We have a few pictures to share. We took some video also, which we will not post - only because of its size - but these should give you an idea of what we got up to.
Let's say that Santa definitely spoiled Cynfor and Jessie, who are loving Christmas day right now. (Tara and Darren got a little spoiled also!)
We all had a huge feed for lunch, and are feeling quite full - and we have not even had our Christmas pudding yet. (I need to go get the custard all cooked and we can have that now!)
I hope that your Christmas was as much fun as ours was. The kids have had a great day, and it will take them some time to get down from the cloud they are on at the moment.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Twas the night before Christmas...
In the US home of Tara, Darren, Cynfor and Jessie, it was the night before Christmas. Where througought the house, not a creature was stiring, not even the snowman on the mantel. The Christmas tree lay waiting to be filled with any additional presents that Santa was going to bring, and as you will see in the next blog item (Christmas day) - there were indeed some presents to be had!
Sunday, December 17, 2006
A little more status...
Well, after 4 months, we have finally gotten our drivers license. This may seem trivial, but I know that we were both dreading the day that we had to head down and get ourselves tested again.
Both Tara and myself have been driving for some years now, and we are both fairly confident drivers, but when you stick an examiner beside you, you have to be a little extra cautious, as you know they will be checking everything that you do.
The process is fairly simple. We had a knowledge test we needed to sit, which was pretty easy for the both of us. We studied the text book that you get free from the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). You then fill out your application, pay your testing fee(US$5), and sit at a computer and answer around 35 knowledge questions. As soon as you reach around 85% the test stops, and you have passed. If you don't know a question, or want to come back to it, you can skip them. If you get one or two wrong, it will tell you what was the correct answer.
The next portion is booking into a practical test, which requires you drive with an instructor. Generally this is done for anyone coming from an overseas country, with the exception of Mexico, Canada, and a few others.
We booked the test at a place called St Helens (no, not the mountain) - which had the earliest test time for us, it is about 40 minutes away from us. It is a lovely place, on the river, more like a country town. When we arrived, we simply booked in, paid the test fee (US$9), and the tester came with each of us for around a 15-20 minute drive. He does not talk about the test while driving, other than giving instructions on where to turn, etc. At the end he tells you how you went.
For me, no issues at all, full marks. For Tara just a couple of little things, which to be honest - when you have driven a car for as long as we have, it would be considered strange. None the less, we both passed without any real incidents, and are both now licensed US drivers! It cost US$54.50 for an 8 year license.
This may not seem significant, except that your drivers license is your primary form of identification here in the US. You can use it to travel without the need for a passport (when flying domestically), as well as to get you access to local facilities, like the library and the sports and recreation clubs.
It was the last piece of real "form filling, etc." that we needed to do, and we now have it. Both of us are both happy and relieved. We have shown you the price of each step, just to see how much cheaper than getting a license in Australia it is. (Mind you going to the dentist is a whole other story!)
Both Tara and myself have been driving for some years now, and we are both fairly confident drivers, but when you stick an examiner beside you, you have to be a little extra cautious, as you know they will be checking everything that you do.
The process is fairly simple. We had a knowledge test we needed to sit, which was pretty easy for the both of us. We studied the text book that you get free from the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). You then fill out your application, pay your testing fee(US$5), and sit at a computer and answer around 35 knowledge questions. As soon as you reach around 85% the test stops, and you have passed. If you don't know a question, or want to come back to it, you can skip them. If you get one or two wrong, it will tell you what was the correct answer.
The next portion is booking into a practical test, which requires you drive with an instructor. Generally this is done for anyone coming from an overseas country, with the exception of Mexico, Canada, and a few others.
We booked the test at a place called St Helens (no, not the mountain) - which had the earliest test time for us, it is about 40 minutes away from us. It is a lovely place, on the river, more like a country town. When we arrived, we simply booked in, paid the test fee (US$9), and the tester came with each of us for around a 15-20 minute drive. He does not talk about the test while driving, other than giving instructions on where to turn, etc. At the end he tells you how you went.
For me, no issues at all, full marks. For Tara just a couple of little things, which to be honest - when you have driven a car for as long as we have, it would be considered strange. None the less, we both passed without any real incidents, and are both now licensed US drivers! It cost US$54.50 for an 8 year license.
This may not seem significant, except that your drivers license is your primary form of identification here in the US. You can use it to travel without the need for a passport (when flying domestically), as well as to get you access to local facilities, like the library and the sports and recreation clubs.
It was the last piece of real "form filling, etc." that we needed to do, and we now have it. Both of us are both happy and relieved. We have shown you the price of each step, just to see how much cheaper than getting a license in Australia it is. (Mind you going to the dentist is a whole other story!)
Wild weather...
So we heard from family that there was news about our "wild weather" here in the Pacific Northwest. We had some pretty strong winds in Oregon, up to 100mph on the coast, not as hard as that here though.
Although we heard the wind, we had ensured that everything was out of the way, so it would not get blown about. All of the fun occured during the night, and we were not significantly impacted.
The kids school was closed on Friday - which was supposed to be their last day. They were dissapointed, as they were supposed to be having their winter party. Instead they kept Tara company during the day. All of the schools for the Beaverton district were closed on Friday because of the storm.
We heard from others though, who were not so lucky. Many people lost electricity due to the high winds blowing down trees. They dropped all over the place causing much of the power outages. Many people were without power until the weekend, and some are still not quite sorted out.
