A week with Mom and John

Mom and John at Skamania Lodge...the perfect place for a quiet lunch, opening a few presents, and playing games or just visiting with one another. It's just over an hour from our home and a great place to get away from it all.

What an amazing week this has been. Family visits are always my favorite times and this year we created more great memories to cherish. I'm sorry to see Mom and John go, but we all have lives to get back to as much as we'd like to continue to play. I know Evan would love it if Grandma and Papa could stay forever.

-Our annual visit to Pittock Mansion (where the Amazing Race ended) to see the house decorated to the theme of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." (Reserve the pass from the library and a family of 4 can go for free.)

-A road trip to Skamania Lodge in Washington. This was new to us and we'd love this place so much we'd come back a second time for our Christmas lunch.

-Another visit to Multnomah Falls. This time we had the place to ourselves it seemed. We saw only 2 other people. Amazingly, it was dry and the perfect day for making the hike up to the bridge. Again, this was one of those moments that I thought, "Where is everybody!?"

-Games of Scrabble and Sequence. I love to play games and family visits usually takes care of my 'game fix' for a while. (Heather - I'm counting on you for some 'game play' in the near future!)

-I can't put trips to the mall or to Fred Meyer at the top of my list of memories, but everything is better when it's shared with family, even a quick trip to the store for apples and bread.

Evan received a present from Grandma and one from Papa. At dinner he announced that this was the best Christmas ever. That's pretty nice to hear considering Christmas hasn't even arrived yet, officially. It's the family time that makes it so great.