Are we there yet?

I love family road trips,

it's impossible to not create memories when sitting so close for hours.

Claire is a conversationalist while in the car.

Her little personality takes everything in and commentates on it. Rick and I love talking with her in the car.

Notable memories from Manzanita car ride:

SUNSHINE, which means Rick, in the passenger seat, gets the privilege of reaching back to keep the sun out of Claire's eyes. While driving I roll down her window slightly, Rick maneuvers the blanket into the window, I then roll up the window hoping to not sever his fingers. We proceed to do this many times. Claire enjoys pulling the blanket down and then insists the SUNSHINE is hurting her eyes.

MCDONALD's: It is a well known fact that while traveling on the road one eats fast food. Our trip to Manzanita was no exception. We all enjoy a little MceeDees once in awhile. Rick loves a juicy burger and fries covered in ketchup. Claire always orders "nuggets" and I enjoy the chicken snack wraps. In Astoria, the home of GOONIES, we made a 2nd stop for soft serve cones yum!

(Normally our family eats very healthy. The other night for dinner I roasted some potato wedges AKA french fries. Claire was disappointed. C:"Mommy I don't like french fries, I like asparagus")

CAR WEAR: while driving directly into the sun our driver side visor broke.. NO!!! Our last car didn't even have one. We've been enjoying the luxury of shaded eyes with our new(er) car, oh well. It's fun to push it up and then slowly lower your neck as the visor comes back down. Then there was the pickup truck that kicked up a rock putting a small dent in our hood and proceeded to crack the windshield. What can I say? More Mackintosh memories.

SCENERY: The drive is BEAUTIFUL. The Pacific Coast Highway is breathtaking. Ocean views, vast forests, quaint towns, a must do ride for anyone in the NorthWest.

WEINERMOBILE: what luck! A brand spankin' new weinermobile right next to us on our way home, the perfect ending to the perfect weekend. This had special meaning to Claire because she refers to Rick's Dad as Gwapa Hotdog :)

WORD CLOUDS

wordle.net is a lot of fun you should check it out. Take a body of text, like your blog, or fill in the words on your own. It takes the words that show up the most and makes them more prominent in the picture. Color, direction and size can be adjusted. Take a screen shot of the word cloud and the image will show up on your clipboard in Photo Shop. Then it is yours to do as you please. I had fun making one for Claire and one for Rick that centered on his love of aviation.

Things we've been up to lately

going to friend birthday parties

building forts

art projects

rainy day eggs : )

dinosaur puzzles and blocks

painting toenails

talking on the phone to Nonni

Claire loves anything to do with ART. Painting, coloring, drawing, creating. I took a few pictures in early December of some of her drawings. Rick is very artistic, I hope that Claire continues to enjoy creating art :)

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Ringing in the New Year

We enjoyed a fun New Year's Eve party at my parents. The dinner was DELICOUS! Good job Mom! We spent the evening playing ping-pong, games, Wii, our traditional Bingo with presents and toasting in 2010. Claire was great, she stayed up until midnight and loved partying with everyone!

Hello 2010!!! Muah!!!