HO HO HO

So we set off Friday evening to have the Santa picture taken. Sister Bear has seen Santa at the mall a handful of times. However, she wants no part of sitting on his lap. I really wanted them to have a picture with Santa though. Brother tried to coax sister to sit on Santa's lap with him but a firm NO was always her response. So I thought what if Santa stands behind the chair and they sat in the chair. Sister was not so sure about that either. She had an idea. She wanted Santa behind the chair and Brother sitting in the chair and she would stand in front of the chair. A safe buffer. OK.

Well, after waiting, this year only 25 minutes compared to last years 2 hours, it was our turn. I told the photographer that there would be no sitting on the lap. He had Santa step away while Brother sat in the chair. The chair was big enough that I convinced Sister to sit in the chair with Brother. Santa came and stood behind the chair and a picture was quickly taken. No tears, no look of utter fear. After they were done Santa gave them a peppermint Ghirradelli chocolate. Yum!

Going to the Lodge

This past Sunday we headed out of town to Grand Mound, Washington home of the http://www.greatwolf.com/grandmound/waterpark. We spent the day in the water park and stayed Sunday night at the lodge and spent Monday there. Sssshhhh, don't tell Brother Bears school.

The inside of the hotel was decorated for Christmas with several trees, snowflakes and lights hanging from the ceiling. It even snowed in the lobby at night!

Inside the water park it was a balmy 84 degrees. It was a warm December day outside for Washington. It was about 54 and a dark rainy day. The water park can only be used by guests of the hotel which helps limit the crowds. There were 3 big water slides that you had to climb up four flights of stairs to get to. Papa and I took turns going with Brother on those, Sister was not tall enough. Then there was a big wave pool that we spent a lot of time in. Sister wore a life jacket and held on tight to Papa out in the deep end of the wave pool. She was a trooper. Then there was another climbing structure that had to slides that did not require tubes. Sister went down those a few times but each time said she didn't want to do that anymore. There was another area that had stationary ride on toys that shot water out of them and two playground size water slides. They had a pool area with basketball nets in it and a rope course too. Brother and Sister both really like the big bucket that would fill up with water and then tip over and splash everyone in the vicinity.

After dinner and story time in the lobby we did a game called Magi Quest. MagiQuest®
Slaying a dragon? Helping the Pixie restore her magic? It's all part of MagiQuest®, a one-of-a-kind, live-action adventure game. Armed with high-tech wands, your family must solve magical challenges throughout the resort to gain powers (and points) and move to higher levels of the game. This game took us up and down five flights of stairs MANY times. After a few levels of Magi Quest it was time for bed.

Brother and Sister had their own wolf den area in the room. It had bunk beds, their own flat screen television and a mural on the wall of wolf cubs playing in a river. I think that the kids had a good time. Sister was especially pooped, she asked to go to bed.

The next morning we were up and back to the water park for awhile and then to finish off the Magi Quest game before we headed home.

Holiday decorating

We decorated the tree on Sunday. I let the kids put most of the ornaments on. So far I have not rearranged them but left them clumped together where they were placed. I love having the Christmas tree up. As soon as Brother gets up in the morning he comes down and turns the lights on.

I need to put the Autumn decorations away. As I write they are put up though.

The lifting up for the placing of the star. It may be Sister Bears turn soon. Brother is getting a little big to lift up there.

Silly kids

Now we just have to wait for Papa Bear to put the lights up on the house.

Trains Trains Trains and Trains

A few Saturdays ago we went to a train exhibit at the fairgrounds with my parents. When we lived in California and my dad watched Brother Bear on Fridays they would always walk down to the train station near the circle and watch the trains. Sometimes they would even go to the Amtrak station or with their Disneyland passes they would go and ride the train and monorail around the park. We had tons of Thomas books and trains and watched all of the videos.

(Even Sister Bear likes trains)

So off we went to the fairgrounds. There were all sorts of exhibitors and then there were the model train clubs that had all of the tracks set up with the miniature cities. My favorite was the Lego city and trains. There was also a Playmobil city and train too that were pretty cool.

Can't have a train city in Washington without a Starbucks.

Thanksgiving Day Speech

Brother Bear prepared a Thanksgiving Day speech that he read before linner (lunch/dinner). It went as follows:

"Fellow family members. Today we gather to give thanks for what the Lord has to offer. We celebrate what the Pilgrims and Native Americans did on the fourth Thursday of November, which was to have a feast. The feast was to show thanks to those who voyaged across the Atlantic on the Mayflower. Our feast today is to give thanks for our family and whatever else there is to be thankful for. That includes friends, family, food, toys, etc. But, what we should be most thankful for is, family! Because family is always there for you in thick and thin. So now lets eat and be thankful for what the Lord has to offer. Rubba Dub Dub, Thanks for the grub"

Snow Morning

This is what we woke up to on a Fall November morning. School was a 2 hour late start on this Monday morning. So Brother and Sister sat up in Brothers bed and looked out the window and watched it snow.

It was time to bundle up and make the short trip up the street to the bus stop.

Here they are waiting at the bus stop. I love the pumpkins in the background covered in snow.

Bye Bye Brother Bear. Have a good day at school.

Halloween

I figured since Halloween was a week ago I had better put the pictures of up the little bears.

Brother Bear was given a choice a few days before Halloween. You can (1) go to the Sounders playoff game with your dad or (2) stay home and go trick or treating. He chose option number 1. But would Sister share her candy? Yes, she would, but most of it gets sent to Papa Bears office anyways so it didn't really matter.

So that left Sister Bear aka Princess Tiana and I for trick or treating. She was quite enjoying herself. She loved going up to the door and ringing the doorbell. Always polite with her thank you before we left.

