Celebrating Christmas Part 3

When we got back home, we celebrated Christmas one more time with our cousins who live in our neighborhood.  We met them and had a nice dinner together, and then we let everyone open presents. It felt like we had really spread out Christmas this year.  Even the kids kept asking, "Are we still celebrating Christmas?"  It was a fun way to spread out all of the fun Christmas cheer during the holiday season.  This was our final celebration.  Then we moved on to the New Year!

Saying Good-bye to Palm Springs

We had a nice time while in Palm Springs.  Not only did we celebrate Christmas there, and visit Joshua Tree, we did some other fun things.  The boys enjoyed swimming in the heated pool.  Jeff and I got to do some morning runs together.  We went out to dinner at some of our favorite places.  I was able to visit with my Aunt and Uncle.  And I was also able to visit with a good friend of mine who drove up to see me from San Diego.  We also celebrated Grandpa's birthday.  It was a fun trip!

Dinner at Kobe's

Grandpa's Birthday

Joshua Tree

While in Palm Springs, we took a day to visit Joshua Tree National Park.  The boys were so excited and really looking forward to climbing on all of the big rocks.  They had also filled out their Junior Ranger Booklets in hopes of fulfilling the requirements and getting their Junior Ranger Badges.

We got up early and drove out there.  It took us a little over an hour to get there.  The first thing we did was stop at the Ranger Station and listen to one of the Rangers give a talk about the park.  That was one of the requirements for getting the badges.  After that we drove around and stopped at one of the many viewing areas.  We hadn't even gotten a mile into the park, and the boys were already enjoying walking around and climbing on everything.  Next we stopped at a hike and walked around. Later we had lunch.  We kept driving and stopping at a few more places, although we didn't have time  to stop at every one.  At the end of the day, we stopped again at another Ranger Station and the boys were sworn in as Junior Rangers and got their badges.  Then we headed back to Palm Springs.

Celebrating Christmas Part 2

On Christmas Eve, we flew down to Palm Springs.  We met up with Grandma and Grandpa Youker and Aunt Cheryl.  We drove to our rental house and got settled.  The next day was Christmas.  We had a few presents to exchange.  Then we went and had a nice brunch at a nearby hotel.  It was sunny, and we enjoyed being with each other and celebrating Christmas together.

Celebrating Christmas Part 1

This year, we celebrated Christmas in stages.  First, of all, we were going to be gone for the actual Christmas Day, so on the night before we left for our vacation, we opened our Christmas gifts that we had received from our family in Cd'A.  My parents and my sister and her family had sent us some presents, so we opened those up before we left.  It was fun to begin celebrating a couple of days early.  The boys enjoyed receiving some fun games and other fun gifts.  Thanks to our family in Cd'A!

Zoo Lights 2016

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is going to the Oregon Zoo and seeing the zoo lights.  Every holiday season, they put up lights around the zoo, they stay open later into the evening, and people come and view the lights.  They also have a zoo train that you can ride that takes you around the zoo to look at the various lights.  So we bundle up, because it's usually quite cold, and went for it one evening before Christmas.  We rode the train and had a fun time walking around looking at the lights.

School Music Concert

This year, our school music concert had to be moved, due to snow.  It was supposed to be on Wednesday, Dec. 14, but it got moved to Tuesday, Dec. 20 because a snow storm hit us on Dec. 14.  But we were all flexible and had the concert on Tuesday.

The boys did great.  Simon's class did a couple of singing numbers.  Sam's class also sang two songs. Daniel's class sang one song, and he also played in the beginner band this year.  He actually had a solo in one of the songs.  We were very proud of him.  He plays the trombone, and he has picked it up very quickly.  In addition to playing in the beginner band, the band teacher had also asked some of the beginner band students to play in the advance jr. high band, and Daniel was one of those.  So he was excited to do that.

The whole concert was very nice and we enjoyed listening to everyone play and sing.