Jingle Run and Opening Presents

Well...

On this past Saturday, DJ (my soon to be sister in law) and I ran the Jingle Bell Run around Baldwin Park. It's a 5K run to benefit the Arthritis Association.

She can run. I more or less jog/run - but I didn't stop the whole time. (I was very proud of myself as that was my goal!) It was great fun. (Sarcasm, kind of).

The runners.

Jake got "Best Dressed Pet" award. Seriously. There were pictures taken and everything.

Jake and his Mama

DJ got 2nd Place in her age group (we totally cheered for her).

I finished.

Darin didn't run. Ha, I win.

After the race, we went back to Darin's folks house to open some presents... love presents... and eat some good food. It was truly terrific.

The Tree

S. opening presents... he got lots of cars.

C. opening her stocking.

For some reason I didn't get a picture of us all. Oops. The whole family was there and everything... next time, definitely. We had a great time being together and got to eat birthday cake too (it was C.'s birthday on 22nd.)

Merry Christmas Orlando!

Where would you go?

Pick and choose:

Option 1:

Option 2:

I should be fair though.

At least we will have a white Christmas.

P.S. Option 1: Anacortes, WA and Option 2: Orlando, FL

Christmas Weekend

Last Friday, Jake and I headed up to Pawleys Island, SC to visit our 'other' family: Margie and Bob. They moved there, what eight years ago?, from my hometown, and I visited them quite often when I was in Clemson.

To do my laundry and get some chicken bog (or chicken bob as Darin likes to call it).

Anyways, Jake and I went to to celebrate Margie's birthday on the 12th and also to help out with the neighborhood party they have annually at their house.

Yeah!

We got there around 8:30 pm for a nice dinner of hamburgers because Margie was sick as a dog. AKA she had bronchitis. Fan-tas-tic.

Cards?!
Bob and Margie re-gift cards every year... this one was a good old one!

It was a perfect cake.

She was secluded to the other end of the table because she was contaminated.
(We 409ed the heck out of that table and the telephone.)



Jake was very happy with Bob's shoe.
I just missed the shot with his head in the shoe.

One of the things I looked forward to the most around this time of year was Margie's decorations in her house. She has all of these wooden dolls, horses, etc. from Holland (?) maybe and Germany that were placed with care all around the house. (I do have to mention that last year we had to help put them away, which was a little annoying. There were lots of the little guys.)

Aren't they wonderful?

The next day, Saturday, we got ready for the x amount of neighbors who were coming for the holiday party. We did cheese and crackers, pizza on rye, beer cheese dip, meat-cheese spread, ham, more cheese, some weird blue cheese in cheddar cheese block. (Margie liked cheese. Or we all did, I guess.)

Wine. Yikes.

And did I mention the wine? Or bar area? Last year Darin somehow got to be the bartender and made some very stiff drinks for the neighbors - probably a good reason why they came back this year...

Will he?

And the nuts. They were in two places in the family room. Temptation...

It was a very fun party - I talked to Joanie most of the time and tried to figure out who was who. And worked on the beer cheese because I love beer cheese. And it was good. Oh so good.

At least he can sit.

Jake was allowed in the last half of the party and ended up just following people around hunting/begging for food. It was very amusing. Everyone did enjoy his company, and he got lots and lots of bits of ham.

It was a fast weekend, but well worth the trip. I miss getting to see them every month or so.

Love you guys!

Newest Christmas Favorite

You must go to this link.

It's absolutely fantastic...

Basically, its a medley of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

L.O.V.E

I.T.

In Seattle on Monday - Indian food and Christmas ships

Last day in Seattle - from the posts it seemed like I was there forever, but in actuality time just flew by.

Sunday night Dru left to go back to her place - my folks and I were going to meet her after work on Monday. We left (with Cricket in tow - she's a car dog too) to go explore Pike Street Market before we had to pick up Dru.

Mom and Dad

(These things will always remain to be funny.)

We had a lot of fun at lunch, and walking up and down the stairs. There were like four levels to the place - normally we go in at the top level and walk around the veggie/food area. This time we explored the weird booths and shops. Lots of little stuff to be looked at. Crazy.

Dad and Del

If you've never been to the market, you have to experience it at least once in your life. If not for the flowers (which were gorgeous), but for the free samplings of fresh fruit they give out or the flying fish. It's very Seattle.

