Snow-Christmas-1st Reconciliation

White Christmas!

Christmas came with a flurry of white this year, literally! Dan, Maggie and Lanna were out of school three days early with the arrival of several inches of snow. We were all excited for the beautiful white powder, sled rides and warming up with hot cocoa. The hill out of our street is fairly steep, and during snowy weather we have learned to park at least one car on the next street up, otherwise we will be stuck with out a car to drive. The snow plows don't come into our cul-de-sac so driving out is impossible. After several days of snow, with icing in between, our street was perfect for sleding, but impassible to vehicles. The Schwan's Man was foolish to drive down but unable to get back out. His truck was parked on our street for two days before a large tow truck pulled him out. The girls (and mom and dad) had a great time playing in the snow, sleding, making snowmen, and all the fun things you do in the snow. After a week of the snow, however, even they were tired of it.

We had about 6-inches on Christmas Day alone and I heard the girls groan "Not more snow!" I don't think I have ever heard that. But after two weeks of walking up to our car and driving with chains, we were all glad it finally melted away. Driving on snow with chains is fine, but when you hit clear pavement, it's like driving in Fred Flintstone's car! Christmas Day was a low key affair at our house with presents in the morning, A Christmas Story to watch over and over, a trip to the movies followed by a nice turkey dinner.

Lanna showing off her Top Chef game.

Maggie with her make-up...is she really old enough for that? No!!!

Look what we found under our tree.

1st Reconciliation

Lanna has been going through 1st Reconciliation classes, and last weekend she had her 1st Reconciliation. She was excited for this day and did great. She is now getting ready to take her 1st Communion Classes and will celebrate that sacrament in May.

Lanna's Art

Lanna's class made a family picture and then wrote a story about the picture. We have a frame where we display the a piece of the girl's art for a while, and this is our current display. Just for the record, Dan is not as old as she says, and Carol is not as young, but at least she was closer to my age than Dan's.

Who knew I was a mail order bride?


Goodbye snow!

We leave with this picture of the "Gianormous snowball" the girls made which lasted for days and days after the snow melted. Perhaps we will have snow later...much, much later!

Christmas Time

How to pick the perfect Christmas Tree, Ruiz Family Style...

First, walk through the tree farm looking at each one.

Some are a little too big...

Some are a little too small...

Found it!!

Take obligatory family picture in front of tree.

(Thank Heavans for camera timers).

Cut the tree, with child supervision...Timber!

Throw it into the back of your truck!
(A borrowed truck is best - :-)

Visit with Santa.

Pet (and herd) goats and llamas at petting farm (no pictures, :-(

Take the tree home, place in your house and...

Viola!

Your tree is ready for Santa's visit.

Merry Christmas.

Thanksgiving and Holiday Fun Stuff

The Racoon Racers and Families

The Belmont-Smith Family arrived Wednesday night after an arduous drive up I-5 and we kicked off the festivities the next morning with the Turkey Trot Fun Run. It seems more and more people show up each year to enjoy a run/walk around the Lake Sacajawea. We met up with several groups of friends and it was a great time to catch up with people we haven’t seen for a while. Jill and Cole were the only two from our group to finish the whole lake this year. Way to go Cole. We headed home to clean up, eat some yummy Thanksgiving dinner and watch the Seachickens lose once again. Sigh. Football in Washington this year leaves much to be desired.

Jill and Cole approaching the finish line

We braved the crowds Friday morning for some super deals and then began the process of decorating the house. Although not done, the house is beginning to look festive and the mood is starting to feel a lot like Christmas.

Geo-caching

Dan and Jill "working" the GPS

We decided to try our hand at a fun activity called Geo-caching. Simply put, this is like treasure hunting with a GPS. We went to http://www.geocaching.com/ , typed in our zip code and found several “caches” right here in Longview. So we downloaded the coordinates and headed out to find the stashes, trade a treasure or two and leave our name in the log books for future geo-cachers.

Hollow tree - one of the hiding places

The kids had a blast looking for the hiding places and opening the boxes to find what lay inside. This was a great way to get outside and move around without having to find a place to hike. And it was great for getting the kids to use their observation skills. There are over a half a million geo-caches around the world, so it is something we have decided we can so as a family when we visit places.

We found it!

Lanna showing some treasures

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ruiz and Belmont-Smith Families
Turkey Trot - Thanksgiving 2008

School Pictures and Family Fun

School Pictures!

The girls school pictures arrived a few weeks ago, but I have been too lazy to scan them in and upload them to the website. Here they are finally. Looking back at the previous years pictures hanging on the wall next to the stairs, we can't believe how much they have grown (sniff, sniff!)

Maggie, 9

4th grade

Lanna, 7

2nd grade

WSU Soccer in the NCAA Tournament!

