All about Ashlyn: December 2014

What have we been doing since my last post you ask?

Well, we spent a wet and windy weekend in Newport in October. I had made a reservation using our time share months before. Oregon coast is rarely available with the time share so when I see it, I just make the reservation. The weekend we went it happened to be pretty windy and rainy but we still managed to have quite a good time. We made it to the beach before a rain storm hit, we ate dinner at a restaurant I've been wanting to try, Local Ocean. SO good! We tried to tour one of the lighthouses but it was closed for renovation so we walked on a very rocky beach instead. Mom and Ed came over with my brother's two step-sons and we all went swimming in the indoor heated pool. Even Ashlyn with her cast :) We just wrapped her arm up in some plastic bags and she tried her hardest to keep it out of the water. She dunked it a few times but oh well! It came off the week after we were there anyway.

We went to Disney on Ice with my cousins. It was a lot of fun! It always is. This was mine and Ashlyn's third time seeing Disney on Ice. Its always so well done, it is Disney after all. The girls loved it. In the spring they'll be back with another version of Disney on Ice, but this time it will include the Frozen characters. We'll definitely be going again, I think I enjoy it just as much Ashlyn!

Halloween was a lot of fun! Ashlyn had a party at her babysitter's house early in the day and then we drove up to Vancouver to Jered's work. All of his co-workers had candy at their desks and some of them were even dressed up. There were lots of little kids walking around in costumes. Ashlyn's bucket was full before we left the building! One of the owners of his company gave out full size candy bars, she was pretty excited about that. We stayed with our friends Justin and Steph so the kids could go out trick or treating together. We don't have a "neighborhood" anymore and they do. It was a little drizzly but that didn't stop the kids from chomping at the bit to go out trick or treating. It was hard making them wait it till got dark! They all got a little wet but they got lots of candy and had a lot of fun.

The yard work is never-ending. We've been blowing, raking and hauling leaves for weeks now. Trimming and burning limbs, etc., etc. We put some plastic up on our windows to block some of the wind as well. The first day we tried to do it, it was super windy and super cold. Not the smartest decision we've ever made. I'm sure if anyone was able to see us, thank goodness no can, we were a real comedy show! We got one window done in TWO hours and decided to wait for a less windy day. Next time we did it, it took us an hour to do 5 windows. We learned our lesson :)

Ashlyn's class has been on a couple of field trips already. They went to the pumpkin patch and to Big Bear's market before Halloween. Big Bear gave all the kids a T-shirt. She was pretty excited! Their class has been learning about the Chinook people of the Gorge so they toured a Long House where the Chinook people lived. Her class also did a narrative of a Chinook story about how they found fire. Ashlyn had was a chickadee and she had a few lines. It was very cute and she was very excited both Jered and I were able to get off work to be there. After the narrative, all of the K-1-2 classrooms were open and each room had a different thing to do or learn about the Chinook people. Some were games they would have played, a couple rooms had snacks (jerky, smoked salmon, apples etc) the Chinook people would've eaten. They also had a model of a Long House.

Both Jered and I had the week of Thanksgiving off. We had a staycation and it was wonderful! Ashlyn had school the three days before Thanksgiving so we'd drop her at school and then take off to do something in Portland. We've been working on finishing up our McMenamins Passports (getting really close!) so we did a few more stamps around town. Visited their coffee roasters (love their coffee!), saw a movie at the Bagdad theater (super cool old refurbished theater), ate too much, drank too much, had yummy Thanksgiving flavors ice cream at Salt & Straw. The first day we really went all out, like we were in our 20's again, living it up in LA. We had brunch and bloody mary's at Tasty & Sons, hung out at Powell's bookstore for a couple of hours (I could've stayed all day!), had chips, salsa, guac and yummy cucumber-jalapeno margarita at the Matador, took a tour of the Crystal Ballroom with a cider in hand of course, stopped in the Mission Theater for a stamp and another cider, then it seemed like a great idea to go get ice cream at Salt & Straw. The night before we had seen this food network show on crazy Thanksgiving foods and Salt & Straw was on there because of their Thanksgiving ice creams. I got turkey-salted caramel and bourbon corn pudding. Jered got turkey-salted caramel and sweet potato pie. Sounds gross I know, but it was so delicious! The next day we were exhausted and didn't leave the house till almost noon! :) It wasn't all play, we did have to do some work at home. The usual yard and house work of course.

Thanksgiving was spent at Grandma and Grandpa's in Woodburn. It was lovely as usual. Delicious turkey and all the fixin's. My very own GF pumpkin pie (Thanks Grandma G!!) with fresh whip cream. YUM! My mom joined us again this year, Ed was off shooting a couple deer in Eastern Oregon. Mom had asked if she could take Ashlyn home with her after Thanksgiving dinner. I told her we'd have to think about it, we thought about it for all of about 2.2 seconds. A free weekend, just the two of us? Too enticing to pass up. So Ashlyn went home with Grammy. They had a slumber party with some of her cousins, they went to Aunt Jean's for cookies and Christmas carols, they went to Maliah's (my brother's step-daughter) birthday party. She had a blast! We picked her up Sunday afternoon and as much as I loved our weekend together just Jered and I, I sure missed that kid!

Jered and I headed up to Olympia for more McMenamins stamps. Then stayed the night at their hotel in Centralia, The Olympic Club. I was frantic Friday night trying to find the Civil War game on TV. After about an hour we figured out it wasn't on till Saturday. I was relieved to say the least and feeling like a bit of a gomer! ;) We woke up Sat morning and it was snowing! So quick breakfast and back on the road so we didn't get snowed in.

Now we're preparing for Christmas. I've managed to get quite a bit of my shopping done already but still have some people to buy for. We're going to our first Christmas party this weekend at my cousin's house. I'm really looking forward to it, we'll get to see some people we don't see very often. Ashlyn will be out for Christmas break at the end of next week, which seems so crazy! This year has just flown by!