Our Day at the Woodland Park Zoo

We had a wonderful day today! Having been working on the house for so long- it's really a pleasure to have a free day to enjoy each other's company and all the great things Seattle has to offer. It had been a while since we'd been to the Woodland Park Zoo and today seemed like the perfect day. Turns out it was great! Most of the animals were out and active and the light snow kept away most of the visitors (even though it wasn't sticking). Here are some pictures!

A Kookaburra from Australia Mate! On the Northern Trail- Mr. Griz
Good story here. This is a Siamang- a member of the ape family. Everytime we visit the zoo, he comes over to me, sits right next to me across the glass and follows me around. He gets jealous when Vil comes near me. The last time we were there, I was told his trainer had long blond hair and he's drawn to women that have the same. I like to think it's just me :). Anyway- each time we go now, I visit my little ape friend. Here are some pictures of us today.

With his huge head, big paws and magnificent coat- this jaquar was a vision.

Froot Loops anyone?
Sleeping like a baby. It's creepy how human like the gorillas are. We spent a lot of time today just watching them.
A new addition to the zoo- they have a bird room with sticks of seed that you can feed them. It's a neat thing for kids- or for "kids at heart". Here are a few pictures of us having a good time.
Luckily- nothing hit Vil in the head after this shot...

Some video!

Our day was Merry and Bright...and yes! Our Christmas was WHITE!

Not to sound like a sappy Bing Crosby record.. but MAN... oh MAN did we have a spectacular Christmas! We had a nice lazy morning and then took the dog for a walk at about 11:30. Coming back (it was a long one) at about 1pm, it started in snowing. It kept up, at times blizzard like, the rest of the day and into the evening. We felt so lucky- not only are we enjoying the first Christmas at the new house... but then... even more perfect....we get a WHITE Christmas! We were giddy.

Vil and Summit enjoying the fire and watching me cook our dinner. Look how beautiful the snow is out the window behind them....
And it just kept coming....
This picture just cracks me up. Traci, Mike and boys sent these great slippers and Summit grabbed ahold of the packaging on them. He tugged and tugged at it until I nearly slid across the floor. This was taken just after he managed to tear it off (and thankfully left the slippers in one piece). He's very good at opening gifts- we give him a wrapped present and he lays down with the gift perfectly in his paws and starts ripping the paper with his teeth. When the package is open, the paper is all ripped, but the gift is always in one piece. We didn't take any of him doing that this year, but Vil managed to get the camera for this picture.
More White Christmas! BRRRRRR.... One little Summit... and a partridge in a pear tree...

Climbing!

Since it's winter and it's cold.. I can dream of the fun times summer brings! House building has been our priority, but we can't wait to get back out and start rock climbing again. This last June, I went with my company and helped organized a climbing demo in Leavenworth. It was a great time- full of everything from rain to hot sun. We got to climb with some of the world's best climbers, including my personal fav... Brit Griffith http://www.patagonia.com/usa/patagonia.go?assetid=1879. She's a crazy girl and everytime I see her, we end up having a good time. She helped me get up a super hard climb (mostly by pulling- thanks B), but also by really stellar instruction on "this foot here, this hand here, etc." She demo'd it a zillion times- to my two attempts. It was so much fun. Here are a couple pictures, including one of Brittany making it look easy.

I couldn't resist...

Mom sent this and I just cracked up. Good times.

The Crane Ride

I was looking through some pictures from the building process and thought I'd post these great shots. When our house was going up, they used this really big crane to stack the logs. They were using an industrial harness to trim the logs up high and asked if I was interested in going for a 'ride'. Of course...I couldn't miss THAT opportunity! It was a hoot.

Um yeah... I, uh, won't be coming in to work today...I can't find my car..

Here are some picture from the Dec. 1-2nd snowstorm! It dumped and dumped and in about 10 hours we had 17+" of snow! Since we had no where to go, we had a fun time enjoying the weahter!

The main road in our neighborhood... Yesterday's form of transportation, today's form of transportation. Yes, that is my car.
Vil's car beneath the layers....
Two elk hunt for food in the snow on our road...
We headed out on the snomobiles and fixed our neighborhood gates- they were stuck open because of all the snow..
Laurel and Hardy...

The beginning of the snow yesterday in our front yard..
There are three vehicles in this picture- can you find 'em?
Vil and Summit in the front yard.
Our little creation in it's element...