Visit to Oregon

I took the kids to Oregon during David's finals and it was so much fun. We love Oregon! And Ezra loves Henry so much. He talks about him incessantly. Here they are on the Vespa together. See Chelsea's write-up and pictures here.

Running into the garbage can...Henry wasn't totally confident in Ezra's driving abilities. My mom got a mini jeep for the grandkids (see pictures below) and Henry basically had one foot outside the car the whole time, ready to jump if Ezra proved incapable of driving.


Isn't this the best?! I always wanted a motorized vehicle. Thanks Mimi!

Ezra took Eli on a little ride.

Eli and Oliver. This is funny because Eli is twice as old as Oliver but Oliver is bigger. Not just a little bigger - way bigger (look at their heads!) Also, can you even believe they are related? It was so funny to see them side by side.

My dad blessed Alex's baby, Crew. Isn't this such a special outfit? He has the cutest smile.

Stretching after the blessing.

Me, Alex, Chelsea.

We got to see David's parents for a day and then we had dinner with Grandpa Don, who showed us his snazzy new car (which I took a picture of but sadly, lost because my card got corrupted). It was so fun to see Grandma Coco and Grandpa Steve (and thanks for that spectacular leg of lamb Steve!!)

Polar Express

Chelsea bought tickets for the boys to ride the Polar Express up at Mt. Hood. Mimi and Mike took them and Ezra was beside himself with joy. My mom wrote a great summary of it in her email to Jakob so I am posting it here for your enjoyment.

Monday evening was the big "Polar Express" event over in Hood River that
Chels had bought tickets for. It's a reenactment of the story on a real,
live train. There is no way to describe to you what that drive was like. It
was decided that Mike and I would take Ezra and Henry. We thought we left in
time but as traffic got worse and worse we said lots of prayers that we
would make it. Then as I drove down the gorge, we realized we had to go 35
more miles in 25 minutes!!!????
The heavy rain turned into sleet, freezing rain, and then full blown snow!!! I could not believe it! How in the world
were we going to make it in a blizzard? It was actually sticking to the
ground and piling up. (great preview for the Polar Express, I mean how
authentic can you get?) Mike did his best to keep the boys happy and said
encouraging things to me while I worked to keep it on the road. A little
side note, Henry was nap-less so in rare form for trouble. He kept yelling
out in his loudest voice which can be jarring (understatement to say the
least). It was making Mike pretty frosted while he tried to map our location
and figure the time we had and little Ezra was so conflicted.
He didn't want Henry to get in trouble but he wanted him to stop yelling so
he alternately said these two phrases: "Uh, Mike, Henry doesn't understand
the rules." To Henry he yelled, " Harry! Stop that right now or you'll go in
time out!!!"

Anyway, the fact we made it going 40-60 mph without sliding over the cliff
is a testament to the Sienna (and my amazing snow-driving skills). I never
slipped once and even when we arrived with 1 minute to go, I was able to
climb a pretty steep hill in order to park it outside the train depot. Mike
raced down to the train to hold it for us and then came back up the hill in
the blinding snow to help get the kids. Ezra had taken his socks and shoes
off so I was madly shoving them on while standing in the snow. Finally, each
of us carrying a boy, trudged through the snow to the waiting train and
found our seats. It was truly magical. We had SO much fun. The boys were
absolutely darling and loved every minute of it. We traveled to the "North
Pole" and saw the elves and the lights and then Santa Claus! The boys kept
reenacting their favorite parts of the movie. Henry wasn't
too thrilled to sit on Santa's lap (he came through each car and visited
each child) at the end for some reason he was a little scared and had hit
his excitement limit so he crawled on Mike's lap and fell asleep. Ezra on
the other hand, could not wait to see him. He was so cute. He told Santa he
was a good boy and gave him a hug and told him what he would like for
Christmas so politely. They served hot chocolate and a big molasses cookie.