Happy Holidays!

We’re managing to keep warm despite the cold temps and snow that we’ve been receiving daily for more than a week now. Cole is playing his Indiana Jones XBox game as I write this. Ian is psyched to finally have a Nintendo DS like Nathan; they played a network game against each other for a better part of the morning yesterday. I smoked a 13lb roast on the green egg despite the fact that only three adults were going to enjoy it. Erin was annoyed enough to take a picture which I’ve included in the slide show below, but she decided it was a good thing today when I used the left overs (at least a small portion of the left overs) to make prime rib panini sandwiches. Thanks Amanda for the panini grill!

We’d like to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Click on any of the pictures below to launch a slide show

Cole posing for pictures with a snowman

Cole wearing the elf hat that ‘cookie Gramma’ gave him

Ian showing off the snowman cookies he made

Cole

All three of our boys posing with Christmas hats

Erin captured this shot of Cole sound asleep on Christmas Eve with his book still open.

This was taken 1AM Christmas morning. It snowed all night!

Our boys on Christmas morning. Cole is watching Ian and Nathan play Nintendo DS.

Erin went back through all of our pictures and pulled together a few that represent the last 8 years of Christmas celebrations we’ve had in North Carolina, Ohio and Washington.

Click on the picture to launch the slideshow and Merry Christmas!

Cole visiting the lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens in 2007

We’re up to five Christmas trees in our home. One in the living room, one in the family room and one in each of the three kids bedrooms. In my family, we have a tradition of purchasing an ornament each year that is symbolic of something that happened during the year. The kids have a blast hanging their ornaments from years past and asking us what the significance of each one is.

The living room

Cole decorating his tree

Ian decorating his tree

Nathan working on his tree

Another shot of the living room

Happy holidays everyone!

Erin found an article in the Issaquah Reporter back in September saying that a famous sushi chef (James Kwak) had just come to Ika Sushi and Bento down the street from us in Sammamish.  I finally tried them out this past weekend and liked it so much that I offered to pick up some more on the way home from work tonight. 

tonight we had these four sushi roles (rainbow is our fav)

If you live near us, you’ve got to try ‘em out! 

Ika Sushi & Bento

(425) 836-8323

482 228th Ave Ne, Sammamish, WA 98074

We had a great Halloween again this year.  Two days later and the kids seem to be adjusting well to their elevated sugar intakes.  Here are some pictures for Halloween night; as usual, you click ‘em for the larger sizes.

Ian (skeleton pirate) with his friend Luke.

Cole as Indiana Jones

Nathan as Sasuke, a character in the Naruto cartoon

‘Sasuke’ trick-or-treating

Cole and his friend Drew both dressed as Indiana Jones

I’ve posted additional photos to Flickr.  Click Here to visit the site.

For the last couple of days, Erin has been pouring chocolate into molds and baking chocolate ginger bread.  When I arrived home from work, her and the kids had just finished building a haunted house made entirely of edible treats.  Is it really almost the holiday season already? 

Click on the picture to view the original size

Since the time Nathan found out that the Space Needle had a restaurant in it, he’s wanted to eat there.  So we figured that his 9th birthday was as good of an excuse as any to let us (the adults) splurge under the guise of celebrating our oldest child’s 9th birthday.  So with that, we called a sitter for the Ian and Cole and took Nathan, with special guest ‘Cookie Gramma’ and rode the elevator up to the top of the space needle for dinner.  Nathan was enamored with the view and the fact that the restaurant rotated.  Not so excited about having to wait longer than it takes to get a burger at Red Robin, for his food.  Here are a few shots from our adventure last night.

Erin, Nathan and me before dinner

The view on the way up to the top of the needle

Nathan and ‘Cookie Gramma’ on the elevator

Nathan enjoying the view before dinner

Gotta have a birthday milkshake!

Nathan’s ‘lunar orbiter’ dessert

Nine years old today.

We were blessed with another amazing weekend.  Nathan had his weekly soccer match Saturday afternoon and we decided to then drive over to the salmon hatchery in Issaquah.  Next week is the official Salmon days in Issaquah, so we thought we’d get a jump on the crowds and then grab a bite at the brewery next door. 

Watching the salmon jump

Nathan and Ian learned about salmon’s developmental stages

I broke out the macro lens today to grab a few shots of a spider that wove a web just outside of our bedroom window.  Hard to believe that this spider is only about the size of a pencil eraser.  For the full effect, click on the pictures to see the full size image