Christmas Morning in B.C.

 What a lovely way to spend Christmas morning!  A lazy morning and afternoon with family.

The boys were so patient waiting to open their stockings during the coffee and bagel run.  A perfect time for ornament art.

Coloring ornaments with Auntie Jo

Almost time!! 

This about sums up the trip!!

More Vancouver Fun

Stanley Park was fun, but oh so cold!!  Glad to get out a bit to burn off some energy.

Vintage Bowling

First experience with Five Pin bowling.  So fun!  I had beginners luck and won the first game with the high score!  The boys did well too, even without bumpers.  We're hooked!

Lukas was a hoot with his poses! 

Family fun!!

Vancouver, B.C.

We spent Christmas in Vancouver, B.C. with Paul's family.  What a fun city!  We did TONS of walking to explore the sites of the city, and had plenty of down time too.  The weather was very crisp, but the sun was shinning for most of the trip which made up for the cold temps.

One day we logged about 9 miles!!

Watch out for the sea weed Jim!

Our favorite statues...so fun posing!  

The boys loved traveling by water taxi!

A white Christmas....almost

We spent Christmas in Vancouver, BC this year, and while the temps were frigid, there was only a bit of snow on the ground.  Meanwhile, back in Hood River, we heard news of new snow falling.  All the boys wanted to do was to go home so they could play in it.  We arrived back home late on Christmas night and the next morning, Charlie saw the blanket of snow and said - WOAH!  Look at all that snow!  So after breakfast we got bundled up and headed outside.

The snow was calling for Snow angels.

Lukas was trying to make snowballs.

And, football of course, for Charlie. 

A great morning!

Charlie's First Recital

Charlie had his first piano recital tonight and he did amazing!  I would have been shaking in my boots to get up in front of everyone, but Charlie was a rock star.

He played two solo songs and one duet.  However, he got mixed up in his order and ended up playing his duet solo before he was supposed to, so he actually played it twice.  He ended up doing four songs on stage!    

He did forget to smile when he was on stage after his songs, but I really don't blame him!  We were grinning from ear to ear.  Below are the videos of his songs.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas & Jolly Old St. Nicholas

London Bridges

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

Christmas Parade

We look forward to the Christmas parade and tree lighting every year.  It's the perfect time to run into friends on every corner (literally).

Some of our parade favorites were (click to enlarge photos):

And of course, Santa paid a visit! 

The crazy crew of boys back together again!

 The streets were packed!

The boys got to write a letter to Santa and put it into the North Pole Express mail box.  

Turkey Day

What would Thanksgiving day be without football!?!

What a bunch of Turkeys!!

Ice Capades

Another fun highlight was Ice Skating.  It really got me into the Christmas spirit.

The skating crew

 

Charlie picked it up fairly quickly - he did great for his first time!  

 Lukas had a rough start but after his first time around using the "walker" he just wanted to skate with mom and auntie Dena.  We could barely get him off the ice.  By the end he was so proud that he could skate on one leg.

Just about the only times Charlie took a break was to drink his hot chocolate - which was delish by the way!  Here he is patiently waiting for it.

Modesto

We packed in a lot during our time in Modesto.  Some highlights include:

A visit to the trampoline gym, which is always a hit.  Here are some pics of the climbing wall.  If you want to see their flips, check out my Instagram page.

Even Lukas gave the wall a shot.  He got up about half way and his little legs couldn't quite reach a few pegs to go further.  I was so proud that he wanted to try (that is huge for him)!

The weather was perfect for an ice cream cone at the park.

We also made a stop at the fire station and saw the crew there and decided to say hello.  The station got a call while they were visiting which was exciting for the boys to see them all move out.