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. 

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 

The Changes...Same street

Nov. 2006
Oct.2006
Sep. 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.


 

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!)


 

The coast...

So, I was lucky enough to have an offsite meeting with work, which meant we stayed overnight on the oregon coast. The hotel is called "The Inn at Spanish Head" - which is right on the beach.

Below are a couple of photographs taken from my room - the first is Sunset, the other is Sunrise. Pretty amazing view on the night I was there.
The smoke coming from the bottom of this picture is actually from our "bonfire" that we had on the night we stayed. It was pretty good standing outside in the freezing cold, being warmed by the head from the fire - which were two significantly sized logs which had washed up on the beach! 

Crater lake - long drive, quick glance...

Tara and I decided to head south to see Crater lake. The weather when we left was average (raining on and off, and getting cold) and we did not know if we were going to be able to see anything. The last time I had visited there was snow across the top, and I was not able to see any part of the lake itself, just the edge of the crater - as the cloud was covering it.

Here you will see some of the strange feeling that we had standing on top. So - imagine that the temperature was around 32F (0C) - then with the WIND it must have felt closer to 20F (lets just say - very very cold!)

We did not stay for very long (for obvious reasons) - but did enjoy taking a look.

Mind you - the drive is a 5 hour each way, so it was a LONG day. Next time we will go at the start of summer, and probably stay at the bottom of the lake at a hotel.


 

Don't they look scary...

This is Cynfor and Jessie (you guess which is which) just before they went out trick or treating. They only lasted until the end of the street - because of the cold weather, but enjoyed it, and were in the spirit.

We had around 20 - 30 kids drop past our house, and we nearly went through 3 bags of "candy" (lollies). All of the kids had gone to some effort in getting dressed up, and all were very polite.

I think the kids are looking forward to doing it again next year!

 

Halloween Fun!

Scary vampire and beautiful angel! Check out the blood on his face!

Dressed up houses in our neighbourhood!