Boat Lights 2016

This year, during the Christmas season, we went down to the river and watched the boats with all of their holiday decorations.  We've done this in the past, and it is one of our favorite things to do during the Christmas season.  People decorate their boats with lots of lights, then drive their boats up and down the river for people to see.  It's interesting to see all of the lights.  Some are new and some are the same ones year after year.  Here's a look.

Boys' Christmas Music Concert

Last month, in December, the boys had a Christmas music concert at their school.  Simon's class had 2 songs to sing.  Sam's class sang.  And Daniel's class sang and played the handbells.  It was a very nice concert, and they were so cute up there singing and performing.  Here's a look.

Simon and His Class

Sam and His Class

Daniel Getting Ready for Handbells

Daniel and His Class

Jeff's First 1/2 Marathon

Last month, Jeff ran his first half marathon.  His friend Ryan had asked him months before if he would run it with him.  Jeff said yes, but they didn't actually obtain bib numbers until the day before the race.  Although Jeff has been running a lot, he wasn't really training for a half marathon, but he did great.

The morning was wet and rainy, but as the sun came up, the rain left and the sun broke through the clouds.  Jeff left early to go pick up Ryan and head to the start line.  I wasn't planning on going to the finish line, but at the last minute, the boys and I packed into the car and headed to the finish line.  It was a little tricky though, because there was no parking at the finish line.  All of the runners had been shuttled to the start line and would be shuttled back to their cars.  So I didn't know if we could make it there.  But we parked in the shuttle parking lot, found a shuttle and made it there in time to see him and Ryan cross the finish line.  It was great to see him accomplish this, and I was glad we were there to see it.

Just Finished!

Ryan, Jeff and the Boys

Portland International Raceway Lights

Here in Portland, there's a raceway that puts up lights all around the track during the holiday season.  Then, cars are allowed to drive out on the track and look at all of the lights.  It's nice because you can view all of these lights from the warmth of your car and listen to Christmas music.  We have never done this before, but this year we decided to try it.  It was a lot of fun, and maybe we'll do it again next year.  Here are some pics from that night.

Skiers

An Arch

A Train

The Nativity

Getting Our Christmas Tree

So I know I'm a little behind.  I got so busy during the Christmas season, I thought I might never have time to blog again.  But it's the new year now and I'm trying to get back into it again.  I actually have quite a few posts I want to talk about, so hopefully I will get caught up in the next few weeks.

This post is about when we went and got our Christmas tree.  We go to a local Christmas tree farm, not too far from here.  My parents were visiting, so they went with us this year.  It was a cold day, but sunny which was nice.  We walked around until we found the right tree.  Then Jeff cut it down.  After that, we waited by a bonfire and drank hot chocolate while they tied the tree onto the car.  Then we drove home and had a fun time decorating it and putting it up in the living room.  I hope you enjoyed your Christmas season too this past year!

Sam

Simon

Sam, Daniel, Simon

Jeff cutting, Grandpa holding

Enjoying hot chocolate and the fire

Ready for the Star

Simon Puts the Star on the Tree