Sunday, December 13, 2015

Windy Spokane and time to ourselves in Seattle

James and Matthew are growing so fast and sometimes you forget that I do not get too see them separately since they are always together.  I thought it was time to go for a hike the other day and since Matthew really cannot hike as much as I wanted I went with James.  We headed up too Mica Peak and hiked about a mile and a half up the hill before he wanted to call it quits.  The plethora of candy I brought along probably helped, but whatever it takes.

Spokane is generally a pretty calm place to live, but three weeks ago we got a huge windstorm and had 70+mph wind all over the area.   At one point in time 180,000 people were without power which is the most ever for this area.  We did not have any snow or rain, so it was really a freak storm.
We lost about 5 packs of shingles off of the roof and lost power for two days.  On day two, we woke  up to the inside temp of 50 degrees, which did not make for a very fun morning.  We did not have it as bad as some.  Those people in town were without power for over six  days.  My wife would have been long gone if we were without power for that long.
Thanksgiving saw Brenda's parents visiting us for a few days and a  bunch of friends over for a big feast.  I am not sure why I did not get more pics, but I did manage to snap this one of one of the huge apples Jim and Sandra brought over.

Two weeks ago I was invited to our company Christmas party in Seattle, since my office is very small and is not going to have one I, of course, took them up on the invitation and brought Brenda along to show her off.  Jim and Sandra were nice enough to take the kids for two nights so Brenda and I could visit the big city and have some time to ourselves.

On the way home from Seatte we did stay and Jim and Sandra's for one night and got to go see the lighted implement parade in Sunnyside.

A combine headed down the drive.
Here is the first place tractor.

Now Christmas time is upon us and it was time to get the tree.
Normally we head out to the woods to cut the Christmas tree, but this year, I had another idea.  We have a blue spruce that was planted way to close to the house, so I was going to cut it down anyway.  What better time to get it out of the ground than now?  Above, Matthew is pulling the trigger on the chain saw and assisting me is cutting it down.
This tree is much fuller and way better than the trees we normally get so we are very glad the tree was put to good use and not just cut down and tossed away.
This is the perfect age for Christmas.  Thee boys are very excited for Christmas and can be found just staring at the tree, wrapping up and random toy left on the ground and then "opening the present", or laying awake and talking to each other trying to guess what they are going to get for Christmas.  Anything is a good gift for them and it takes very little to make them happy.  It is going to be a great Christmas season and I am ready.