Saturday was spent mostly wrapping presents and hanging out with everyone. We all went to see Star Wars that day, which the kids really enjoyed.
Sunday was Christmas Eve. We had a big treat that morning with actual SNOW! The kids were super excited to see it. They all put their gear on and played outside for a long time. There was even enough for a small snowball fight.
The Phillips clan had their big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We all sang the traditional 12 days of Christmas and played minute to win it games. We also had a white elephant gift exchange. I came home with a 2,000 piece puzzle. The kids opened their jammies and this year they also got slippers.
Christmas morning came on Monday. The kids slept until about 8am and then we all headed downstairs to see our loot. We made a delicious breakfast casserole and spent lots of time opening gifts. Next we ran across the street for round 2 of the gift opening. There were lots of people! Chris's cousin Jon and his family were in town as well. It was great to see everyone, but it was super packed when we were all together. We had Christmas dinner at my parent's house that night with Bren and Hilary and family. We ended the evening playing games and relaxing. It was a good Christmas!
The highlight this year for my kids was getting lightsabers. There were plenty of "fights" during the break. Neil really enjoyed his Minecraft toys, Nintendo money, Guess Who, clothes, walkie-talkies, books and armor set. Grace was happy with her remote BB-8, clothes, money, and Clue game. Claire received several books, money, clothes, apples to apples, and new shoes. Chris got a new hitting mat for the batting cage, a John wick movie, and clothes. I got some new plates and bowls, a Columbia jacket, a butter dish, and a silver bracelet and earrings.
Here the kids are filling out a puzzle that I made them to tell them that we are going to Disneyland in January! Grace just figured it out. :)
The next few days were pretty low key. We stayed up late every single night and enjoyed sleeping in every morning. The kids did several art projects with their cousins and everyone did a few paintings too. We all headed downtown Portland one day while it was still very cold. It was nice to get some fresh air, but we were freezing!
We also hit up the traditional Godfather's Pizza buffet twice, had Thai takeout, and went for Salt n Straw. We had a plethora of treats to sustain us during the visit. Most nights were spent playing games of some kind. The kids also watched a bunch of movies with Grandpa.
My dad also took Chris and I out shooting at the range. It was pretty fun. I even shot this turkey cut out in the cheek three times from 300yds. Not bad! :)
New Year's Eve was alright. We all went bowling with our Groupon that we had purchased. That was really fun. It was cosmic and we all had money to spend at the snack bar. We spent two hours there before heading over to Connie's for an appetizer style dinner and our traditional glow stick dance party. This year the party was a bit of a bust. There weren't many adults participating, which made it awkward. I think I'll skip it in the future unless we have the right crowd. We all tried to get to sleep early since we had to get up at 7am the next day.
New Year's Day was fantastic! The getting up early part wasn't awesome, but other than that it was really perfect. We headed out to Jewell Wildlife Refuge for our appointment to ride out on a wagon pulled by a tractor to feed a couple of herds of elk. It was a cold, frosty morning, but we were prepared with our warm clothes and blankets. The sky was clear and as the sun rose things really warmed up. It was absolutely gorgeous out there. The kids really liked being so close to the elk. We got to throw the bales of alfalfa over the side of the wagon for the elk. We also had the chance to learn more about them and see several antlers up close.
After the feeding we continued down the road to Camp 18 where we got to sit in the upstairs reserved loft area. We had a delicious breakfast with hot chocolate. Then we did a little exploring behind the restaurant near the river. The kids were loving it so much that we decided to stop again at a park where the largest Sitka Spruce tree used to be. We hiked the trails there too and enjoyed a few pine cone fights.
Then it was off to Seaside. We walked the main street and went right down to the beach. The weather was great! No wind and very mild temps with plenty of sunshine. The kids headed to the empty swing set immediately. They had so much fun running, swinging, and playing in the sand. Neil even went with my mom down to the water and put his feet in. We bought some candy from a little shop and then headed back home. It was a great day.
Tuesday was spent relaxing and going to see Jumanji. We hit up pizza one more time and spent the rest of the time packing up our things because we left back for home on Wednesday.
We had a fun and relaxing winter break. Now it's back to reality. Only a few more weeks before our lives get really hectic again with spring sports. We will enjoy this down time while we have it.
