Adventures of the Vees: December 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

Last of the December 2012 pictures

Apparently when I did the Christmas blog posts I forgot to check Mike's iPhone for pictures. So here are some more that I just had to add.

You can see how much snow we had!

This was our view out the restaurant windows for Christmas day dinner.

Sent Jake out to play in the snow while dinner was being prepared. We actually took him sledding on a little hill not far from the house. Love the reflection on his jacket and the lights on the house as we headed back indoors.

Playing with toys received for Christmas.

This was hilarious. We drove to go sledding, and Ryan fell asleep in the car on the way. So we set up the sled to pull him to the sledding hill and he stayed asleep the whole time.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

BBR Christmas 2012 Part 2

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

Ryan playing with a Thomas the Train magnetic book that he received. He's not into Thomas as much as Jake was, but he still likes it.

This was Jake's favorite Christmas present -- an Angry Birds stuffie. Hilarious, but he has played SO MUCH with it, and it's on his bed while he sleeps (and I am able to verify this as I am writing this post 2 months after Christmas, ha!).

Figuring out the new necklace Tyler brought for Amy.

Tyler modeling the framed picture Jake and Ryan (with some help from mom) made.

After the stockings, the yummy breakfast, and opening of presents, we spent a little time outside and then got dressed for a mid-day dinner at the lodge. It was so lovely! And we ate with lovely people.

Pictures from the end of our meal. The boys did extremely well. The dinner is buffet-style, and so you get up and fill your plate multiple times. This actually works well for little boys and many adults because we can take turns getting up and helping them and they don't have to wait for their food. And when they were finished with their meals, I pulled out headphones and iPhones and let them play so the adults could enjoy the rest of our meals.

Ryan took this picture during the meal. I love it because it shows the tall windows of the lodge and the trees with a dusting of snow.

This other picture taken by Ryan makes me laugh. It's a tiny sliver of a shot of his dessert -- he went for the chocolate chip cookie and shiny-wrapped candy over the carrot cake, bread pudding, chocolate mousse, and strawberry cheesecake!

And this picture I love. So. Much. My Aunt sent these beautiful sweaters to the boys for their Christmas gifts and they looked just darling.

Pretty house with snow and lights.

After this I have no idea which pictures were taken on which days. Just that we had lots of fun staying on the ranch until December 30th, which made a record of 9 days there for the Vees. My parents, Amy, and Tyler left earlier, on the 27th, to attend a party in Portland. There was also skiing. On the 26th my Dad, Amy, Tyler, and Jake all drove up to Mt. Bachelor and skied.

After Christmas it was all about the snow! We finally had 2 days where the snow was wet enough to be sticky for snowpeople and snowballs. We went sledding and spent lots of time pulling the boys around in the sled.

This snowperson greeted us at the turn in the driveway.

Reading his new Hardy Boys book. (Notice Angry Bird stuffie.)

Ryan loves reading, too.

Tyler happy at Aspen Lake.

It was all so beautiful. One of the days the Vees walked all the way to Aspen Lake with the sled and did a number of runs down the steep hill on the other side of the lake.

It snowed on and off while we were there. The cars kept getting covered with snow.

I think this was driving up the east side of the Santiam Pass, going to pick up Jake from his ski lesson at Hoodoo.

Then we went down the west side, and the skies were clear, which was fabulous for Jake's skiing!

The best part about it for Jake was that he got to see his two friends from school and have lunch with them.

It was such a fabulous vacation (although I did work half-time that week), and so nice to have a snowy winter getaway.

Monday, December 24, 2012

BBR Christmas 2012 Part 1!

December 22, 2012, we arrived at Black Butte Ranch for a long holiday vacation. My parents arrived shortly before we did, and arrived back at the house with our Christmas tree just as we were unloading our car. Then we waited the rest of the day and into the evening for Amy and Tyler to finish their long (and snowy/rainy) drive from SF and join us.

The boys LOVED the Christmas window decorations! Very popular the whole time we were there.

Along with all the Christmas decorations that came out of storage were the reindeer antlers. Ryan thought they were hilarious. I think we must have gotten at least 10 pictures of him wearing these, from 4 different iPhones. However, I think two is enough for the blog.

It was so wonderful to be at the ranch while there was lots of snow. The snow wasn't particularly sticky, but the boys and Papa were able to make a little snowperson. (Which they destroyed soon after we took the pictures.)

A game with Gramma.

The next morning Aunt Amy and Gramma took both boys to have breakfast with Santa at the Lodge.

They were among the very first to arrive. So they immediately went to go see Santa and talk with him. Luckily they got to spend quite a bit of time with him. When Santa asked Jake if he brushes his teeth, Jake replied with a puzzled "of course!!" Ha.

Looking at pictures on the iPhone while waiting for breakfast.

Listening to Santa read. Note that Ryan is sitting on Jake's lap. Adorable.

In the afternoon it was time to enjoy ALL.THE. SNOW!!

I love this family picture.

The sled was a big hit with everyone the whole week. The boys LOVED being pulled in it (they squealed in delight) and Mike and I got great workouts while pulling it!