Redwoods

Humboldt Redwood Forest was not on our itinerary, but the predicted snow along I-5 had us looking for an alternative route home. I'm so glad we took this route. It is a gorgeous drive. We were going to pass it in the night and drive from San Francisco to Eureka and arrive at midnight, but Parker woke up at 11pm and threw up.... so, we stopped early. We stayed at a little motel and realized that we were 5 miles from Humboldt State Park.

This is inside the Chimney tree looking up.

I drove THROUGH a redwood tree. How cool is that?! There are 4 in the Humboldt State Forest. This is the Shrine Tree.

Close!

Made it!

Looking back.

Redwood Tree house

Parker kissing the bear

A big, wooden vehicle.

I loved how the light shined through these trees.

While driving, I saw a sign for wild elk, saw a good size herd and quickly pulled off the road.

I was actually standing in the road taking these pictures. I planned my escape route to the car if one started to charge me.

Paul Bunyon and Babe, the Blue Ox

My new boyfriend

The gorgeous views on the way home

We made it home safe and sound. It was a great trip!

Christmas

For Christmas Eve, we went to Grant's brother's house. The kids opened their presents and we had a great dinner.

Grant with Molly and Finn.

Max's reactions are the best! I wish every kids reacted like this when they opened presents. He is so excited and appreciative. Love it!

We kept it pretty simple again this year. Just a few toys from us and some hand me down toys from Cam and Wendy. Parker did love opening presents this year and kept asking to open more. Even a week after Christmas, we wrapped up a couple of his pocket cars after he begged to open more presents. He got plenty from family and friends too.

It was a wonderful, quiet Christmas. We went to my mom's for Christmas dinner and opened presents there too. I loved this Christmas with Parker as he could understand more of what was going on. I loved that he loved Santa. I loved starting some family traditions and spending time with my family.

Zoo Lights

The train at Zoolights is the place to be on a Winter night in Portland. We attempted to go to Zoo lights a couple of weeks before Christmas, but my mom slipped and fell on a metal plate in the sidewalk and hit her head as we were heading in. An ambulance and fire truck came to check her out, but she didn't want to go to the hospital. She was ok, just sore. The zoo employees were great and encouraged us to come back and said that we could ride with the conductor on the train and skip the line. AWESOME! Maybe I'll try falling next year so we can do that again. So cool!

In the "hot box." My mom and I sat on top of a flat bed train car behind them.

My mom under the dragon light.

"Ooooh... pretty lights!"

Parker with a baby elephant.

He really liked the alligator.

This courtyard area is full of lights. Beautiful.

He had so much fun playing these drums.

This band was so funny. It consisted of a group of old guys that really liked to rock. They started with a Christmas song, then went to Green Day, and the last song we heard was a Metallic song. Rock on!
We were freezing. I think it was 37 degrees that night. I really needed some gloves and socks. Luckily, I had a hat my friend Melissa made. Brrr. We had a great time though and will have to go again next year.

Giddyup Horse! Yee Haw!

My mom had a gift certificate to Lee Farms so it gave us a good reason to go. They have Christmas trees and a cute little gift shop. We went there during pumpkin season and played with newborn calves and rode this same pony, Scout. It was fun to go back and see how much the calves grew. The only good pics and video were of the horse though. Watch the videos! So cute.

We were in Sweet Tomatoes this week and Parker saw a guy in a cowboy hat across the restaurant and yelled, "Yee Haw!!!" So funny.

More with Santa

Karen, Parker's daycare provider, told us about JC Penney's Santa portrait packages. I'm so glad we did this. He ate a cookie with Santa, read books, and got lots of pics taken. We bought just these two. Love the top one!
The following is a visit with Santa from Washington Square Mall... a much better looking Santa!

So I want trains, cars, balls......Oh! Thanks!

I love visiting Santa. We probably went 4 times. For those of you who do not know this about me... I was Santa's helper for a few Christmas'. I was the photographer/ elf. (I also was the photographer/ Easter Bunny in the spring! :) )