We picked up Dru and ended up meeting her coworker (who I talked to on the phone a lot) Melanie at her house for some nummy cheese/wine before some Indian food for dinner.

What to get? Decisions...



Melanie and Mike

(Mike was from our hometown and happened to move out to Seattle.
His sister was a coworker of my mom's in our hometown.
She told Mike to talk to Dru.
And they became friends.)

It's a Small world.

After a delicious dinner, we went to watch the Christmas ships. I really don't know how to describe it, so click on the link above. It was snazzy.

And pretty.



The big boat.



It was chilly - can you tell by their faces?



Confused Cricket

We listened to the music and singing by the big fire. It was pretty cold out and had our hoods up over our faces - Cricket got confused because she couldn't tell where her mother was. It was very cute. There were other boats with Christmas light following the big boat - so creative. Also there were four kayakers!

It was a good tradition to experience. Next time we need to bring hot chocolate.

Deception Pass and Washington Park (Sunday in Anacortes)

Back to Thanksgiving...

On Sunday morning instead of going to church (ahh hemmm), we lazed about and let Dru sleep in. My folks, Cricket, and I headed around to explore. Ended up on Deception Pass - which is a State Park. Basically we parked by the bridge over the pass that would lead us to Oak Harbor.

The Beware Sign

It was a semi-rainy day, but there was some sun shining through the clouds. The bridge was fantastic - almost as scary as the Ashley-Cooper Bridge into Charleston, SC.

The bridge

My mom and I walked down to the area under the bridge (my dad was scared to come) and looked around. Man if you fell... phew.

Me under bridge



Mom under bridge



B/W Under the bridge

Had fun taking tons of pictures of the bridge and all around it. Love them. Went back up and saw some robins taking a bath in a rock pool. My mom said she hadn't seen any robins for awhile (she's a bird person), so it was special. They were happy birds.

Robins taking a bath

After that trip, we went home to gather Dru (after eating lunch... too much turkey) and go to Washington Park for a walk around and to see the Sound.

You park the car and walk!

And see funny little creature on the way.
(Banana slug. Gross.)

And some beautiful sights.

We went to a beach area and walked around - skipping stones, climbing on fallen trees, and chasing Cricket. She's a water dog.

Love this picture.

Took even more pictures on my camera. Here's my favorite of the bunch.

The day ended up being quite beautiful - brisk and sunny. Not too bad for the Pacific Northwest!

We went home and did nothing too exciting - just what you're supposed to do on a Sunday evening.

Vote - The Biggest Loser

My favorite show to watch is the Biggest Loser.

What can I say.

Darin and I got sucked in last season (which was a great one btw) and decided it was going to be the show we watched 'together'.

:)

We don't like the contestants as much this year (Darin doesn't really like them at all, actually), but it's a good premise...

The season finale is next week so go and vote for the third contestant:

http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/vote/register.shtml

I would suggest Ed. Heba's okay. Ed I think is better. My opinion.

Makahiki: Work Party

Skipping past my Seattle trip (I'll post more about it later)...

Friday was my work's holiday party (also Diana's/Kevin's birthday) - it was a Makahiki at Sea World. Fantastic. Darin and I went early to check out the dolphins (so cute) and walk around. We should have gone to the Hospitality Suite for free beer, but decided against it. Too much beer at a work party was not a good idea.

Aww.



Hello, I am a happy dolphin

We did see the new roller costar they're building. Yikes. It went around the park over walkways and such. Hope nobody every falls out.

It's huge!

Met up with the rest of the people I work with and their families. We all sat down and got to watch a Hawaiian Hula/Christmas Show. It was very very good, and I definitely recommend it.

Yes! Fire = Cool

During the show we ate a Hawaiian Feast - Polynesian ribs, chicken, mahi mahi, etc. I mention this because I was sitting at a table of people who didn't eat red meat. And Darin can't eat too much pork/ribs (too fatty). So I had ALL of the ribs basically to myself.

My. Ribs.

A dream, dare I say.

My most FAVORITE part was when the performers sang one of my top Christmas songs - one I learned from Jimmy Buffett.

Here goes:

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright, Hawaiian Christmas Day
That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun will shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you

Oh happy day.

Darin and I in front of the tiki guy. Hula hula hula.

Gabby and I



The Group I work with

So Mele Kalikimaka to you all!