Then last night (Saturday) at around 7.30pm, a fire broke out in a power substation near the office. This is about 10 minutes walk away from the office, and I heard from someone who was working (when the power went out) that the flames could be seen in the sky from the office quite clearly.
Below is a photograph from the fire, as you can see - pretty intense. The fire crews had to leave the fire to burn itself out, because it was electrical, and the fear of getting fire fighters electrocuted.
Lets just say it has been an eventful week! And through none of it, did we get impacted!
Although we heard the wind, we had ensured that everything was out of the way, so it would not get blown about. All of the fun occured during the night, and we were not significantly impacted.
The kids school was closed on Friday - which was supposed to be their last day. They were dissapointed, as they were supposed to be having their winter party. Instead they kept Tara company during the day. All of the schools for the Beaverton district were closed on Friday because of the storm.
We heard from others though, who were not so lucky. Many people lost electricity due to the high winds blowing down trees. They dropped all over the place causing much of the power outages. Many people were without power until the weekend, and some are still not quite sorted out.
Then last night (Saturday) at around 7.30pm, a fire broke out in a power substation near the office. This is about 10 minutes walk away from the office, and I heard from someone who was working (when the power went out) that the flames could be seen in the sky from the office quite clearly.
Below is a photograph from the fire, as you can see - pretty intense. The fire crews had to leave the fire to burn itself out, because it was electrical, and the fear of getting fire fighters electrocuted.
Lets just say it has been an eventful week! And through none of it, did we get impacted!
The final touches of the gingerbread house
So - after the walls are up, and the chimney built. We start putting all the candy (lollies) on, until we finish. Jessie and Cynfor loved building it, as did I. Mind you - we were running out of places to put candy towards the end - without making it look silly.
As you can see - it looks pretty good when you finish. Let me tell you the smell was also pretty amazing, can hardly wait until Christmas to eat it!
As you can see - it looks pretty good when you finish. Let me tell you the smell was also pretty amazing, can hardly wait until Christmas to eat it!
Building the gingerbread house...
So, when we left you last time, we were going to start building our gingerbread house. Well, as you can probably see from the photographs below, we had a lot of fun. The house is currently being proudly displayed on the counter top (bench) waiting until Christmas for when the demolishing process begins, and we start eating parts of the house!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
A Christmas blessing...
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Being so far away for Christmas, it is difficult to make sure we have passed on our wishes to everyone.
We have sent a few cards out, but now that time appears to have gotten away from us, we have decided that we would like to make sure we get to as many people by posting a Christmas note on our blog.
Tara, Cynfor, Jessie and myself would like to pass our best wishes to you all during this Christmas season, and offer you our wishes for a properous and fun new year.
I know that we have plans to enjoy our time during the festive season, and sure that all of you will also!
Now it is time for me to get together with the kids and start building our Gingerbread house, we will be sure to post photographs of that when it is finished - I know that the kids are very excited about buidling it!
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Christmas is coming!
Decorated stairs.
Our front door. Tara hand made the wreath on the window with real tree branches!
Beautiful lights on our garage.
Our first real Christmas tree. It is the Oregon tradition to have an Oregon grown tree. Isn't it beautiful? It smells so nice...
Presents started to assemble under the tree. Hmm, which one is mine...
Our front door. Tara hand made the wreath on the window with real tree branches!
Beautiful lights on our garage.
Our first real Christmas tree. It is the Oregon tradition to have an Oregon grown tree. Isn't it beautiful? It smells so nice...
Presents started to assemble under the tree. Hmm, which one is mine...
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Thanksgiving dinner...
We were lucky enough to have been invited to a good friend of mines place for dinner on Thanksgiving Thursday. For those of you who are not aware of the tradition around Thanksgiving, is based around the giving thanks for the previous years harvest - hence the amount of food eaten. (More information about thanksgiving can be found here
)The evening was a lot of fun. We ate very early starting at around 4pm, which was fine, and also generally part of the tradition. We ate our main course, which is primarily turkey with many different vegetables, and stuffing.
We then took a break from eating, and while the kids played games with the other children there on the night, the adults played cards - which was great fun. We had a great laugh. After a bit of a food break, we ate desert, which was a pumpkin cheesecake (sounds strange, but was very nice) and an apple crumble style of desert (also very nice!)
The night ended at around 8.30pm for us, so quite early. The second photograph is the family, and Don and Gayle (my friends for a long time - around 8 years or more! Since I lived in Hong Kong at least!)
More snow this morning!
Look out from front door.
Backyard covered by snow.
Check out the snow on the table.
Birds flying high in the sky and making loud noises.
Backyard covered by snow.
Check out the snow on the table.
Birds flying high in the sky and making loud noises.
Monday, November 27, 2006
It snows this morning...
First snow we experience in our backyard.
You can tell the kids are excited.
Is it cold? Yes, but it is fun for them.
Snow on the car
You can tell the kids are excited.
Is it cold? Yes, but it is fun for them.
Snow on the car
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
After you build it - you need to test it!
So below are the picutres of Cynfor and Jessie at the desk AFTER assembly is completed. The book case is another example of the teamwork put to handy work. 
Jessie and Cynfor making a desk!
We had recently purchased a new desk for Cynfor's bedroom, and guess what, we had to assemble it. So the kids obviously wanted to join in the fun, and here they are at it.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Our new car
Finally we have a car that we own - well most of it (the bank owns some). Below are some pictures of the new car. We are very happy with our purchase. (Even the KIDS!)
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