Our family stayed in Oregon for Thanksgiving this year (mostly to avoid a 5-hour plane ride to MI with a crawling baby - this turned out to be a wise decision, as we just had a 2-hour plane ride to and from San Diego). We did get to "see" Tom's family via videoconferencing over the holiday weekend and we spent Thanksgiving day at my aunt and uncle's house. Boy, we all had a wonderful time! A special treat was that Tom's grandparents joined us for Thanksgiving (Rollin and Paula moved to SW Washington in October), so Luke got to meet Rollin for the first time. My cousin, Matt, played the part of a comic, entertaining us all afternoon and evening. My tummy muscles got a workout from all the laughter.

We learned that Luke *loves* Sharon's pumpkin pie and Vickie's sweet potatoes. Luke ate an entire piece of pumpkin pie the day after Thanksgiving!


Paula and Luke


Playing cards with Uncle Wayne


Enjoying Aunt Vickie


Mmmmm.... pumpkin pie


Laughing with Aunt Sharon

November fun

Whew - the end of 2008 is sure going by quickly for our family. As you can probably tell by our lack of posts, we have been keeping ourselves busy this fall. I was busy with school the last few weeks of the term and felt a huge relief when all those papers and final exams were graded last Friday.

Highlights from November include Maddie's (Luke's cousin) baptism, trying to get a good photo of Luke in his Santa suit (we tried for 2 hours and did not get any great shots), attending UP men's basketball games, and seeing friends and family. Enjoy these photos from late November:


Luke can really crawl fast now!


Our happy little guy


Maddie's baptism


Bath time!


Is Santa bringing us new electronics this year?


Do you want to learn to walk?


All smiles!


Playing with my neighbor, Kyle.


Go pilots!

Our little lion

Watch Luke go...

Fall Firsts

Luke is really having a great time experiencing his first Fall season. (On the other hand, Tom is not enjoying the fall football season quite as much...Michigan is having a terrible year.) The end of October kept us busy: Tom's birthday dinner, a church retreat at Cannon Beach with almost summer-like weather, and a costume party for two of Luke's friends from mommy group (see all the kids dressed up below). Luke had an excellent first Halloween, too - we took him trick-or-treating in the UP dorms. Luke was a bit confused by all the strange-looking people in costumes, but he sure lit up when he met the female students (especially blondes). Our little guy got a taste of a tootsie roll, too.

November has been a little more relaxed for us. We had our friends Kristin and Steve over for dinner a week ago and spent some time playing the wii. This past week, all of us got hit with bad colds. It took Luke several days to break his fever, but he is finally getting back to his normal self.


Tom, Tammy, and Maddie
















Happy birthday, Tom! Sharon has Luke and Maddie



Luke, you have food all over your face

Do you like leaves, Luke?



At the beach retreat - all smiles



What an awesome sunset display



Luke - are you taking a break from the party action?



All the babies!! - mass chaos



Where are you going?


Love those keys



Go pilots!!