Merry Christmas!

Even though Gunnar has only participated in half of 2010 Santa apparently got word that he should be on the nice list! We went to my girlfriend's house yesterday and she showered Gunnar (and me) with tons of cool gifts. She got him the classic ring stacker and he loves it. He has a dog that knows his name and favorite color but his favorite toys are the standard stacker and WRAPPING PAPER!

This morning he applied his newly learned present opening skills and made out like a bandit. Thank you so much to everyone and your kindness. This was a wonderful Christmas.

Gunnar is napping and then we are off to Christmas part three with our neighbors.

Portraits

Since our camera is in need of repair, Nick's parents let us borrow their portrait camera. Nick has taken some really great pics:

Carma

The final piece of our Vanagon acquisition plan was to find a new find for the Honda. Nick has greatly advanced his mechanic skills on that car and was very torn about letting her go. Glancing at the Van in the garage has been a help though I think. Great response to the CraigsList post and we had a buyer same night. The buyer did not have all the funds so he left a deposit and would be back at the end of the week to pick up the car. Like anyone selling an older car Nick went out to let it run a little bit before the guy came to pick it up. It started, it ran, Nick began to walk away and then he saw it. A pool of antifreeze was under the car. We have never had any problems with this car. Now, right before it is to be sold it decides to have a major breakdown.

Now the problem, do you clean up the mess and top of the antifreeze without the buyer being any the wiser. Or do you do the right thing and let the guy know. Nick being the honest guy he is called and let the buyer know what had happened.

Long story short Nick discovered that it was the water pump (whew, not the head gasket) and had that fixed for the buyer. Last night it was driven off to its new home good as new. The buyer was so thrilled and even texted Nick this morning about what a great car it is.

All parties are thrilled!

Santa

Sunday Santa made a much needed supply run to Welches and we were lucky enough to catch up with him at Cafe Aria on his lunch break:

Gunnar thinks he is one cool dude!

Have Van Will CAMP!

Well, it finally happened. Nick's dream of owning a Vanagon has come true. As they say, good things come to those who wait.

Weekend before last it finally came to us. Nick has been wanting a Vanagon for about the past 5 years. When we lived in NYC no one had a clue of what he was talking about. He had a picture of one as his phone wallpaper to use as an illustration when talking about his dream. Then as fate would have it we moved to OR where they are EVERYWHERE. So Nick searched. And he searched. Looking on Craigslist for Vanagons has been his past time forever now. The trick was to find a decent van in our price range that would actually start. Last Sunday night when we got home from grocery shopping he was perusing Craigslist (his favorite way to avoid helping put away food) and there was a Vanagon in Sandy (the "town" closest to us) that was marked down for a quick sale. He hemmed and he hawed and finally I convinced him to at least give the guy a call. The usual M.O. for Vanagon sellers is that they either never call you back or by the time we call the van is gone. This time the van was actually available and not only that the guy agreed to meet us in 30 minutes to take a look. So we bundled up Gunnar and headed off into the night again.

Long story short the van is a 1989 GL that runs and is in decent condition inside. The guy was willing to take our offer and Nick drove it home that night.

To show how excited we are I actually took the next day off so we could enjoy it! It is such a breeze to load the baby, the dogs and all our cargo. Nick has installed a stereo and de-gunked the alternator already (long story) and we have tons of plans for our new baby.

Nick says he will take pictures for me to post next time there is a nice day. So maybe some time in July!

One, Two, Cheese!

Putting together a picture Christmas card has been on my radar for quite some time. However, like most items on my to-dos there just hasn't been time. Well, thanks to my wonderful husband we did it. We took a nice looking family photo! Look, I even washed AND dried my hair....


Now back to the fray. Merry Christmas!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

After our big Thanksgiving blow out we continued the fun by getting a Christmas tree. There is a tree farm just down the road where you can cut the one you like. Here are grandma and grandpa with Gunnar at the farm:


It was so exciting that Gunnar snuck in a cat nap in the truck on the way home. Gosh they are just like angels when they sleep!

Then I worked so hard on the tree that the dogs had to take a nap:

Here I am unveiling the tree:

Then of course we all had to pose with it:



Nick and Gunnar decided to wrestle for putting the star up top:

Lots of fun! I just found out that some of our NYC family will be in town for New Years. Can't wait! Our camera that I broke last year has finally given in so let's hope I can get it repaired asap.