Merry Christmas

Our first Christmas in our new home.  Look at our beautiful tree (and all those presents!)

Family picture on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning happy dance - Santa came!

Let the games begin - first present of the morning

Making sugar cookies (a recipe from Isaac's great-great Aunt Cele)

Finally - a house big enough to host the entire Riensche family.  I put everyone to work in the kitchen.

We had a lovely dinner at our makeshift dining room table

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Spirit

The holidays!  So many fun things to do, especially here in Seattle. 

Swason's Nursery has reindeer (you can feed them!), a camel, a train and a silly sleigh you can sit in for a picture (Isaac is like, "Mom, why are you making me sit here?").

Then we went to see the Holiday Train at the Seattle Center....

which he got to drive!

Followed by a ride on the monorail to the Winter Carousel at Westlake Center!

After lots and lots of rainy days, we finally got some sun on Friday so Isaac and I headed to Richmond Beach State Park where we saw two bald eagles circling overhead, found lots of cool rocks, and had a super-dooper great time.

Happy Holidays!  Isaac can't wait for Christmas!

We've moved!

It has been a busy couple of months - we put an offer on a house in mid-September and after what felt like forever, we finally closed on Oct 18th.  We decided to have some ugly popcorn ceilings removed before we moved in.  The added work meant we did not actually get to move into the house until October 30th.  We are finally moved in, semi-unpacked, and we love it.  Isaac has room to run, we can have more than 2 people in the kitchen at one time, and have plenty of room for all of our gear.  Even better is that we have a guest bedroom (finally) and a room for baby no. 2.  For those that have not heard, we are due March 21st and we are expecting another BOY!

The Ballard Locks are so cool!

The rain finally came to Seattle after a long, dry spell.  Can't let the rain stop you from enjoying snacks at the park!

Home sweet home

Happy Halloween from our little spider

Riding the dinosaur with Gramma at one of the parks by our new house

Richmond Beach State Park

 

Goofing around with Grampa

 

Isaac's baby brother!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Isaac

Happy Birthday Isaac!  What a happy guy at his birthday party with his Gramma & Grampa and Tutu!

Birthday breakfast - someone turned three!

Excited perhaps?

Camping at Paradise - Mt Rainier

Back to Mt Rainier for our final camping trip of 2012.  This time we went to Paradise on the south side hoping to enjoy views of wildflowers - we were not disappointed!

Waiting for the shuttle to Paradise from our campground at Cougar Rock.

Another perfect snack rock!

Attempt #2 at a family photo

Hiking to Glacier Vista (Isaac was singing!)

More snacks ... lots and lots of snacks.

Isaac was determined to get to top so he could boot ski in the snow.  He gets the idea ... :)

Third and final attempt at a family photo at Reflection Lake (there were so many nice people who offered to take our picture!)

Minnesconsin - Summer 2012

We had another great trip to Minnesota/Wisconsin!  Started off with a hike to Willow Falls.

Isaac wanted to go in the falls but was a little nervous so needed some assistance from Nate.

Air time (notice the look on my face - a *little* nervous) ..

Self-propelled air time

I took Isaac to Como Zoo to meet up with Tiffany, Anne and their kiddos.  I've known Tiffany and Anne since 1st grade (31 years and counting!!).  Some things never change ..

Isaac got to ride the cars all by himself!  He picked the purple car to match his new purple Vikings shirt. 

Time for silly daddy tricks!

Isaac LOVES Olivia

Happy Birthday to Me!  Isaac helped me blow out the candles.

Q8i

Gramma & Grampa & Q8i

Thanks again Mom & Dad - can't wait for our next trip!

Mt Baker Camping 2012

Lucky for us, we had a reservation at a campground at Mt Baker this past weekend and were able to escape the Seattle heat wave.  Our 3-story townhouse gets unbearable.  I had heard that people were still skiing at Artist's Point but figured some of the trails would be melted out.  Nope!  Still tons of snow - unbelievable for August. 

Isaac and Mt Rain-Baker as he calls it (all these big snowy volcanoes are confusing!)

We waved to Becky, Pete, Andy, & Mica who were on the summit (or had been a couple hours ago).

Isaac made his own snowballs and we played catch!

Look at all that snow! 

On Sunday, we did a short hike along the Nooksack River to a lovely little sandy beach.

The boys were hard at work making a boat which we then got to throw rocks at. ;)

Mt Rainier Camping Trip 2012

Despite a marginal weather forecast (brief clearing on Saturday afternoon/evening with rain/clouds for the rest of the weekend), we headed down to Mt Rainier for a camping trip.  So glad we went!  We hit the weather window perfectly at Sunrise where we did a short hike.

 With lots of boot skiing ...

 and jumping over rocks on the trail!

After a yummy dinner, we took a bike ride over to the big Douglas Fir tree.

Then, Isaac and Nate carved some sticks to roast marshmallows

Nate is hard at work making pancakes while Isaac does laps around our awesome campsite.

Off to the river to throw some rocks, make boats, and play battleship.  Good times!