Christmas

Apologies up front - this is going to be a long post and is long over due.  This year has been a snowy one in Seattle - so snowy in fact that we almost didn't make it out of town!  

Luckily our plane took off and we made it to Philadelphia (though some of our friends were not so lucky).  

We kept ourselves right on the edge of busy and relaxed with a number of fun activities.  We went to the Please Touch Museum. Evan had a blast playing with all the exhibits and riding on the restored carousel.

We visited an outdoor train garden where Evan saw trains winding and whizzing around outside through a very well constructed landscape.

And we went to an indoor play gym with large "bouncy" toys that Evan seemed to love (click the picture to play the video and see Evan in action).

Don't worry - there was plenty of time to spend with family, open presents and eat.

We had a fantastic trip.  Even though we left a white Christmas for a warmer, rainier one, it was a blast.

Drummers part two

Evan loved the drummers and songs at Candy Cane Lane outside the Bellevue Square Mall so much that we went back again so he could see the entire performance.  Just like last time, he was amazed by all the loud drums and the gigantic princesses, bears and penguins.  Here's some video of Evan getting down to some tunes.

Snow in Seattle

We usually get snow here in Seattle once a year.  This year is very very strange.  It's not even the end of December and we've had snow on the ground in the downtown area for 5 days now!  We got Evan a new pair of snow pants and boots (his jacket fit him from last year)  and took him out for a few walks.  I think it's safe to say that other than these pictures, Evan doesn't like the snow all that much.  There's usually a lot of crying while we suit him up and once he's outside he wants to be carried (he slipped once and is a fast learner).  He was mildly interested in the snowballs Jill was making and throwing.  I hope that once he gets on a sled again and remembers how fun it is he'll adjust his view on the snow.

 

Holiday Happenings

Over the past few weeks we've done a bunch of holiday related activities I wanted to share with you.  First, we went to the Bellevue Square mall so Evan could get his picture taken with Santa.  We're still waiting on the picture (they take it and prohibit "outside cameras"), but unlike last year it has a chance of being good as Evan didn't cry the entire time.  He was actually quite excited.  He asked Santa for a Cheese Stick for Christmas and got a lolly pop which he took his time enjoying.

After the photo the mall has an event outside in the evenings where there are real drummers who drum and sing songs.  Evan ran into a friendly penguin and said hi.

He spent some time dancing (he kept his treasured lolly pop close at hand the entire time)

A few days later we headed out for dinner with Evan, Zoe and Liam and arrived a bit early so we could take a holiday train ride around Redmond Town Center.

Evan absolutely loved the train ride - the driver was blowing his "train whistle" and ringing the bell constantly.  Evan kept "chugga chugga chugga choo choo!"'ing the entire ride.  

It's been a busy December but we still found time to have a bit of holiday fun.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

December has been busy.  Before we knew it December 10th was upon us and our tree was not up.  Tonight was the night we fished everything out of storage, set up the fake tree (though this is its last year - once we're in the new house we're going to get a real one!) and were ready to decorate.  We've been talking to Evan about Christmas, Santa, and singing songs.  On top of that, Jill decorated the house a week ago with all our little Christmas decorations, and Evan can't stop talking about all the little decorations!  We just assumed that he'd be real interested in helping us hang the ornaments.  It turns out he wasn't.  He would run over to the tree every few minutes and usually pull the top out of one of the ornaments, claiming that it was now "broken" and he proceeded to jam a screwdriver inside.  

What fun.  He spent most of his time running around the room playing with his toys while Jill and I did the bulk of the work.  Maybe we'll have better luck getting him involved next year.

Caroling

For the past few years Jill and I have gone to see the Christmas carolers sing at the Figgy Pudding caroling competition at Westlake Center -- we even took Evan along last year.  The contest was tonight and we went again.  Evan enjoyed seeing all the lights and hearing all the groups of people singing.  Some even tap danced.  He clapped at the end of each song along with the rest of the crowd and seemed to yell "Yay!" for the groups he liked the most.

Evan at the Symphony

B and Mini got us tickets to take Evan to the Seattle Symphony's Tiny Tot series this year.  Today was the first show.  I was slammed at work so Jill and Evan brought Kate along.

From what Evan told me, there was a lot of singing, someone playing the piano, and some drums and a guitar.  Jill said he loved it.  He was dancing around a lot and relay enjoyed seeing the instruments.