We didn't even wear a coat for trick or treating until the very end of the evening. It was a nice night. The best part was no rain, especially since the days leading up to Halloween had been very wet. A big thanks to Granny for making her great costume. We couldn't ever find a Tiana crown, so Sister said "I'll just wear my Cinderella crown."

Princess Party

On Halloween we went to a Princess Tea Party. There is a place in town that does princess birthday parties and also a princess preschool. Every once in awhile they have an open house. This open house featured princess was Snow White. Snow White read stories to the girls and then a handful of other princesses came out and all of the girls danced around and talked with the princesses. They had little mini cupcakes and cookies and juice set up for the girls. There was also an area to make a cute little mask. Some of the princesses sat with the girls and read stories. I didn't tell Sister Bear we were going to the party until right before and she was SO EXCITED. She ran all over the house saying she was going to go see Snow White.

More Soccer Fun

Brother Bear had a fun filled soccer weekend. First it was the Sounders game on Friday night. His team and a bye on Saturday so there was no soccer there. He had a busy football day on Saturday. Brother went with Papa Bear down to Oregon for football. He is the tee grabber for home games so he got to do it on the road this time. When he got home late Saturday night he told me all about the food they got on the bus. A bagel and banana when they got on the bus, a box lunch, after the game a pizza to share just with dad and a little baggie of mini candy bars.

On Sunday it was back to soccer. His team was invited to a training session at Starfire Academy which is where the Sounders practice. They spent the morning doing drills. Then a few of the Sounders players were there. The Sounders players walked around to the different groups and talked to the kids and kicked the ball around. It was nice because there were probably only about 75 kids there. Afterwards the kids were able to get autographs and take pictures. They also got a really nice gift bag from Dicks Sporting Goods who sponsored the event. The gift bag had a Sounders scarf, and Adidas draw string backpack, a huge Dicks water bottle, a key chain, and a wrist band in a Dicks drawstring bag. A big thanks to Dicks.

On Friday night Brother was introduced to the player in the picture on the bottom. Sunday he asked Brother if he'd met him somewhere before. After all of the soccer activity on Sunday, Brother had a birthday party at a laser tag place. He was definitely ready for bed Sunday evening.

Cool Night for Brother

Papa Bear called last night to say he was on his way home from work. He was early. Papa Bear has two friends who work for Chivas and they were in town playing the Sounders. He was able to get two tickets as a surprise for Brother Bear.

As Chivas was coming on to the field to warm up during pregame, Papa Bear saw his friend, Kevin. Kevin invited Brother Bear down on to the field with him for pregame. He got to help set up the cones and chase after loose soccer balls. He got to meet the the goalkeeper for Chivas, a few other Chivas players, and a Sounders player. He also talked to the Sounders coach who remembered Brother from meeting him at the UW game.

When it was time for Brother to go back up into the stands, Kevin gave him a soccer ball. Brother Bear made sure he pointed out to me that it said "official match ball" and that I knew it wasn't a replica ball, but a REAL ball.

He held on to the ball for dear life during the game.

Hall of Famer

Here is the reason we went to California last week.

(This info was copied from the Chapman website. I changed his name in the paragraphs.)

Pair of Chapman greats to be inducted into Hall of Fame
ORANGE, Calif. – Chapman University and the Donald P. Kennedy Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will host its annual Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony and banquet on Saturday, October 2. Two of Chapman’s all-time greats will be enshrined: men’s soccer All-American Papa Bear’96 and men’s golf pioneer and former PGA professional Sandy Galbraith ’69. The banquet, which begins at 5 p.m., will follow a welcome reception and precede Chapman’s home football game against Pomona-Pitzer Colleges at 7 p.m. at Wilson Field.

Papa Bear '96: As team captain and starting goalkeeper he led the Chapman men’s soccer team to its first and only appearance at the NCAA Division III Final Four in 1995. He was named to the Umbro Select Senior All-Star team that year after allowing just 16 goals in 1,900 minutes and earning nine shutouts. Bennett was the starting goalkeeper for three years from 1993-95 and earned All-West Region honors twice. He is still the Chapman record holder for career shutouts with 26. He stayed on staff at Chapman after his graduation, becoming an assistant athletic trainer and head women’s soccer coach (2000-03), leading the Panthers to the NCAA playoffs in four consecutive seasons.

I think there were a handful of other stats that weren't listed on the website that were announced during the football game when they presented Papa Bear.

Saturday night we went to a nice dinner at the university. Brother Bear was excited to wear his suit. Sister Bear was excited for the mini My Little Pony toy in my purse that she was going to get. I had bought her a little toy to help keep her occupied and QUIET for the ceremony. After the dinner and award ceremony we went to the football game. At halftime they had all of the Hall of Fame Members (old and new) on the field. Papa Bear took Brother down with him. A proud Mama Bear moment. Sister Bear liked showing me that her dad and brother were down on the field. After the halftime announcement we went on to the side of the new athletics facility that is the Hall of Fame wall. There the plaque with Papa Bears name on it was unveiled.

I am very proud of Papa Bear for this honor. It was a nice weekend to share with family and friends.

Quick Trip

Hard to believe it was a week ago that we were in California.

There was rain in California and everyone said we brought it with us. No, we haven't had any rain in Washington. While we were in California we got to eat at some of our favorite local spots (Watsons and the Sugar Shack).

We saw friends who we haven't seen in a long time.

Grandpa and Papa Bear took Brother Bear golfing for his first time. He had a great time! We hit the swimming pool at the hotel a handful of times. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to the pool and water playground at Granny and Grandpa's. There was thunder and lightening. So instead, the kids settled on a walk to the park with their cousins.