Christmas Fun!

For Collin's second Christmas we spent a few days at the Oregon Coast with Mike's family. Jon and Mary Ann rented a beautiful beach front house and we got lucky with the weather. I've been to the coast in July only to find it gray, gloomy and 60 degrees. But this time it was bright, clear blue skies and although chilly with the wind, still pleasant to walk along the beach.

From Christmas 09

There was a pile of gifts to bestow (recession, what recession)!



Collin received lots of fun presents including books, a new best friend we call Reindeer, a train set, and a tool box just like dad's (foul language not included).



Mike surprised me with a new camera just like the professionals use and an introductory lesson in January! I started messing around with it, though I'm completely clueless with ISO and all the manual setting stuff, I'm excited to learn. I've always wanted to take up photography and now no excuses. Best part of the new camera--that click, click, all in a row instead of seeing the perfect picture and then having it disappear in the time I press the button to take the photo. We also got lots of great gifts from family including a dutch oven and a rice cooker I'm excited to add to our kitchen appliance collection.

We spent about an hour on a chilly doc while Chris, Jon and Virginia went crabbing for dinner. Collin was pretty fascinated by the crabs and their claws and luckily didn't find out what happens when you reach out to touch them. We left when it got too cold for Collin but they stayed to catch enough crab for a delicious gumbo dinner.







After we left our relaxing coast trip we went to my parent's house for "second Christmas" and we all got more fun toys to play with (a griddle/panini press/bbq = more awesome times in the kitchen) and once Collin gets the hang of the "sit and spin" I imagine he'll enjoy making himself sick with dizziness.

We're fortunate that both our families are nearby and we were able to spend time with everyone during the holidays. And appreciate everyone's generosity. Collin is beyond lucky to have so many people that care for him.