We found out a few days before the actual game that WSU Women's soccer had made the NCAA Soccer Tournament and was playing their first round game in Portland. So we packed our blanket, stadium cushions, dinner and warm coats and gloves, and headed down I-5 to the University of Portland to watch the game. It was so exciting to cheer for a team that actually has a winning record (I will not provide an explanation for the last comment. If you don't know what it is referring too...good. If you do, keep your snide comments to yourself.) It was a close match, but WSU just didn't have enough to overcome a good University of Texas team and lost 1-0. However, it was great to watch how well players at this level play, and Maggie loved watching things develop. Lanna liked when it was time to get hot chocolate. The picture above is of "the girls" at the game. (Dad was there, just not on the picture.)

Sunday pictures!!!

Random pictures from our Sunday.

Lanna was walking around with this basket on her head, I have no idea why, but when I got the camera to take a picture, she saluted me. Ten hut!

Maggie decided to treat her sister to a day at the salon by braiding her hair (as can be seen in the picture) and painting her nails. I hid the make-up, so that is as far as it got, but Lanna felt glamorous just the same.


We went for a walk along the Coweeman River dike on Sunday morning, then stopped at the playground for some playtime on the equipment. Maggie and Dad had a good time on the swings, while Lanna just climbed over everything. There was another dad there with his two little girls, one of which was about 12 months old and in a baby swing. As she came toward her dad, he would say "yeah" and she would laugh and clap her hands. It was so cute, and with her short blonde baby hair and chubby cheeks, she reminded us of Lanna as a baby. This nearly brought tears to my eyes and totally made me want another baby! (See note above about school pictures!) Dan said it was cute, but he wasn't feeling as sentimental as I was. Sigh.

This picture was actually from October, but was too good not to share.

Veteran's Day Assembly

Today was the Veteran's Day Assembly at Columbia Heights Elementary School. Maggie invited Grandpa Dave and Lanna invited Aunt Lisa as their special guests. Actually, Lanna invited Lisa to the Veterinarian's Day Assembly, but it's a big word, she told Lisa and sometimes she gets it confused with the other word. Go figure. Grandpa was all decked out in his Navy dress uniform, which impressively still fits (barely) after more than 35 years of being a "civilian".

We are proud of our family's service to our country, and are greatful to the service they and many others have given so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today. Happy Veteran's Day.

Mike Julian, fellow Navy veteran, and Dave

Sailor Dave and his bride Sandy

Fall at the Lake & Halloween

Fall soccer is finally over and we have a chance to slow down and enjoy life a little more. Maggie's team finished the season undefeated (13-0-1), as did Lanna's team. It has been a beautiful fall here and the leaves have been slow to turn their colors, but they are finally in full splendor. We went down the lake a few days ago to take some pictures and enjoy the falling leaves. Of course the girls just could not resist throwing, kicking or chasing the leaves. After finally finding WSU Cougar gear in kids sizes, they were so excited to wear them, and I didn't have the heart to tell them the football team stinks...well, basketball is around the corner.

These pictures were a bit staged, as they are actually sitting next to each other hugging and not hitting each other. Two seconds before this picture they were fighting over who's arm would go where, and then they asked "How much longer?" I am sure we are horrible parents for torturing our kids and there will be a best selling book about it later. Halloween arrived before we knew it and the girls were ready for some trick-or-treating. Maggie is Super Girl and Lanna is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I could have done with a little less skin showing, but Lanna loved wearing her outfit. And she still has tan lines from her swimming suit!

We are looking forward to the next two months as the holiday's approach and spending evenings home as a family without sports or other committments. Thanksgiving is just over 3 weeks away with Christmas following right behind. As the days turn shorter and colder, it is time to put away the soccer cleats and barbeque and trade them for hot cocoa and cuddling on the couch.

Camping at Maryhill State Park

We celebrated the last weekend of summer with another Labor Day camping trip, and this year we decided to try out Maryhill State Park in the Columbia Gorge. The campground was a bit of a drive away (2 ½ hours from home) but very spacious and green (at least at the campsite). When we booked the site, we did not think much about the listed activities, but if wind surfing is listed as one of them, be prepared for windy conditions. (Ummm…okay, good tip.) Fortunately for us, we were on the side of the state that had sunshine instead of rain, but the temperature was a tad chilly.

We went up to see the Stonehenge replica just up the hill from our camp site and had a great view of the Columbia Gorge. Did I mention it was windy in the gorge? The day before we had a crystal clear view of Mt. Hood, but unfortunately, I forgot to take the camera with us. Dan and I visited a few wineries, tasted some different wines and, of course, bought a few bottles to take home. And the amount of stars we could see was incredible. We even saw a few shooting stars.

Skylar went with us and he, Maggie and Lanna had a fun time running around the camp ground, swimming (actually wading) in the river, and hanging out by the fire with their own fire poking sticks. Grandpa fired up the RVQ, and with the flames on the burgers, it was almost like Burger King! Well, okay, not really, but who's keeping score?

On the way home we stopped at Bonneville Dam to see the salmon and steelhead making their way through the fish passage. Wow, the size of some of those fish is impressive.

We didn’t take many pictures, probably because it was windy and cold, and we really didn’t do too much but be lazy, just as a camping trip should be. We don’t have any more overnight trips planned now that school is back in session, but everything is subject to change without notice. Hope you had a great Labor Day Holiday as well.