Happy New Year!!

Let's just pretend that I didn't leave you hanging at the end of the year!  I caught the respiratory flu the week before Christmas and it took me DOWN!  Luckily, we were able to keep our Christmas plans - I finally felt like myself the night before we left!  Thank you!

We headed to DD's in Portland first.  Thanksgiving was so hectic, we stayed in a hotel next to my DS's family and felt that we didn't get much Grandkid time.  So we "avoided the rush" and went a day early ... along with 1/2 of the crowd that had the same idea!!!  There's no control group, but I feel that we still got there a little easier than past years.

There were games and baking and wrapping and peeking ... also some last minute-ish shopping by DH and myself!  Great fun.  We made chili for Christmas Eve dinner.  We had my DH's favorite side dish - cinnamon rolls! It was a MidWest favorite school lunch!



Miss P showing off her snowflake ornament made at school!

The dogs were interested in EVERYTHING.  Luckily my DD always gets a present for them, which they get to open first - which keeps them busy the rest of the day.  A new chew bone or Kong.



Mr M showing his new Jurassic Park Lego video - a cute game that follows the movie plot.

Here's the Christmas morning PJ picture.

We stayed in Portland until after opening the presents Christmas morning. And then headed for Medford to DS's house.

More traffic than usual on Christmas Day but still easy.

There is a game that the boys love to play with Papa, Dad or Mom (Nana can't do it!)  the boys run from the kitchen into the adults arms and everyone goes over backwards screaming and laughing!!  The boys can do this forever!!!! This picture is always blurry - even using the Nikon!!

Enjoy the "reset" it doesn't last long!!  The biggest surprise was when DS came roaring in after them!!  No, he didn't make Papa catch him, but everyone was hysterical with laughter!  Soon after that "scare" DS had to take over the 'catching' role.

DDIL always makes sugar cookies with the boys at Christmas, then everyone helps ice them.  For some reason, the gingerbread people always turn into super heroes!!  She's got that down pat!!

DS had made a roast for dinner and that was delish!  The boys are still young enough (probably the last year) that we can pretend that Christmas is the 26th.  So we got to have two Christmas Eves and two Christmas mornings!  It was great fun watching 2 and 4 year olds tear into presents!!  The pj pants were a big hit!

Christmas morning in Medford!

After the presents were ooohed and ahhhhed over, we headed for San Francisco!  Going over the Siskiyou pass was our favorite view of Winter!  Clear highway, beautiful fresh snow covered mountains out our windows!! Perfect!

We stay by Fishermen's Wharf; the first night we walked to Scoma's on the wharf. One of our favorite restaurants.  I've been 'researching' Lemon Drops this year - as in, who makes the best!!!  I don't drink very much - 3 drinks give me a hang-over ... I mean headache the next morning.  But the research must go on!  LOL!  I had a little surprise at Scoma's - the bartender rimmed the glass with salt, not sugar!!  Yeow!

He apologized, he'd thought he might have and was keeping an eye out ... and made me another one double quick!!  But, yeah, there's no mistaking that little error!  The rest of the meals went perfect after that!!

Our wedding anniversary is Dec 28, We celebrated 43 years by enjoying the city.  Two nights we dined in North Beach Italian restaurants.  YUM!  There was a chocolate raspberry dessert that I'm dreaming about!!




I L*O*V*E Britex Fabrics off of Union Square - there's a Notions FLOOR!  Love the button selection!

      

We got a 3 day pass for city transportation and rode cable cars, the trolly and buses for the rest of our stay.    The trolly driver was fast off the line and one hand on the horn at all times!  Except when he had to get off to rehook us to the cable!!! Pushed the limit on how fast he can take the corners!  And although the temperatures were reported to be in the 50s ... well, it was SF 50s - glove weather!!  It didn't rain on us; and we had great fun.  Love the cable cars even in cold weather! We rode all three lines - and one of the cable cars had decorated the ceiling for the Holidays!!

  

The chills; the hills; the thrills!!  The conductors were always in a good or entertaining mood.  I'll never forget the driver of the car, when it dawned on him he was trying to squeeze-in in front of a cable car!!  Deer in the Headlights personified!!

Other than some traffic problems outside of SF - our trip was picture-perfect.  Beautiful drive back up 101; stopped at Freddies to pick up milk, etc.  Pulled into the driveway and it started raining!  DH remarked, "Well, crap!  We're home!"  Brookings had 26 inches of rain in just December!  So, hopefully, the drought is over!

Next up - Year in Review!!  I promise!

We were on vacation ... can you guess where we've been?

Here's a hint!

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It's true, it's true - I got DH out of Oregon for 'basically the first time' since we moved here - almost 3 years ago!!

We had lovely weather along the coast in January - R was able to go golfing 10 times!! But we had the chance to go to Palm Springs and stay with Newport friends so we skedaddled out of here! The weather has turned B*A*D since we returned - causing R to start planning next year's trip - to stay LONGER!!

We drove South on I5 - delivering baby furniture to A&J2 and having lunch with R's golfing buddy in Ashland. Stayed in Redding with good friends B&D and then the long stretch to get to Palm Springs. We had our first In-N-Out Burger in Bakersfield. We got to Palm Springs to perfect weather - 70s, dry air and no wind!! Now that's what we're talking about!!

