January

 One last look at the beaches of So. Cal for awhile.  We are glad Miss Gretchie that you introduced us to the beauty of this place and love enjoying it with you!


Miss Munchkin and grandpa. This is her favorite spot in the house! Notice the book is in German. Gretchen is the only one that can read it but Etta doesn't care. It's an animal farm book so made up story line is great.

 Early January snows. It is Etta's first for walking in. She is not so sure about the sledding.

 In fact, it is pretty relaxing when you go this route.

 Making bread with grandma.

Boulevard Park. Coffee. Delightful walk by the water. Photo op. Family. Love this.

Happy Birthday Kelly! Yummy cake by Janae~ entertainment by Etta~

Christmas --2011

 Grandpa's boat for Etta. It's called the South Whidbey "punt rocker". That's the type of boat it is. It turned out beautifully. Now, to convince Etta it's ok to "rock the boat"!

 Janae made this farm for Etta. The barn and animals are so realistic. The goats even have ladders to play on. We all wanted to play "farm".

 Special times. We went to Dan and Tonya's Christmas Eve. Travis had arrived Friday so we were all very happy to see him!  Tonya had a delightful meal of Swedish meatballs and all the fixins.

 And of course "fancy" would be on the menu as well.

Back up the the log house. All of us gathered here for Christmas Day +next day.

Janae, and Kelly brought a mystery jigsaw puzzle, "Murder on the Titanic". They all enjoyed it and are here solving the crime.


Kelly fixed "choucroute" a delicious french dish. Cabbage, sauerkraut and many kinds of sausages, baked to perfection. Mashed potatoes served on the side. Justin made homemade applesauce in the slowcooker.

Terry' toys. He has a train set for younger kids on the right, then new this year was a train/slot car set that brought lots of whoops and hollers as your try to out-run the train with your slot car. We all want to learn to do that, right?

 Justin entertained with the guitar. Kids loved singing kid songs and carols. Most mesmerized was Braden. He couldn't get enough. It was pretty sweet to see how enthralled he was with it.

 Cousins--first time all 6 together since grandpa Gordon's funeral in '99.

The Thompson clan.

 The Matthews clan.

Next day: Early morning story time with cousins.

 Janae made Taco Soup, Ken and Marianne joined us too. More jigsaw, games and cookie time to finish out the day on Monday.

And a wonderful time was had by all!!  We are very, very thankful for family and friends. We were missing all the other family but know they were enjoying their families too.

Happy Holidays to all of you and Happy New Year!!

April happenings

Well April here was the COLDEST on record. But we didn't stay in by the fire and mope, altho it was the topic of discussion far more than was emotionally healthy.

We had a very busy month, hmmm, guess they all are that way and that is good. Keeps us from sitting around commiserating about....

April doings:
Some of the cousins had dinner at Uncle Tom and Aunt Jeans in early April. It was a wonderful evening of stories, more stories (are you sure that was true?) and good food. We look forward to the reunion in August of this clan +the rest at Cape Disappointment. We're excited to see Marianne and Ken's branch of the family.
Uncle Tom shows Etta his basalt fountain. Cousin's, below, Brandon took quite an interest in Etta and she in him. Brandon's mom Margaret holding a future Husky, courtesy of Uncle J.




Over spring break we went with Tonya/Dan and family to the Science Center. We had a great day. Highlight of the center was the butterfly house, dinosaurs and the Lewis and Clark I-Max. Justin met us for lunch at the Center. To cap it all-- fabulous chowder back at Tonya's Cafe.




Tulip time! Anghared and Anna come to see the tulips. We had a delightful visit and stroll through the street fair.

Up to watch Etta for the day while mommy went to work to help daddy...bliss for g'ma and g'pa.
Etta comes to visit (her first over-nighter without mom and dad!) and g'pa takes her for a stroll. She kept pointing to the door. Loves being outside.--and Tucker. We loved our sleep-over!


Lisa and Troy had an Easter brunch. It was delicious and the SUN was shining so we just sat outside and lolled in the sun like sun-starved creatures that we are!! The kids hunted Easter eggs, then rehid them, hunted again and on... and on... Miss Etta rode in the airplane swing very content to watch it all. When she saw Tonya, she held out her arms right away. I think she thought that was someone who looked a lot like mommy!
Braden giving hugs--lots of them to his cousins.


Ready for meeting! Mommy and Daddy are back and as you can see by the picture below Miss Etta was pretty happy to see them.

Etta loves grandpa reading books. She is never done!