American Thanksgiving

This was a very big week for us and Oliver.  On Monday night, it snowed while we were at work and the temperature dropped well below freezing.  We left early - around 4:30 - to try to beat the mad rush home.  It didn't work.  We headed downtown to 99 which is our usual route home, but it was closed due to a big accident.  So we went to 4th with the plan to go south to 509 and avoid the west seattle bridge.  While this may have been a smart move, it wasn't a great option either.  We were stuck in a slow crawl down 4th...after about 2 hours, Mike got out and walked over to get us fast food for dinner.  We had only moved a few car lengths when he got back.  Oliver was with us and he was starting to get pretty tired of sitting in his car seat.  He kept yelling "go go!", which was what we wanted to be yelling too.  We finally made it to the onramp to 509 and the traffic completely stopped.  It took another 30 minutes to go a single block.  Then we saw the problem - 3 semi trucks stuck on the onramp.  We finally squeased around them and made it up onto the freeway - which was actually pretty much wide open.  The only other dicey part was the big hill up to Roxbury - but our little 4 wheel drive CR-V made it up past about 15 stuck cars without a hitch.  We stopped for gas, since we were close to running out after the 4 hour commute home (normally takes 20-30 minutes).  It was an hour past Oliver's bedtime, but he didn't fall asleep until we were pulling into our garage!  It was a very long night for us, but many other people had it worse than us and I was very thankful that we were all together.  It stayed really cold the next few days and Oliver's daycare closed, so I stayed home with him.  We were getting pretty stircrazy, so we went out in the snow a few times.  That snowsuit has really come in handy!

On Thanksgiving, we headed over the pass to Quincy to see Mike's family.  Oliver's other grandma also got him a guitar!  I guess grandma's just know what they will love.  Oliver also had fun with the dogs and cat for the first time, only a little but afraid, but he knew all their names and he was giving them commands all day.  We had a great dinner together - Oliver only ate corn - and then drove up to Leavenworth to stay for two nights to avoid Mike's allergies.   

 Leavenworth was amazing!  There was a fresh coat of snow and the town was all decorated for the holidays.  We stayed at the Enzian and it was perfect - even had live piano music in the lobby - which Oliver really enjoyed.  It was just a block from the town and we headed out eary to go sledding.  Oliver loved it!  Everytime he had a huge grin on his face.  He also loved seeing all the lights and christmas trees - he kept yelling "christmas!" and pointing whenever he saw something.  We got him a guitar ornament to commemorate his current pashion.

 Grandma, Grandpa, Laura and Andrew all came up in the afternoon and we had a great time together checking out the shops and watching the musicians play in the gazebo. At 5 there was a parade with music and sant clause that we had been waiting all day for, but Oliver refused to nap that day and ended up passing out on Mike's shoulders a few minutes before it started! He woke up for dinner afterwards though.

We stayed the next morning and had lunch before driving back to Seattle through the snow covered mountains.  It was a beautiful day and perfect driving conditions. Oliver fell asleep just as we left and woke up when we were a few blocks from our house.  When he realized that we were back home he had a major tantrum and rolled around on the ground screaming for 15 minutes!  He kept saying "grandma Jo Jo coming?"  So sad and sweet.  He had a really amazing time with many new experiences.  We set up our tree after we got home and Oliver helped put on a few ornaments.  He was so excited to have christmas in the house, he kept squealing with glee!  I am really looking forward to sharing this time of year with him - he is so excited about everything, it makes it so much more fun for us too.  And his 2nd birthday is coming up too.  So much will be happening in the next month - we can't wait!

Trip to Victoria

Mike had a conference to attend in San Francisco so I was facing 4 days of single parenting...I decided to take this opportunity to go visit my mom in Victoria!  Oliver and I took the clipper, which is the fastest way there and with Oliver's love of ferry boats, I figured he would do a good job.  I was so impressed with him!  He sat and read books with me and played with his trains and ate a lot. 

When we got there we went straight to Katie, Andy and Savannah's house.  Oliver was very shy and wouldn't let go of my leg for the first 20 minutes...he warmed up a bit and was soon raiding Savannah's book shelf and playing her musical instruments.  Oh and tossing her many stuffed animals aside if they got near him!  This kid is not into stuffed animals.  We had a great lunch and after the kids' naps we bundled up and went to the playground.  It was so fun to see the cousins playing - not really together - but at least in the same general vacinity!  Oliver has been saying "cousin toots" when he sees her picture now though...She is so sweet and has a really great personality.  It is going to be really fun watching her grow up.

 We went to go meet my mom after work. Oliver LOVES his grandma Sue so much it is ridiculous. He ran into her arms and gave her a big hug and kiss. And he even asked where Lulu was. When he saw her, he was a little apprehensive and gave her a 3 foot birth on all sides, but he talked about her nonstop. "what lulu doing?", "hi lulu", "lulu sleeping?", etc... He finally gave her a few pats on the back.










Grandma had two surprises for Oliver - a guitar (that was supposed to be a birthday present - and a full snowsuit. He has been really into guitars lately so he really loved it - started playing it right away and really didn't stop much the whole weekend. Grandma Sue also had a small plastic slide she picked up somewhere and she set it up in the living room. That was also a big hit, although he started standing on the top and yelling "oliver standing" if he wasn't getting enough attention.

 The next day, auntie Wisty flew in by float plane from Vancouver and we went down to the dock to wait for her. Oliver loved seeing the planes take off and land and was saying "Auntie Wisty airplane land water" all weekend. It was a good thing Oliver had a snowsuit, because it got really cod and actually snowed on Saturday. We bundled up and braved the elements to watch a santa parade in Sidney - it was like it was made just for Oliver - a long succession of big trucks (including firetrucks and a cement truck) strung with christmas lights, a wagon with about 10 people playing guitars and a troupe of line dancing girls. He stared intensely for the whole hour long parade! When we were walking back to the car, we saw a snowman someone had made earlier. This was his first encounter with a snowman and he was pretty impressed.

We then headed home on Sunday night and again Oliver did an amazing job on the 2.5 hour boat ride, while older kids screamed and had tantrums.  Several people remarked at how great he was - I was a very proud mama : )