Family Vacation

January 4 we headed south to the San Francisco area for a family vacation.  We stayed about an hour north of San Fran in Windsor.  The countryside was beautiful and we found all kinds of fun things to do.  Debbie and Jacob joined us for the trip...we were glad to have the extra adults along so we outnumbered the kids!

Shuttle to the airport - ready for vacation!

Hazel enjoyed driving this airplane at the airport play area.

California here we come!!

Made it to California!  Waiting for Daddy to pick us up in the rental van.

Day 1

We had to take Livia to the doctor (turns out she had a staph infection - yikes!) so in the afternoon we headed to the nearby Jelly Belly factory for a tour and some free samples.  

Day 2 - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

We were all very impressed with all the animals they had!  We enjoyed watching these dolphins swim around while we waited for the rides to open.

 Hudson and Livia taking Uncle Jacob for a ride in the train. 

 The trains were the only rides that Livia enjoyed - the rest resulted in her dissolving into tears....not sure what the deal was with that.

Everyone needs a photo with a gingerbread man!

Hudson was a big fan of the airplane ride.

Livia blew kisses to all the penguins.

Day 3

We marveled at God's creation at the Armstrong Redwood Reserve

"This tree is how old?"

Little poser

How many people does it take to hug a redwood?

In the afternoon Christian and the kids stayed at the condo to watch the Seahawks game while I went to do a bit of wine tasting with Debbie & Jacob.

Day 4 - The Beach!

Hudson wanted to know why he couldn't go swimming...brrrr!

I could sit and stare at the ocean for hours!

These kids from Washington deemed the afternoon warm enough for a swim in the pool.

Day 5 - San Francisco 

The token family photo with the golden gate bridge.

Interesting tidbit...the golden gate bridge was completed in 1936 - ahead of schedule and under-budget!

Hyde Street pier - we got to go onto a couple very cool, historic ships.

Aboard an old paddle boat ferry

 Mmmm - Ghirardelli Ice Cream Sunday!

Riding the famous trolley car through the big city.

Alcatraz

Day 6

 Castello di Amoroso - a modern day castle that is a winery.
The owner built this crazy 121,000 sq foot castle which opened in 2007 - complete with a moat, dungeon and private chapel.

Crossing the drawbridge

The Culinary Institute of America was in the neighborhood so we decided to stop in and check it out.

Day 7 - Headed Home

When we were getting off the plane in Seattle the pilot invited Hudson and Livia into the cockpit  

 Hudson even got to sit in the pilot's seat.

Christmas!

I hope your Christmas season was blessed as fully as ours was here!  We enjoyed celebrating the birth of our Lord with all of our dear family.

Family photo!

On Christmas Eve we spent some time with the extended Koethke family making gingerbread houses and trains.

Livia had to sample the candy...naturally!

Trying to get pictures of the kids in their fancy Christmas outfits proved challenging! 

The best we got of all three of them.

Livia got "rockin' riding Lacy" the pony from grandma & grandpa Boorman.  She was very excited and rode that pony and played the song so many times it was stuck in all of our heads!

Modeling the pjs she got that match her new doll's.

Hazel thought the new pony was pretty cool too.

Decorating the jewelry box she got from Vicky

Check out that concentration

Christmas day sugar cookie decorating

I love this baby!

My brother in law Jarred took some more photos of Hazel for me.  I think he's just fantastic and did such a great job capturing her joyful little personality in these shots! 

 

 How about those blue, blue eyes!

 

 

 Couldn't help but smile back, could you?

 

 

 This one is my favorite

 



 

The tounge...she's quite fond of it...

Life

A smattering of photos for those of you who pay attention...

 

 Livia LOVES puzzles!  She's worked her way up to the 24 piece frameless puzzles.  I think she would sit and do puzzles for hours some days. 

 



We took a Saturday after potato harvest was over to go up near Leavenworth to Smallwoods Harvest...the Cow Ride (plastic 50 gal drums turned into cattle with wheels and pulled behind a gator) is our family favorite!   

 We have been loving our Classical Conversations community in Yakima.  Here's Hudson trying to come up with the answer to a review question with a couple of his fellow students.

 

Dissecting owl pellets at school - clearly not Hudson's favorite!

 



 Family pizza night!

 Oh Hazel!  What a messy, messy eater you are!

 

 Full fledged mobility has meant time for the baby gates around here.

 

 Hudson and Livia enjoyed our first snow a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 Hazel was so proud of her riding abilities!  Also worth noting - she's wearing an outfit that my sister wore when she was little...so fun.  :)

 

 

Things were very quite downstairs, which usually means trouble, but I was pleasantly surprised to come upon this precious scene...Hudson reading to Livia!