Merry Christmas!!!! (Part I)

As Pete, Koa and I hit the road, heading south for Bend, here are some photos of Christmas, Take I. Luz, Yenny, Pete and I had a full-fledged Christmas on Sunday, with fun home-made stockings, gifts galore, and a Christmas Feast. We combined holiday traditions - Pete wore his jingle hat, the girls' introduced me to "santa for a day" and I passed along the Anderson tradition of wearing all the ribbons from the gifts. Plus, no holiday would be complete without a high-spirited game of Shut The Box. The evil-step-mom (that's me) won the pot and took all the girls' quarters. Meanie.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Lovely cards and photos from family and friends - love them all!!!

Tree!!!

Pete, wearing his Colgate colors. Go Gate!

New stockings! And the loot that was in said stockings

Meeeerrrry Christmas!

I have a sneaking suspicion the neighbors have nicknamed us the Griswalds, but I think it looks lovely. Blurry photo due to lack of tri-pod and shaky (freezing) hands.

I'm a sucker for the holiday spirit!

We hired Kevin, the gent who did all the paint work on the house, to come over with really tall ladders and help us deck out the tree in the front yard. Pete's son Joe and his buddy Craig were here over Thanksgiving - we most definitely couldn't have done it without them.

Apparently, Pete's a perfectionist :) He pulled out the ladder, borrowed an 18 foot golf ball retriever and "patched" spots on the tree that needed more lights. The day after the fact, he admitted that at one point, he kind of fell into the tree. Great.

We cut a bunch of branches from Pete's lake house and made a big ole wreath! Joe and Craig, putting the finishing touches on the wreath.

Happy Birthday Koa!!

Happy 7th Birthday Buddy!! I love you!

Working on his newest birthday toy. It's supposed to be indestructible - jury's still out.

Neat Things about Spokane that Surprised Me

In no particular order:

1. Manito Park
2. Watching the crazy squirrel inhabitants of Manito Park (one is staring me down right now)
   
3. The fact that you can rake your leaves directly into the street and the City of Spokane takes care of them for you. An incredible perk, seeing are there 10 times more leaves in Spokane vs. anywhere-else-I've-lived.
   
4. Our incredible neighbors. I can't imagine a friendlier, better welcome to a new city. I mean, Laurie brought me a bag of cheese on my second day here!!!
   
5. Nordstrom.
6. Our really lovely house.
7. Wild Sage and Sante - two of the best restaurants I've been to. Oh! And Cafe Marron!
   
8. Lower gas prices (which slightly makes up for the fact that you have to get out and pump your own gas here! Come ON Washington!!)
9. Dick Newton, who just might be the world's best general contractor.
10. Four "local" ski areas - Mt. Spokane, 42 Degrees North, Lookout and Schweitzer. (I'm still partial to Mt. Bachelor, but at least there are good options up here!)
11. The Spokane Symphony
12. Auntie's Bookstore
13. (13 and 14 are excellent additions suggested by Mom and Dad) Saunders Cheese Store (see #4)
14. Wine Festivals - an afternoon of wine tasting at Barrister, Arbor Crest and others, with friends and parents.
    

That's all for now, but I know there are more. The first four months of Spokane-habitation have been great!

But he's just so cute!

Mom and Dad swung through Spokane for Thanksgiving Part I, and brought Aka with them. He is too much. Part stuffed animal and part comedian. Koa thought he was cool, until Aka discovered Koa's tail and thought it was the. best. toy. ever.

Koa and Aka deciding if it's too cold to play outside.

He has not mastered the concept of keeping one's mouth closed whilst drinking

Aka likes being under stuff.

Under barstool in kitchen.

Under chair in dining room.

Under sofa.

Under Koa.

He also (according to the humans) likes being picked up.

Picked up by Luz.

Picked up by Yenny.

Picked up by Amy

Trying to get Koa to play.