What We Did on Our Christmas Vacation (Part 1)

by Miles

Sean, while I applaud your creative problem solving skills, you didn't actually caption the last Christmas post, so I'm taking over this year's post - within a month of Christmas - it must be some kind of record!.

First, we braved freezing temperatures to visit the ZooLights.

The train ride was fun, though not nearly as long as the coast one:


My favorite parts were the light tunnel and my reindeer 3D glasses:






I also loved watching the train pass under the walkway on our way out:


And finally, my last favorite part was when I got to pretend I was Tiger, and I chased the dancing spotlight around the entrance pavilion.

Mom and Daddy were excited too because they thought it would finally wear me out:


The bad news is that it didn't work. The good news is I had so much fun that I kept on running (along with Sean) right up to the Junior League of Portland's annual Gingerbread Jamboree at OMSI:


Our gingerbread house was pretty awesome. In between sneaking mouthfuls of candy, Sean even participated:


To thank my parents for taking us, I posed for a few pictures:


It was a busy month full of other holiday events. We visited the Beaverton tree after school one day:


Where do they hide the candy in this pinata?


Where do they hide the toys inside these presents?


I love how you know the left snowman's a woman because she's wearing an apron:


Finally, we went to Alpenrose Dairyville, where the highlight was the train rooms. Here we are in a sleigh; don't tell Sean these presents are also fake:


And, of course, we made our annual trek to the tree farm, this year with the added challenge of how to get a tree home without getting Ody scratched and covered in sap:


We scaled the hill at Hagg's Tree Farm to search for the perfect tree:


Hey, Daddy, concentrate! We're here to find a tree, not look at bugs:

(but that sure was a festive ladybug that you showed Sean)

Maybe you should leave the tree hunting to experienced trackers like us:


Seriously Daddy? No:

(ed note: What if we just cut off the top?)

We need to find one bigger than this:


Yet smaller than this:


Good find Daddy! Maybe we can teach old dogs new tricks:


Um, Daddy, wait until Sean is there to supervise:




He'll show you where to cut:


Nice job! Now pose!


Everybody grab your tree and let's head to the car:


Um, mom?


Do you really need to carry the ax while pregnant again?


There, there Ody, don't worry, this won't hurt a bit:


Ta Da!


We also took a trip to Seattle to visit Nana, Grampa, Uncle Tristan, and Aunt Linda. We didn't get any holiday pictures, but we had a great time!

Stayed tuned for more Christmas fun!

☺