Meadow at Sunriver

Meadow had a great time at Sunriver. She loved jumping in her johnny jumper and was highly entertained by her nephews. She also did a great job eating her baby food while on vacation. She probably wanted to fit in with everybody else eating all the yummy Thanksgiving food.

Meadow was all bundled up for our shopping trip with the girls at the Sunriver mall. She was happy the whole time. I think she loved looking at all the fun things she might want to buy someday.

The grandparents, "Ghanny and Bampon" with all the grandkids. (Stockton, Parker, Meadow and Xavier). Meadow had a great time with with the grandparents so mommy and daddy could go up to the mountain. Ghanny at first gave Meadow an 80% for behavior, but after awhile she increased her score to 90% for just being so cute. She missed her parents so much that she just had to cry for a little bit. The next day she got a 100%. Not one tear! She just loves her grandparents. Stockton wasn't too happy in this shot. But, he is a pretty happy kid the majority of the time.

Meadow in her pretty thanksgiving dress!

The Flowrider

Check out these pics of Todd and I riding the flow rider. Todd has some really great wipe outs. I had some fun 360's on the boogie board, they were definitely not intentional, but it was really fun. Todd's brother, who is avid surfer, could stay on the wave the longest. For anyone who knows Jeff he is a major shredder. You can check out the machine at http://www.flowrider.com/

21st Annual Van Hee Sunriver Vacation

The spoons crew!

This is the group at Sunriver this year. Behind us is the gorgeous house we got to stay in this year. It was a fun time. We were able to go up to Mt. Bachelor and do a little skiing and snowboarding. We also went to a cool place in Sunriver that had a surf wave. We all took a try and did some boogie boarding and surfing in the middle of winter. What an active family! Meadow even took a dip in the kiddie pool.

Every year at Sunriver we participate in the spoons championship. This is a very competitive game. Once you get four of a kind, you grab a spoon. Once the first spoon is grabbed everyone tries to grab a spoon. There is always one less sppon than the people at the table. After not grabbing a spoon twice you are out of the game. Todd won the game this year. Heidi, Todd's brother's girlfriend won last year so she had to hand the trophy over to Todd.

This year I almost made the final round, but was abruptly ousted by my own husband. He was lucky that he brought home the trophy for the family.

A Beautiful Beach Weekend

This was the view from our hotel window on Saturday afternoon. With the view like this it was hard sometimes to leave the hotel. But, we managed to get out and enjoy the beach and the town of Newport. It was one of our favorite trips to Newport. Nothing beats sunshine in Oregon at the coast.

Meadow and I went to the historic Newport Bay while Todd was in his conference. It is a nice harbor with a boardwalk and several shops and restaurants lining the street. It was fun to watch the seal lions bask in the sun. I think Meadow enjoyed their loud barking noises. We picked up some salt water taffy along our walk to share with Todd and family in New York. Later that evening we came back with Todd to enjoy a bite to eat at the Whale's Tale (one of our favorite restaurants in Newport) and enjoyed some wonderful northwest halibut and salmon. The night before we discovered the Canyon Way bookstore and restaurant. We both had wonderful seafood dishes. Todd's co-worker, Keith, had recommended the place and came along with us. It was nice to have the extra help to finish an amazing chocolate dessert.

These are a few pictures from Agate beach, which was right in front of our hotel. We had a great time just strolling up and down. We walked all the way to the rocks in this picture.

Newport, Oregon

This beautiful picture below is the view from our hotel room in Newport at sunset. Todd has a PA work conference so Meadow and I get to hang out at the beach while he is in class. Luckily, Todd gets a few breaks to enjoy the beautiful scenery. The light house in the far distance is called Yaquina lighthouse. We took a tour of it a few years ago and learned how the lighthouse projected the light. It was pretty amazing. It is pretty cool that I can upload these photos and write on my blog while at the hotel. Don't you just love technology!

Meadow's new toy and outfits

Meadow has been enjoying her new excersaucer. She loves moving around to all the toys and making them move or make sounds. Don't you love the sweater? It is from Ghanny Van Hee.

Look at this cute halloween outfit and cute booties. Our friend Sara made the booties.

Think Snow!

I know many people reading the title of this blog might think I am a little nuts and about ten years ago I would have felt the same way. I often grumbled about clearing the snow off of my car in New York and Chicago. But, my perspective has changed since learning how much fun snow can be. If I had only known the joys of snowboarding while in NY, I might have become a Super G or halfpipe snowboarding star. Or maybe I would have just been more excited to get out of bed after a big snowstorm when I was a teenager.

The point of this blog is that, Todd, Meadow and I went up to Meadows (a ski resort on Mt. Hood) to take our pictures and get our season pass this past weekend. We were both giddy with excitement for the upcoming season. I had to miss the entire season last year due to having precious cargo growing inside of me, so I am anxious to get back on the slopes.

My friend Jerri would be so proud that I added the link to the ski resort. Your right Jerri, it is so easy. Hope to see you all on the slopes!

First Official Post

Hi! I am excited to finally be posting a message on my blog. It only took me a few months to really get this going because I keep being distracted by this little human being. Most of you know, that this little one is named Meadow. It has been a fun adventure these past few months and we have enjoyed introducing Meadow to our favorite hikes. We also brought her up to our favorite ski resort this past weekend so she could check out her future stomping grounds.

It is so fun to watch her growing personality. She loves to do rasberries and stick her tongue out to see what reaction she will get. She has also enjoyed rolling from her front to back occasionally.

I am hoping that Meadow will start to sleep for longer stretches so her mom can get a few more winks at night. Cross your fingers everyone. I hope to post some cute pictures in the near future.