Thunder Mountain Railroad

The train ride

Caulder, Kessler, and Owen visiting with Santa

Robyn visiting the North Pole

Deboarding the train

We decided to take the train to the North Pole this year. We boarded the Thunder Mountain rail line in Horseshoe Bend and rode all the way to the North Pole!!!! I was really surprised to find that there was no snow at the North Pole. I guess the entire world is having as dry and warm of a winter as we are having. The train ride was fun. We were visited by Mr. and Mrs. Clause as well as other characters. At the North pole we checked out Santa's village, then headed back to Idaho.

Happy 4th Birthday!!!!!!!

Getting instructions (yes there are even rules at Birthday parties)

Caulder and Kessler having fun on the trampoline

Owen on the trampoline

Avery jumping high on the trampoline

Caulder, Kessler, and Owen in the jump house

Jackson, Owen, Matthew, and Caulder

Kessler say cheese

Matthew, Jaylinn, Romey, Jackson, and Keaton enjoying snacks

Caulder and Kessler turned 4 on December 5th! They were both very excited about their Birthday this year so we decided to have a big party with their friends. On their actual Birthday we had a small party with their grandma, then on the following weekend we had a party with friends at one of the local gymnastics facilities. The kids had the run of the facility, and got to try out all of the gymnastic equipment. The favorites were the many trampolines and the jump house. The parents even had fun on the equipment. I would imagine their were a few sore backs and necks the next day. We tried to limit the gifts, but they still got lots of fun toys. It was a fun day, and so nice to leave the set-up and clean-up to someone else:) Happy Birthday Boys!!!!!

Cutting down the 2011 Christmas tree

On the way to get the tree

Searching for just the right one

And here it is!

We ventured up to Garden Valley this year to chop down our Christmas tree. We found a nice 10' tree, species unknown, chopped it down and drove it back to Boise. Little did we know, this would be about the most snow we would see this year.

Thanksgiving



Our small Thanksgiving dinner



Olive fingers

We had a quiet Thanksgiving this year, and stayed in Boise. Mat's dad and Grandma visited for the weekend from Bozeman, and his mom joined us on Thanksgiving. While they were here we did some shopping and checked out the festival of trees.

Rake up Boise

Caulder jumping in the leaf pile

My office participated in Rake-up Boise again this year, which also included a Rake-up parks component. Our team raked up two large yards, and two parks. The park shown above is downtown and just happened to be along the Holiday Parade route. We had some nice entertainment as we raked up the leaves.

Halloween 2011

My what big mouths you have! ...the better to eat all the candy we're about to get.

Kessler taming the komodo dragon at Boo at the Zoo

Getting ready to trick-or-treat

Our pumpkins

Halloween was a success this year, despite our failed attempts to attend a Halloween party at our pre-school, a trunk-or-treat event, and the pumpkin patch/corn maze. Somehow we just couldn't get our schedule to work out right. We did go to Boo at the Zoo, and trick-or-treating (of course). My parents came into town for a visit, so we decided to try out Warm Springs Ave for trick-or-treating. Warm Springs is a pretty road with elaborately decorated mansions. It was perfect fall night. Caulder dressed as a knight and Kessler as Woody. The boys had fun gathering a lot of candy. Luckily, they are still at the age where they don't notice that their candy bowl gradually diminishes as mom and dad take candy in to work.

Fall trip to Coeur D'Alene

We took an extended weekend trip to Coeur D'Alene in mid-October. Mat and a couple of friends fished for the first two days we were there, so Caulder, Kessler, and I explored the lake and surrounding area. We also took a drive out in the country to a pumpkin patch. When Mat wasn't fishing we toured around town, swam in the swimming pool at our condo, and followed the Mudgy and Millie trail around town (moose and mouse statues). Coeur D'Alene is a beautiful area, and we had a nice relaxing mini-vacation.