Let's Paint

We decided to do a family holiday activity so we headed down to Let's Paint in downtown Olympia last night to learn how to paint a snowman.  I think they turned out pretty well.  The girls ended up doing different hats, but overall they turned out fairly close to the example.  We all had a lot of fun!

Corey excited to get started!

My finished product.

Gabby's 

Seattle Chocolates Tour

Since we all love chocolate, we decided to buy tickets to a tour of Seattle Chocolates as one of our family Christmas gifts.  The tour was done in their Tukwila factory and lasted about an hour.  It was fun to learn a little about their history & also try many samples.  I think we all had a tummy ache after it was over, but it was definitely worth it!

We watched a few videos about the company and then they made us put on hair nets before going onto the factory floor.

This was the only photo we could take actually inside the factory. 

They gave us different samples & had us rate how much we liked them. 

Some of the ingredients they use in their chocolates.

Gingerbread Houses in Seattle

We drove up to Seattle for our traditional day of fun on Thursday.  This year we decided to spend the night at the Hampton Inn near Seattle Center so we could do a few other things.  Unfortunately, my back was acting up (I missed the whole week of work!) so we just stuck to the basics.  We viewed the Gingerbread Houses, which were across the street from the Sheraton this year due to renovations.  The theme was Seattle Past & Future. We also rode the monorail, ate at PF Chang's and got Top Pot Donuts.

At Westlake Center

 \

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

It was so great to have Gabby home for a week.  It sure flew by!   She fit in some fun activities including lots of eating & sleeping, shopping, getting a new tattoo (Winston's paw print), hanging with her friends, filming a short video with her dance crew, two photo shoots, a movie (Justice League), a volksmarch and decorating the house for Christmas.  She is currently on her way back to Arcata, but will return in just 3 weeks for a long winter break.  We are so excited that both she & her sister will be home at least two weeks together.  We have lots of fun things already planned!  Bring on the holiday season!

It's always my job to fluff the branches.  Sadly, this will be the last year for this tree.
It's really old and a lot of the needles kept falling off. 

Obviously exhausted after putting up both trees.
We missed our helpers Corey & Winston! 

Sadly this will be the last year for these little guys, too. 
They are in way worse shape than they appear and the poor penguin no longer lights up. 
Our outdoor décor keeps shrinking! 

A few pictures from one of the photo shoots she did over break. 

This is my fav.