Time to Travel--#2

So our second travel destination involved elevation also, but instead of going up into the mountains we were going to be headed down towards a valley. We had plans to see a beautiful waterfall that extends 100 feet taller than Niagra! Little Bear was so excited, as were we! We picked Grandma Bear up and headed east. The sight was supposed to be...

On the 35 minute drive there we looked in awe at God's beauty around us and gloated at how perfect it was that we'd picked yet another rare sunny, beautiful day to go see the sights. As we got closer to our destination this is what we could see...

Beautiful mountains, right? Clear blue sky above, right? Well do you see the clouds down there on the ground? Yep, that's where we were headed. We held out hope though. We weren't even certain that the waterfall wasn't back up the hill a bit and out of the clouds. So on we went.

Here's what we saw next...

Yep, definitely headed into the clouds. But we could still come out of it! So we trudged on into the "funk" as Little Bear calls it.

We made it to our waterfall and though fog, or "funk," was all around us we kept hoping that we would get to see even an outline of the falls...um, think again. Here's what we saw...

Here's what we should've seen.

Here we are in front of the waterfall. :) Gorgeous, right?

We hurried back to the car to escape the damp, cold air and thought maybe we could redeem our trip by heading over to the railway museum just minutes away. They surely had some trains we could tour or a display of small electric trains we could watch. At least a warm place to sit down for Mama Bear to feed Baby Sister.

FAIL again!

We stayed long enough to take a picture of Baby Sister, future train engineer, in the "bookstore..."

We took a picture of Daddy Bear and Little Bear in front of one of the trains we had hoped to board...

...and headed to dinner at a very mediocre Mexican restaurant.

So "Time to Travel--#2" was not quite what we'd hoped for but we had great family time, now we know what couple of things we WEREN'T missing, and we have high hopes for the next trip! Until then, a blessed Advent to you!!

Baby Sister meets BABIES!

Our wonderful neighborhood has more great things going for it than we can begin to describe! We feel so blessed to live in our beautiful house, by the incredible people around us! While Little Bear has made some very nice friends, none of them are really his age. Older, younger, and then MUCH younger. Interestingly, all of the much younger ones are girls and are sure to be Baby Sister's BFFs in the months to come.

Mama Bear and two of our neighbors, and friends, have birthdays close together in December so we had a birthday dinner to honor all three. The three birthday ladies have all had baby girls born in the past 6 months. We thought it would be fun to lay the girls down together to see how they compare in size (6 months, 9 weeks, and 6 weeks). Baby Sister didn't quite know what to think of the young'uns around her but we know that one day soon the girls will be good buddies!

One week ago today, Baby Sister's FIRST baby girl first cousin was born! We were thrilled to get to meet her on Monday and give her snuggles. These two are SURE to be the best of friends in the years to come! It will be so fun to watch them grow up together (and beat up on their older brothers).

It just doesn't get much sweeter!!

Time to Travel--#1

Since moving out west we have had very little time or energy to explore the area and see the sights. We decided that since Daddy Bear is about to leave for 6 MONTHS (Ugh!), and since Baby Sister is finally better at sleeping and entertaining herself in her carseat, we had better get to traveling! So our first stop was to the beautiful mountain/volcano that we have seen hundreds of times from a distance, but never from ON it! What a gorgeous winter day we picked to start our explorations!!!

Up we hiked (and heaved)!

And down we sledded!

Even Baby Sister got to have her first sled ride.

Snow angels were made!

Foxes were spotted!

Snuggles were shared!

Fun was had!

Stay tuned for Time to Travel--#2.

6 MONTHS old already??

I cannot believe it has been half a year since our little Mili was born! What a blessed, speedy 6 months they have been! Life is as busy as ever but a week and a half have already passed since her 6 month birthday and I'm yet to post pictures. Alas, I figured something would be better than nothing so here goes!

Baby Sister LOVES chewing on fingers (doesn't matter whose they are)!

She LOVES her brother! (That's why she's not looking at the camera in this shot--Little Bear is too funny and distracting!)

She loves grabbing her toes (or chewing on them, whichever is more convenient)!

And she LOVES rice cereal!

(And Little Bear LOVES when he gets to feed her!)

Best of all, she LOVES life and we can't stop loving her! Always smiling and giggling! Always lovably adorably wonderfully cute!

I (Mama Bear) LOVE these pictures from a little photo shoot I took on Baby Sister's 6 month birthday. Though I can hardly get them to both look at the camera at the same time let alone both smile for me, you can see it in their faces and body language how much they enjoy each other. It just melts my heart! Such a blessing they are!!!

Aren't they the sweetest??

More later.

Sweet Laughter

We hope these giggles bless you as much as they have us!

All Hallow's Eve--A LONG WEEKEND of fun!

Our Halloween weekend started out at the Harvest Festival with our sweet neighbor friends.

Cookie decorating and candy collecting fun!

Then Sunday was filled with family fun, including a drizzly day hike!

We're starting to figure out how to deal with this PNW weather!

So cute in his rain gear!

The ant hills here are bigger than LB!

Then finally the day LB had been talking about since October 1st had arrived--All Hallow's Eve!! We celebrated in true American style, with costumes and candy! We kept the skulls, witches, and ghouls out of our own personal family celebration, but definitely talked about where they all fit into it all.

Our little cardiologist and ladybug with Little Red Riding Hood,

the doctor and Pebbles,

and LB with more of the girls...he wasn't too sure where he fit in with all the princesses. ;) We're kind of hurting for little boys on our street.

Trick-or-treating at "Mr. Bill's" house. We told our friend that he may have an overnight guest as he HEAPED handfulls of candy into LB's pumpkin bag.

After the "villager" kids had their fill of candy, we joined the crew to TREAT the rest of the neighborhood kids. LB did a great job of handing out candy to other trick-or-treaters.

After our candy was all passed out, we headed home and in true LB style the doctor analyzed his candy one by one.

As we waited for the sugar-high to wear off, I made my cuties pose for one last Halloween portrait.

The handsomest cardiologist I've ever met!

And the cutest little ladybug I've ever known!

We went as a family to All Saints Day Mass the following day. Then that night LB picked his favorite, St. Stephen, as we read about all the saints in his books before bed. Lastly we closed in our nighttime family prayer and asked for the saints to pray for us as we continue our journey here on earth.

Pumpkin Carving

Catch-up post #3:

PUMPKIN CARVING

As mentioned in the Pumpkin Patch post, we only made it home with two very small pumpkins. These were good for painting but were not ideal for carving. So Mama Bear and Little Bear went to a local market to pick up a couple of big ones before Daddy Bear came home from his LONG 2-wk trip.

Mama Bear gathered supplies and helped with cutting out patterns and tracing them on while Little Bear and Daddy Bear did the scooping.

Meanwhile, Baby Sister smiled nearby.

Then came the carving. MB rushedly carved hers with a cheap pumpkin carving knife while DB and LB took their time with a sharp kitchen knife.

Both turned out pretty GREAT! Don't ya think??