Arriving Somewhere...: Christmas

Bonus points to anyone that can identify the quote.

So, to sum up:
Ethan's collar bone has healed quite nicely.
Everyone got sick from some cold virus accidentally released from some secret government lab
Halloween came and went and the boys made out like bandits
Ethan discovered he *really* likes Christmas light displays
The boys were even more jazzed up about Christmas than last year (if that was possible)
Jonathan just had his 6th birthday - how the time flies!
Jonathan is at 7 stripes on his Karate belt. One more stripe and then after that - he's a yellow belt!
Spent my 11th evening with Rush!
Saw Roger Hodgson (of Supertramp)

So, to explain:
After 2 follow up x-rays, Ethan was cleared for all activities. We stopped using the sling after about 10 days and stopped pain meds after only about 3 days.

This Halloween, Ethan went as a red Angry Bird and Jonathan decided to reprise his roll as Thomas The Tank Engine. Like last year, we went to Bellevue Square Mall to do trick or treating. The mall has been getting better at this over the years with fewer and fewer stores running out of candy. This year, we got there around the start time and stayed for about 1.5 hours and there were still stores handing out candy. Contrast that with the first year we went where the stores generally ran out of candy before the first hour was up. After that, we went to our church where they were running a sort of Trick and Treat thing - kids would play games (like ball toss, etc) to get their candy. They also ran 2 bouncy houses which Jonathan enjoyed thoroughly.

As Christmas drew closer, we made various pilgrimages to see various Christmas light displays. Just to give an idea of how much the boys (especially Ethan) enjoy this - there are a few houses up the street from us that do a *very* nice job of put on a light display. Every single night that we come home (from wherever we may be), we *have* to drive by those houses to see their lights before we go to our house. Every time. No exceptions. We also go see various things around town that have become a sort of tradition for us now: Bellevue Square has a nightly performance of music, live drummers, and artificial snow, the Belleuve Botanical Gardens transform their entire grounds into a huge light display, the City of Redmond hosts a night where you walk from city hall to Redmond Town Center mall along the Burke Gillman bike/jogging trail where the entire distance is lined with lights and carolers - complete with family activities at both ends of the walk, and in downtown Seattle, there is the annual lighting of the huge Christmas tree down by Westlake Center mall and the lighting of the Macy's star.

We alternate years where we spend Christmas in Seattle or Vancouver. This year was our year to spend Christmas in Seattle. We then headed up to Vancouver to spend time with my parents on Boxing day (and spend a few days there). This leads to a little confusion for the boys because they get to open presents on Christmas Eve (at an annual extended family gathering at one of Dina's aunts), then more on Christmas Day, and then more again on Boxing day on the years we go up to Vancouver. And on years where we go up to Vancouver for Christmas Day, there will be more presents for the boys to open when we come back to Seattle. So Jonathan had some trouble understanding that Santa was only coming once not twice - once for our house and another time for my folk's house. And on top of that, he always asks if there will be presents if we go to someone's house because there a just so many places where they open gifts!

Jonathan, for his birthday, will have 2 parties this year. His first one, on his actual birthday, was a Chuck E Cheese. We invited only the immediate family and he got to pick one friend to come. This is becoming a favorite place to go for both boys. Ethan proclaimed that he wanted to come to Chuck E Cheese on his birthday too! His second party will be at the ice rink close to our house (the Kingsgate arena). This is because Dina 'Liked' Kingsgate Arena on Facebook and then won a free ice skating birthday party! Since we only have to supply the cake and pizza (and there is a pizza place in the same strip mall that has $5 pizzas) and $7/skater over 10 skaters we invited his entire class, a couple of his friends and immediate family. Anyone attending the party but not skating don't need to pay.

In other (what I deem) interesting news:
Yours truly saw Rush for the 11th time (and counting). This was the tour supporting their new album Clockwork Angels and in my opinion, it is the best album they've put out in probably decades.

I also had the good fortune to see Roger Hodgson (the voice of Supertramp) for the first time. It was a fantastic show where he played a ton of old Supertramp.

- bob

Ethan is finally old enough to start getting excited about Christmas. When we put the Christmas tree (the *big* one - first time in years now) he and Jonathan got all excited and when we were done putting it up and lit it up, Ethan said (shouted, actually), "Wow - Christmas tree!". (Disclaimer: Ethan, of course, said it in his own way as his pronunciation is still not all quite there).

When we went to see Santa, Ethan kept pointing at him and saying, "Santa!".

We've gone to a couple of events around town (Redmond City Hall tree lighting followed by their night/luminary walk, and then last night the light display at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens) and he was very interested in the displays and would often point at them and eagerly call out what he was seeing.

Needless to say, Jonathan is ecstatic. He was asking to put up the Christmas tree well in advance of Thanksgiving. When they were going to make and decorate gingerbread cookies at school, the night before it was all he could talk about. And yes - his Christmas list is approximately 1.37 miles long (when printed single spaced in 10 point Times Roman font).

- b