MERRY CHRISTMAS
TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY-
WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Lynden Light Parade

Tractors and lights - what more could you hope for?

Chase thought he had gone to heaven. Our family has enjoyed this parade for the past few years. You show up a few minutes before it starts, set up your chairs, break out the hot chocolate and settle in for a very cold sometimes rainy parade. Semis - tractors - cars - horse & buggy's -you name it it's probably in the parade.

This has to be my favorite.
Look close and you will notice a Donkey in the back. The car does not actually have an engine - the donkey is pushing it and the guy up front steers it like a car. I am so glad I don't own a donkey, because Ryan thinks this is a great idea!

The kids loved it when the fire trucks blew their loud horns! This one is an old one so it was not as loud, but still very cool to look at.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Who would have thought....................

Let's go back to this summer when Grandma Karen and Papa Bear were visiting us here in Washington. We were downtown Fairhaven enjoying walking around the shops when we ended up in Village books. Taylor picked up a copy of Twilight and that's pretty much were it all started - oh ya - back up just a bit, Grandma Karen bought Taylor the copy of Twilight and that's were it all started. Taylor has always hated to read big books. She was a start a book and never finish it type reader. I used to struggle to get her to sit down and complete her reading minutes for school but, lately I have had to ask here to come out of her room where she is reading and join the family for a few minutes. She quickly became captivated with the Twilight characters. She would talk about them like we all knew who they were (no one else in our house has read the books). Seeing the movie did help.

When she found out that Forks was a real place and then to find out that it was in Washington...That about sent her over the edge. She soon started plotting her trip to Forks. After bending Dads ear (who loves road trips and exploring) they both began to try and squeeze in a trip before the weather got much worse. The trip for us was only about 4 hours and a ferry ride. Very doable! We had planned to surprise Taylor and just start driving, but of course plans kept changing and we were not sure if we could go at all. Then Ryan came home Friday and said he did not have to work Saturday as planned - ----Should we go!!! We loaded the car Saturday morning and were on our way to the Ferry by 7:00 am that morning. Of course we had to talk Grandma and Grandpa into going with us -after all they had listened to Taylor all these months too. I am so glad we took the trip. It was very much needed R&R and tons of fun for the whole family.The area is absolutely gorgeous and the time we spent together is priceless. I would recommend a road trip for everyone. Enjoy the pictures and maybe some of you will end up there too.
P.S. I might have to read the books now (ssshhhhh)

Taylor found this creepy mossy tree doorway on our hike to the falls.

I wish I took better pictures. I love water falls. The hike was only about 1.5 miles. Chase even walked most of the way.

We were all pretty wet and muddy after this hike.
Good thing we were on our way home.

We found this HUGE tree just standing alone.

My Dad is 6'2" if that gives you any perspective.

It seemed to go on forever up into the

sky.

More Twilight adventures...................

We passed lake on the way to Forks that was just amazing (Crescent Lake I think?)

There was a sign for some falls so we decided to get out and hike for a bit. Very cool mossy forest. Once again there are ruts on the sides of the road in front of the sign.

Too funny. Who would have ever thought!

This is one of the islands you can see from First beach. The view was breath taking!! A great place to visit Twilight or no Twilight.

Taylor and I enjoying that the sun came out for a minute.

These pictures are not in chronological order - but you get the idea.

Here we are at First Beach in La Push. The weather once again was foggy, but it did lift later and was a gorgeous day. The tide was coming in so the waves kept creeping closer and closer. I had to jump up on the logs a few times to avoid getting soaked. Chase just kept saying, WHOA!!! As you can see the locals are taking full advantage of "being on the map"

We chose to stay at the hotel below. I have to mention that the rules for our room included, No smoking, No pets and No cleaning fish in your room. Gotta love small towns. It was a two room, full living room, full kitchen for $75.00. Like I said - gotta love small towns.

This is what Taylor looked like all weekend after she raided the Souvenir shops.

Jacob sweatshirt, Edward button.

Leaving on our adventure-

A couple from out of town opened this store in Forks selling - yep- you guessed

it Twilight stuff!!!! I didn't know the history behind Forks, so it was very interesting to find

out they existed before Twilight.
All of the landscaping on the side of the road by the Forks sign is now
just tire tracks. I wonder how many people have stopped? You can't come all this way and not
stop. There is even a plank so you can walk right up to the sign without climbing. Taylor was thrilled.


This picture starts our adventure to Forks. We went from Keystone to Port Townsend by ferry -then drove the rest of the way to Forks. Chase loved the boat. It was very foggy so you couldn't see a whole lot on the way over, but they did see a huge Seal eating his lunch while trying to avoid the seagulls that were dive bombing him for a snack.