Catching Up: A Visit with Grandpa Major

On New Year's Day, my dad came down from Tacoma to visit with us for about a week. I picked him up from the train station and we headed straight over to John's grandparent's for the New Year's Day celebration we have every year with the entire Minthorne side. I think there's been a new baby every year for the past few years! I wasn't able to stay for too long due to work, but my dad stayed there with John and the boys to join everyone for the first time and he really enjoyed himself.

Over the course of the week, we took a quick afternoon trip to Tillamook (Sorry to Jeff and Emily that we didn't stop by. It was very last minute and we didn't stay super long!). We stopped by the beach to see the Twin Rocks (my dad hadn't been out there in 20+ years). It was Buster's first trip to the beach and he went crazy! So many new smells to check out!

We also took a quick tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Mmm, squeaky cheese! The boys enjoyed watching the cheese get sliced and packaged and Aiden got lots of waves from the factory workers. He was also quite adventurous and tried some jalapeno pepper cheese! He didn't really mean to, but he popped it in his mouth before I could warn him. His eyes widened and then said, "Huh, that's a bit hot." But since he moved right on and didn't spit it out, I consider it a successful test taste for him.

I don't think he was particularly excited about having his picture taken in a fake cow face.

We also took advantage of upgrading our zoo membership and went to Zoolights for a 2nd time, but this time with our free guest! It wasn't raining like it had been the first time we had gone, but I would have taken rain over the 25 degrees it was on this visit. We were so flipping cold, we didn't stay for super long, but enough to see the basics and get some elephant ears.

Pretty zoo train! We didn't ride this time around, but I think it's more fun to watch it go by than ride it when it's all decorated like this.

The boys met Rudolph. I'm happy my kid wasn't the one grabbing Rudolph's face! There was also someone in a cow costume, but I think they didn't try as hard on that one. We actually had to ask what they were supposed to be. It looked like an elk to me!

We always have a lot of fun with my dad and the boys very much enjoyed their Christmas presents. This is the 2nd year that my dad has treated them to Build A Bear and we now have proudly added "Light Brown Bunny" (who wears denim shorts and a Beaver tshirt - Nathan's choice) and "Owl Firefighter" (who is, if you couldn't guess, a firefighter) to our family of various Build A Animals. The present for John and I was Mario Kart for our Wii and we have REALLY enjoyed that! I'm not particularly good at it, but that has given us some good laughs.

The boys can't stand when my dad goes back home, but that just shows that they really love having him around.