Sunday we took off to explore. We took the Aerial Tramway up the mountains 8500 feet above sealevel! - that's where you can sled in snow and find really big pine cones!! Then we went to my first 'new' 3D movie - The Hubble at IMAX. I was blown away! See it if you can!! Dinner was at an Italian restaurant. Our local Italian place closed when we moved to Brookings and we've been desperate for good Italian that we didn't have to cook ourselves!! That dinner was the first of lots of good Italian on this vacation!




I was great the first few days. We even went twice to Water Aerobics at the city pool. Pool's capacity was 680!! Yep, it was LARGE! Valentine's Day found us at Torme's Supper Club with a live band and dancing with my husband!! Very fun.




Then I got an 'allergic reaction of epic proportions' to something blooming in the desert! After a week in paradise (with a box of Puffs at my side) we headed to DISNEYLAND where I promptly picked up my "1st timer" button!!

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L - a good friend from Newport went with us and she is the BEST Disneyland fan!! We had a blast with her as our guide. Loved California Adventure and "Soarin' Over California!" Second favorite was Mr PotatoHead's Arcade where I surprised my husband by having more-than-double his score!! Watch out! - I'm a mean, green, shooting machine!! The new California Adventure water-laser show "A World of Color" is simply unbelievable! When you're there - don't even think about leaving early!!

The next day R&I went to Disneyland by ourselves and we did well! Actually rode the Indiana Jones ride and Space Mountain before official opening! Magic Hour is!! Of course, we were pooped from the day before, didn't have L with us and it started raining at 2:15 ... but still, lots of fun! Scoped it out for our next visit with the grandkids!! Maybe to celebrate our 40th anniversary??? It's a thought!

Saturday it was still raining as we left LA. We made it to Santa Barbara where R attended half a year of kindergarten a l*o*n*g time ago! I toured my first mission and we stumbled across an awesome Italian restaurant downtown. They were cooking something garlic when we walked by - R immediately went in and made reservations for that night! The downtown is everything you'd want - great shopping, great food and many theaters. We saw a movie while hiding out from the rain before dinner.

Sunday saw us heading for Monterey. We had breakfast in Malibu and it was sunny and wonderful driving up Big Sur. We immediately drove the 17 mile loop around Pebble Beach. Stopped and bought sweatshirts and then had dinner at the slowest Big Bear Diner in the west!! It was comical - we advised new customers [under our breath] to order breakfast ... cuz they'd still be there!! Helpful in many ways, I'm sure!!




Monday morning we were at the Aquarium. I'm happy to say it was awesome, and also proved the little aquarium in Newport is very good too!! They had a seahorse display that was amazing. R fell in love with the Leafy Sea Dragon! Now that's a funky animal!!




On to San Francisco - and wow! We had clear weather and it was so much fun - my 1st time there and we triangulated that town!! The first thing we did after checking into our motel by Fisherman's Wharf was buy 'hop on and off sightseeing by bus' tickets good for two days! There were 4 tours and we took them all! Went around downtown several times; went out to Golden Gate Park where museums reside!; went to Saucilito over the Golden Gate Bridge and then took the night tour too!

And the food - let me tell you - it was not on our diets, but boy-oh-boy was it good!! The first night, Neptune's on Pier 39 - creamiest clam chowder we'd ever had and you know we have it every chance we get!! I'll dream of that chowder until we go back for more!

Lunch the next day was in Chinatown at R&G Lounge. R declared it was better than the food he had in Taiwan and Hong Kong! That night we went to Alioto's where I had some pasta that saved my life!! We'd just come off the night bus tour, where we were upstairs in the open air bus and we were frozen!!

The last day we bought day passes for the Muni-system. Cable cars all day long! What a blast!! The Powell and Mason line started a block from our hotel. We rode it downtown and then a different one back to the wharf. Then up to the top of Lombard street - the crooked street. We got off and walked down - trust me, it was better than walking up!! 31% grade!! Then we got on a bus to the Coit Tower. Toured the tower and then walked down Telegraph Hill hoping to see the wild parrots. [no luck] Caught our double decker tour bus and rode to North Bay - the Italian section.




We sat outside and had a wonderful late lunch in the sun. Back on the cable cars for more fun downtown! I shopped at Britex Fabrics!! They were even having a sale - I bought 1/2 yard of Japanese navy bunny-rabbit fabric!! And yes, I could have bought more, but I was able to stuff the half yard in my purse and not carry anything else cuz you need two hands to hang on the cable cars!

That night we ate at the Blue Mermaid down at the wharf. Award winning chowder ... need I say more? They drew us in and proved it! After our Italian lunch we weren't that hungry - but needed something! The crab sweet corn chowder was also yummy!!

We woke up Thursday morning to rain and forecast of really bad weather coming. So we high-tailed it home. Drove thru snow south of Crescent City - very unusual for the coast!! We had two days of cool but clear weather with whales entertaining us! And San Francisco had their first snow since 1980 the day after we left!! Someone posted ski run ratings of all the streets online - believe me - all would have been 'expert'! We were so glad we missed it!

Then the winter storm hit here - not cold enough for snow - but man 'o man - have we got wind and rain! Even so, it's good to be home - and out of the car!! I've been getting caught up on our TIVO and quilting on my "Holiday Challenge"! Yep, good to be home in any weather!