Cowlitz County Monopoly

The countdown to midnight continues. To help pass the time, we played the Cowlitz County Monopoly game (which was missing a couple cards) while watching The Hobbit.

Jillian owned all the Railroads, which pretty much single-handedly won her the game.

Early Groundhog Day

For our first movie of the evening, Bridget picked the classic Groundhog Day. The kids got the games going with Rat-a-Tat Cat.

This movie will be followed by The Hobbit (Jillian and Tor's choice), as we stay up til midnight for the New Year.

Library Warm-up

After getting frozen at the park, we warmed up in the library.

We stayed quite a while, with Tor and Dad working on the current jigsaw puzzle.

Back to the Park

Thanks to Otto for getting us the code for the lock on the Ocean Park playground. He stopped by this morning and offered to get the code for us, and we readily accepted. It's been years since locks were put on the gates, and the kids missed the tradition of always stopping at the "park" on our trips to the beach cabin. The girls went to the swings, and Tor brought his basketball:

We played a very brief football game due to it being freezing cold.

Game Night

Bridget pulled out a few games from upstairs for us to play. First up was a new game: "Let's Hit Each Other with Fake Swords". Here's Mom and Bridget dueling:

Next up was "Beat the Parents", in which the parents wagered two scoops of ice cream, and the kids wagered an early bed time ... and the kids won. This pic shows Tor attempting the card stacking challenge:

Drop Anchor

Tonight was our eat-out night, and Mom picked Drop Anchor (Lost Roo was closed). The girls had fettuccine, Tor had mac-n-cheese, Mom picked crab cakes and Dad shared fish and chips. We talked college and career choices over our meals.

We had no room for dessert.

High Tide & Rainbows

It was supposed to be clear and dry today, so we made our trip to the beach.

There was a little wind, and the tide was way up, but it was a nice walk between the foamy waves and the dunes.

We even saw a rainbow ... can't remember the last time ever seeing that.

Tor went to war with the foam, swinging the washed up kelp.

Afterwards, we drove up to Oysterville (the store was closed), then stopped at the Artisan Seafood Shop on the way back and tried their clam chowder ... it was OK, just not as good as at Oysterville. Our next stop was Okie's and Jack's for ice cream since Coleen's was closed. Then, back to the cabin for lunch.

Antenna Removal Service

The antenna on the beach cabin roof fell over, and needed to be removed. Dad went up to loosen the bolts, and Tor followed. It was a little scary due to the steep pitch.

Winter Beach Trip

Our tradition of spending the New Year at the beach cabin is continuing. We arrived at 7:00 pm following Jillian's volleyball practice, and went right to eating eagle's nest for dinner. As usual, the kids couldn't agree on a movie, so Bridget looked at the "R-rated" DVDs (her words ... it was just the older movies), and found Ocean's 13. Bridget brought along her new Kindle, so her attention was divided.

Tor hauled out the mini hoop for some basketball practice. No blog post would be complete without a blurry action shot:

We brought a half dozen blankets for the cabin, since it seems we are always competing with each other for the few that were here.

Random Cute Pic

Jillian took this photo of Tor and Kenny at the piano during the Christmas Eve Party in Castle Rock:

Peterson Family Christmas

The Peterson Family came over to our house to celebrate Christmas. We ate appetizers for dinner, along with a bunch of holiday desserts. Then the kids opened their gifts from everyone.

Trailblazer Game with the Ballers

Tor and his Ballers Basketball Team went to the Trailblazers game last night against the Utah Jazz, as the "Courtside Kids" for selling tickets for a fundraiser. Tor is in the front wearing his Scoot Henderson 00 jersey and hat:

There were a lot of perks, including walking onto the court through the tunnel that the players use:

Being shown on the Jumbo-Tron:

High-fiving the Trailblazer players as they entered the court (Tor is somewhere in that crowd):

They sat courtside on the Utah bench for a few minutes to watch warmups, then took their seats in the 200 level. The Blazers won the game on a last second shot by Scoot. Then, the Ballers went back on the court and each player got to shoot a free throw - Tor made his!

Christmas in Castle Rock

We met at Grannie And Papa's house to have a bagel lunch and open presents with aunts, uncles and cousins:

Following presents, we trekked to Longview to visit Auntie Greta and family for a bit before returning to CR to eat homemade pizza.

Christmas w/ The Stephenson / Paul Families

The kids started the morning at Grandma Cindy and Hal's with finding their ornaments on the tree:

After a big breakfast, we opened presents, then got the traditional photos:

(Early) Christmas Morning

The kids woke up at 7:00 am (with Dad's help) and piled into Jillian's bed to wait for Mom to get ready. Then they made their way to the bean bag chairs to open stockings:

Christmas Eve Party

The Christmas Eve Party returned to Uncle Dan and Aunt Robin's house, with Santa Claus making an appearance, handing out gifts and having a conversation with each of the kids:

The kids stayed busy. Tor brought his small football and found lots of cousins to toss the ball to him:

They also hung out downstairs like their older cousins before them, and played with Kenny and Rory throughout the night.

Gifts with Kenny & Rory

Since we wouldn't see them on Christmas Day, Kenny and Rory opened their gifts for everyone on Christmas Eve before the party.

Sibling Gift Exchange

We started off our Christmas Eve with the Sibling Gift Exchange. Each kid bought a gift for the others with their own money. They know each other well, so they always pick out gifts that the others are hoping for. In this pic, Tor is opening up his Squirtle gift from Jillian:

Holiday Lights Tour

We toured around Longview and Kelso in the evening to view Christmas light displays, mostly checking out the usual spots where we know some nice lights will be up:

Of course, we had to end the night at Zo Gladson's house, enjoying some Trans Siberian Orchestra on the radio:

Holiday Baking

Jillian and Bridget helped Mom in the kitchen with baking up the traditional holiday treats: Jillian was making "muddy buddies", Bridget was making peanut butter blossoms, and Mom was making butter crunch.

Nutcracker Ballet

Our first evening of Christmas break was spent at the Nutcracker Ballet at Keller Auditorium. We had dinner at Red Robin, then grabbed some coffee at Starbucks before going in. Then, we picked out the ornament (Claire), got our family picture taken, walked to the second balcony to look around, checked out the orchestra tuning their instruments, and relaxed in our seats to read the program and watch the show.

More Basketball Pics

Tyson's Dad continued to pump out the Baller's basketball pics, this time from a tournament in Vancouver, where the team placed second.