Christmas in Portland 2016

A few highlights from Christmas time in Portland this past year...

We went to the Portland Zoo Lights with some friends.  It was so beautiful! They did a great job covering the zoo in Christmas lights.  We also had hot chocolate and elephant ears and took a ride on the little train, which was a huge highlight for Carter.  He didn't stop talking about it for days.

Maddie and I did our fair share of baking while Carter napped.  During his nap these days, usually about 2 hours, she has a quiet time in her room for the first hour and then we spend time together in the second hour.  Depending on how much energy I have, we either bake, work on letters/alphabet stuff, do arts and crafts, or watch a show (she watches while I lay down).

We spent a weekend in the small town of Silverton with friends in the beginning of December.  It's about 45 minutes away.  We had a lot of fun playing on their parents' blueberry farm, feeding the horse, riding the gator, and going to the Oregon Gardens for their annual Christmas market.  It reminded me of some of the Christmas markets in Germany/Switzerland.

And here with a 20 week belly photo...halfway there!

Before we left for the east coast, we got quite a bit of snow by Portland standards.  I think there were almost 3 solid weeks of snow fall on and off.  The roads get pretty bad here considering they don't salt and there's almost no snow plows.  Basically the roads had 2-3 inches of snow/ice packed on them for those 3 weeks until the temperature rose.  The kids loved it and went out jumping on the trampoline in the snow.  Carter enjoyed eating the snow and I got exercise shoveling a lot of snow.

A couple weeks before December 25th, we celebrated Christmas just the four of us on a Saturday morning.  It was really special to me and made me look forward to more Christmas traditions as the kids get older.

I also had to include photos with Santa... we didn't have to wait in a huge line, but I had a memorable mommy moment that day.  We were at the front of the line after waiting maybe 25 minutes, just 2 people ahead of us, and Carter says, "I have to go!!!"  Well, it was during the day on a Wednesday so it was just the kids and me.  I tell him to hold it until after.  A mere two minutes later, steam is coming off his pants and I look down to see that he has just peed his pants.  He had no problem, so I just acted like I didn't realize and we went ahead, saw Santa, and went home.  I just hoped that his jeans were dark enough that it wasn't so obvious!

This Santa, by the way, was very impressive.  It was just about a mile from our house at this nice outdoor mall.  He sets up this little cabin in the center area of the mall and you wait in line outside to enter into his cozy little place.  They let you take as many photos with your phone as you want and he gives the kids time to talk to him for a couple minutes.  He also gives out colorful, big candy canes (better than the cheap mini ones that mommy bought at the store).

Christmas 2015: Part 2

We spent New Years with the Adams crew in North Carolina.  It was nice for us to have such an extended time between jobs to spend time with family and rest.

The oldest 4 cousins (out of 8).

Christmas 2015: Part 1

We spent Christmas with the Whiteds in West Virginia.  It was so fun to get the cousins together.  It was a very restful time, which is exactly what we needed.  (Many photos in this one!)

And Carter's hair!! We got him a haircut shortly after we arrived in town. 

A special visit

Dad and Kim flew all the way from North Carolina to Zurich on New Year's Eve.  We were so excited to have them here for 11 whole days.

I was most excited for them to just see what our life is like here.  A few weeks before they got here, I planned most of the trip.  We wanted to show them as much as possible but also have some time to simply hang out together.  The day they arrived, we ate lunch, played with the kids, and took a walk around Bulach.

Day 4: Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, we went for a morning walk near the apartment and found an overlook towards Nice.

Later in the morning, we drove 10 minutes to Villefranche-sur-Mer.  We parked at the beach and took a long walk to old town.  We were surprised at how many restaurants were actually open with guests eating right on the water.  I loved this town.  It was by far my favorite.  I don't think I would change how we did this trip, except maybe renting an apartment in this town.  The beach was nicer and quieter than Nice.

Old town Villefranche-sur-Mer

You can see that we parked way over here and walked along the water to end up in old town.  It was so beautiful.

Merry Christmas from us!

We returned for lunch and naps.  In the afternoon, we facetimed our families and ate our turkey dinner.  Praise God for iphones and modern technology!  We're halfway across the world and "see" our families almost every week.

We opened our last box from Mimi and Pops!  Dinosaurs, cars, a purse, chocolates, and a baby that pees...couldn't ask for more :-)

Hope you and yours had a very happy Christmas!!! xoxo

Day 3: Christmas Eve in Nice

On Christmas Eve, the kids weren't sleeping well (as in, both waking every hour) and were coughing a lot, so we spent the morning resting.  After researching doctors who spoke English and how it works for tourists from out of country, we found a doctor (praise God!!) who was literally DOWN THE STREET and open ON CHRISTMAS EVE.  Now that was a serious answer to prayer.

It seemed like the medicine started working almost immediately for both of them.  Carter wasn't that bad, just congested, but Maddie was especially not feeling great.

After their naps in the afternoon, we drove into Nice just for a couple hours with the double stroller to walk around.

As soon as we got there, we had a late lunch on the beach.  I insisted on crepes: banana Nutella and another with prosciutto, goat cheese, and arugula.

You can't really tell that she wasn't feeling well.  Thank you, modern medicine!

She had a BALL on that thing.  She could've stayed on it all day.  No, all week.  We took her on 3 rides then literally pulled her off while she kicked and cried.

 It was really nice to let the kids rest in the comfy stroller while we could still walk around and see some of the main sights.  They both fell asleep as we strolled the quiet Christmas Eve streets of old town Nice.

We did find a turkey to eat for Christmas Eve...but the oven didn't cooperate and turned off in the middle of slow cooking the turkey so we ate it the next day when I could monitor the slow cooking.

This night, we actually ate with the kids and spent some time playing.  Mimi and Pops sent us 3 boxes with Christmas gifts in them, so we opened one a day.  New exciting toys kept them busy when we were hanging out at the apartment.  Thank you, grandparents!  It felt like a little Christmas every day.