Christmas in Washington...

At the Imagine Children's Museum...
Digging for Dinosaur Bones...

Trekking out to find the tree...

Watching Daddy cut it down...

Our Snow Day at Big Four

December at the beach...

Playing with his Cars at our favorite restaurant...Ivars!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...

Finally, an update! Christmas was spent in Washington this year. We had a good time, other than the fact we were all pretty sick by the end. William had an excellent Christmas and received so many presents we weren't even able to get them all home! Christmas Eve was spent with my family, and Will had a good time opening all the presents and was making everyone laugh frequently. The next morning we opened our presents from Santa and then headed into Everett to spend Christmas day with the Simmons family. It was nice to spend time with my nieces and nephews and see them enjoying all the presents. William had a lot of fun with them and he seemed to understand who everyone was by the end of the day. It is very important to both Jason and I that William is bonded to his extended family, even though they are so far away, and I think it seems to be happening. Merry Christmas to all, and here's wishing you a lovely 2011!

National Christmas Tree 2010....

The tree from afar...

Me and the ever growing bump...

William was in awe of the tree...

The Electric Train Village goes all the way around the tree!

The Tree in the Dark...

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue...I decided not to drop in unannounced.

Tonight we made our annual pilgrimage to the National Christmas Tree. It was very cold, and windy as it is every year. Yet, every year I forget! Next year I am dressing myself and the kids like Nanook of the North! William did well with the whole Santa idea until the time came to actually meet him, then it all went to pot. He wanted to leave, IMMEDIATELY! So, we did. I am glad we were able to fit in one of our Christmas traditions before we headed home to Seattle.

A Taste of Snow!

William was convinced today that the North Pole was coming to our house and he would soon see Santa Claus! It was so cute! The minute it started snowing he wanted to make snowballs, and I had to explain that you need more snow than a dusting to do that. It didn't stay around for very long, but it was fun while it lasted! Maya was here today and she didn't seem all that thrilled by the snow. She decided pretty quickly that it was much nicer to stay indoors and it was so windy, I was close to agreeing with her!

Making Cookies With the Naked Chef!

The finished product...

I felt brave today and let William help me make Gingerbread cookies. He had a ball, and thankfully tired of it after about 40 minutes so I could make the rest of the cookies without quite so much help. Merry Christmas!

O' Christmas Tree...

William and I got out the little Christmas tree today. I got out the small, unbreakable ornaments and let William have at it. This is the result. I may have to do a little repositioning after he goes to bed tonight.

DC Christmas...

Our US Capitol...

Feeling the Christmas lights...

The Smithsonian Castle...

A building in Istanbul that I can't remember the name of...

Daddy and William...

The Eiffel Tower! This thing was HUGE!

The Taj Mahal...

The Great Wall of China...

The Sphinx...

William is taking it all in...

To kick off the Christmas season we ventured down to the Capital tonight and saw the train and building exhibit at the US Botanical Garden. It was great, as always. William loves the trains and all the little fairy houses. This year they had building from all over the world, built to scale. All the structures were made only of plant fibers and they were incredible. They still had all the Capital buildings as well, but I didn't take pictures of those since I showed those here last year. William was very hard to wrangle out of there, and it was very tough to get any good pictures of him, so I apologize for the lack of Pudd.

The Original Washington Monument...

In 1827, on the 4th of July, the towns people of Boonsboro, MD went to the highest point in the area and built this tower to honor George Washington. They completed the walls in one day! I find this very impressive!

William loved this iron gate...

The spiral stairs were a big hit as well...

Rock scrambling...

Jason and William recently went to this park while I was running errands. I am very sorry I missed it! Jason said that William ran up and down the tower over and over for a long time. He fell asleep as soon as he was back in the car!