Our last day of 2008 was a great one. The kids and I lounged around the house all day, doing pretty much nothing and loving it. In the evening we headed up to the Oregon Zoo to meet Matthew, and Aimee, Dave and their boys to check out Zoolights. We haven't gone since Rowan was still a little babe, and the kids were really excited. They had a few dressed up characters this year:
And lots of pretty lights, although these pictures wont do them justice:
It wasn't very crowded, so we got in line to buy train tickets, and right then someone came up to Matthew and gave him 5 tickets for the train! We were really grateful, it saved us over $20.00! We only had to wait in line for about 20 minutes, and then we all piled onto the train. It was a lot of fun for everyone, looking at all the light displays and how pretty the zoo looked all lit up. After the train we walked around a little bit and went to see the zoo's new baby elephant. He was very cute, and so small...for such a big baby. Since all I could get was a picture of his backside, here is a picture of him off the Zoo's website. His name is Samundra (Sam):
After we left the Zoo the plan was to meet back up at our house, and hang out with Aimee, Dave and their boys and ring in the New Year. Unfortunately, there was an accident involving an opening car door and Henry's head in the parking lot of the Zoo, and instead of driving to our house, they ended up driving to the ER room. Henry ended up needing 4 stitches :( Aimee said he did really great with it all, he is such a little trooper and we were really glad to hear our little buddy was okay.
So me and Matthew and the kids hung out around the house, snuggling, reading and watching TV for a few hours. Rowan almost never stays up any later than 8, maybe 8:30 on a very rare night. So around 10:30 when her little eyelids were struggling to stay open and Killian started looking like he was going to crash, we sped up our festivities. I had bought the kids some poppers, since fireworks aren't sold here on New Years. The pictures I took of them shooting them off are priceless, look at the faces they made! Killian looks like he is expecting dynamite in this one:
Rowan eating sour lemons?
Killian with his loaded gun:
We also did some sparklers and then headed inside for their last treat of the night. Killian opened the bottle of sparkling cider, and we filled up some margarita glasses for them. It just wouldn't have felt right without the fancy glasses. They took a sip:
And the approval was unanimous!
The kids went to bed around 11:00, and Matthew and I just barely made it till midnight to watch the ball drop. You can see how tired we look in this picture, and we still had 45 minutes to go!
It was a nice relaxing way to say goodbye to the old year, and ring in the new one. 2008 was filled with a lot of emotional events for us, and I am glad to be moving forward. Not that it was a bad year, there were a lot of great times too and some really good memories we will be taking with us. In 2009, I hope we see a year where we grow closer as a family, and continue to enjoy time with the wonderful friends we have in our lives. I hope to continue learning ways to become more self sufficient, and easier on the earth and our bodies. I hope that we will have enough laughter and good times to hold us together through the inevitable bad times (although I hope those are rare)! And I hope that you all continue to enjoy the love and happiness of your family and friends in your own lives. To a wonderful year to come, Happy 2009!
And lots of pretty lights, although these pictures wont do them justice:
It wasn't very crowded, so we got in line to buy train tickets, and right then someone came up to Matthew and gave him 5 tickets for the train! We were really grateful, it saved us over $20.00! We only had to wait in line for about 20 minutes, and then we all piled onto the train. It was a lot of fun for everyone, looking at all the light displays and how pretty the zoo looked all lit up. After the train we walked around a little bit and went to see the zoo's new baby elephant. He was very cute, and so small...for such a big baby. Since all I could get was a picture of his backside, here is a picture of him off the Zoo's website. His name is Samundra (Sam):
After we left the Zoo the plan was to meet back up at our house, and hang out with Aimee, Dave and their boys and ring in the New Year. Unfortunately, there was an accident involving an opening car door and Henry's head in the parking lot of the Zoo, and instead of driving to our house, they ended up driving to the ER room. Henry ended up needing 4 stitches :( Aimee said he did really great with it all, he is such a little trooper and we were really glad to hear our little buddy was okay.
So me and Matthew and the kids hung out around the house, snuggling, reading and watching TV for a few hours. Rowan almost never stays up any later than 8, maybe 8:30 on a very rare night. So around 10:30 when her little eyelids were struggling to stay open and Killian started looking like he was going to crash, we sped up our festivities. I had bought the kids some poppers, since fireworks aren't sold here on New Years. The pictures I took of them shooting them off are priceless, look at the faces they made! Killian looks like he is expecting dynamite in this one:
Rowan eating sour lemons?
Killian with his loaded gun:
We also did some sparklers and then headed inside for their last treat of the night. Killian opened the bottle of sparkling cider, and we filled up some margarita glasses for them. It just wouldn't have felt right without the fancy glasses. They took a sip:
And the approval was unanimous!
The kids went to bed around 11:00, and Matthew and I just barely made it till midnight to watch the ball drop. You can see how tired we look in this picture, and we still had 45 minutes to go!
It was a nice relaxing way to say goodbye to the old year, and ring in the new one. 2008 was filled with a lot of emotional events for us, and I am glad to be moving forward. Not that it was a bad year, there were a lot of great times too and some really good memories we will be taking with us. In 2009, I hope we see a year where we grow closer as a family, and continue to enjoy time with the wonderful friends we have in our lives. I hope to continue learning ways to become more self sufficient, and easier on the earth and our bodies. I hope that we will have enough laughter and good times to hold us together through the inevitable bad times (although I hope those are rare)! And I hope that you all continue to enjoy the love and happiness of your family and friends in your own lives. To a wonderful year to come, Happy 2009!