Astoria

We bought another Groupon to the Astoria River Walk Inn, again. 

We have stayed here before in the family suite:  two rooms, two sets of bunk beds, an xbox, and way too much space.  It's a little sketch, but so are we.

 

The highlight of the weekend was watching the Goonies and then visiting the house the next day!

The view from the Column.

Only in Oregon can you park on the beach and happily swim in freezing waters in January.

We found a Rogue Brewery for dinner too.

DIY Dirt Bike

Sometimes you find a park with dirt bike trails.  And you love that park so much it is all you can think about.  And then you realize that you can build it in your backyard.

Happiness.

 

Dirt Bike

We celebrated the New Year with the discovery of a new park with dirt bike trails!!!
The kids LOVED riding their bikes down the hill and the challenge of getting up the bumps and turns.  (There may have been a few tears!).

Tubing on Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day tubing at Mt. Hood.  The kids had a blast and were actually independent on the hill!

New tradition!

 

Christmas Eve

We are fortunate to be able to spend every Christmas with Jeff's family.  They have always celebrated Christmas Eve and the kids look forward to all the nighttime excitement.

 

Polar Express

We stopped along the Gorge and went for a hike on our way to Hood River. 

I think we were all shocked when Clare sat on Santa's lap!

Nora's Cookie Party

In a lapse of judgment, I allowed each of my children to host a cookie decorating party.  Nora invited five girls from her class over after school.  Ronan invited all the boys from his class (10!) and Clare invited all the girls from her class (8!).  I had the parties on consecutive days and baked hundreds of cookies.
I won't lie, it was total chaos.  So much so that I didn't take any pictures!  But, it was also wonderful and we'll do it again next year!

Christmas Tree

Another Christmas, another tree.

 

Mt Shasta

We spent a most amazing Thanksgiving in Mt. Shasta.  We rented a beautiful secluded house, filled it with Russells and ate way too much food.  It was a perfect holiday.

 

The weather was so nice that we had to create a hot tub on the back deck for the kids (and Nana).

And best of all, we captured this picture of my family.  My favorite of all time.