It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

December was a GREAT month for Matt and Andrea! All month they were looking forward to Christmas morning with Joe!
On the 14th they had Marylou and Robert over for the Tree Decorating Party! Joe had picked out the Tree topper and Matt helped him place it just right!

Christmas Eve was at Matt and Andrea's house, Ned, Doe (Matt's parents), Marylou and Robert all came over.
Joe told Marylou, "Marylou - I want a 6 person kazoo party!" and so they did ... Ned, Doe, Marylou, Robert, Joe and Matt ... six people ... perfect!

Christmas Morning was MAGICAL! Joe woke Matt and Andrea at 6:30, they all came out to see that Santa had been there, he ate the cookies and had some milk and the reindeer had nibbled the celery! He left some pretty great stuff in their stockings, too!

Joe opened presents and then had fun shaped pancakes! They were 'cookie-cutter-d' from round pancakes and Joe LOVED them!

The favorite gifts this Christmas included:

Andrea - Anniversary ring that Matt was working on for 4-ish months and a matching set of jewelry - earrings, bracelet and necklace.


Matt - Bike helmet, he just joined the Cucina Fresca Flying Tomatoes bicycle team!


Joe - LEGOS a vehicle, dinosaur, city police station, helicopter pad with helicopter - they had GREAT fun putting it all together! He is now a Candy Land cheater extrordinaire (thanks uncle johner) and he loves his harmonica!

All in all it was a FANTASTIC Christmas!

We rode the Christmas Train

Saturday Nov. 24th, they rose before the sun to make their way to North Bend. Their tickets were for the first day, first ride at 8:00AM! Matt, Andrea and Joe were so happy to be with Sarah (Matt's sister) and Libby (Sarah's daughter) that they didn't mind the time, the dark or the FREEZING weather! [Sarah and Libby came from Virginia for Thanksgiving and stayed through the beginning of December!] They enjoyed the ride to Snoqualmie, the train museum, cookies, hot chocolate and especially visiting with Santa!

Libby and Sarah

Mr. Claus ...

(not the jolly old elf we were expecting, but Santa nonetheless)

Best Buddies!

Libby's funny - she calls Joe "Cousin Joseph" and she keeps him in line! She's so fun to have around! Matt, Andrea and Joe look forward to visiting Virginia someday! (sooner than later hopefully!)

Joe's School Picture 2007-08

Joe fixed his own hair, picked out his outfit and smiled is new 'signature' no-teeth smile for his Kindergarten Picture Day.

Being exposed to other kids has changed this kid! It's not 'cool' to have a teethy grin, it's not 'cool' to eat veggies, and it's certainly not 'cool to have your hair combed by your parents!! This picture is a PERFECT depiction of Joe this year! We LOVE him and hope that he starts eating his vegetables again real soon!

Lions and Tigers, Flamingos and Power Rangers?

Lions and Tigers and Bears (oh my!) at the Pumpkin Prowl ... Flamigos and Power Rangers at the door! Trick or Treat! Matt's cousin and niece, Jennifer and Grace, met Matt, Andrea and Joe at the Woodland Park Zoo the Sunday before Halloween (still in 2007, folks - we're playin' catch-up here).

There were some awesome carved pumpkins, great scarecrows, fun treats to collect and cool costumes, the best of which were 2 little boys wearing white boxes - they were a washer and dryer!!

Then on Halloween night they met at Aunt Bonnie's (Jennifer's mom) house - her Seattle neighborhood is a hot spot for old school trick-or-treaters, the whole neighborhood participates providing hordes of kids with a bunch of candy!! One neighbor made his trailer into a haunted tunnel of sorts ... he did a pretty good job too - Joe went in the door ... and came right back out ... "too scary!" Another neighbor's answer to "Trick or Treat?" was "I'd love to see a trick!" Joe put is hands up to his face, fingers covering his nose with his thumbs in his mouth - clicked his thumbnails off his teeth and announced "I'm cracking my nose!" She was duly impressed and dropped 2 candies in his bag as his reward - Joe's such a character!!

Grace was a Flamingo complete with furry pink wings and tail feathers, pink tights, some fantastic pink gym shoes and a smiling beak - she was adorable! Joe was the Red Power Ranger and whenever he had his costume on (before and after Halloween) he'd say, "When I have this on ... I'm in charge!" Don't mess with this Power Ranger!! They made their way around the neighborhood - Joe kept tripping over things, he couldn't see because of his mask so it was off and on, off and on! They had a great time and made quite a haul!!

"Can I have this one?"

3000 miles in 12 days

The end of June 2007, Matt, Andrea and Joe piled in the blue windstar - well, first they took the back bench seat out and folded down one of the passenger-captain-chairs, loaded in everything but the kitchen sink (including Joe's bike, Matt's golf clubs, Andrea's wedding gifts that she wanted to show her family, and a case of wine from the Columbia Winery that they were going to 'smuggle' into Wyoming - it seems there's a certain kind of wine that they don't export ... anyway ... ) the van was BRILLIANT! They had a roof top carrier but according to Matt there would be too much drag - the van would lose it's aerodynamic design if they put it on top - causing them to use more gas!! So everything went inside and they were quite comfortable! DVD player screen positioned for Joe and they were off! Friday night they drove through the night and arrived in West Yellowstone Saturday morning. The only way to Cody, WY from this side of Yellowstone is either around the park ... or through it. Justin and his family drove down from Great Falls, MT and met them and they all spent the weekend going through Yellowstone National Park. They spent 12 hours in Yellowstone on Sunday and can't wait to go back!! Joe LOVED the Geysers!

They arrived Sunday night late at the Gillespies in Cody. Cody, WY - Population 10,000 grows to 300,000 in the summer time due to the fact that it's the east enterance to Yellowstone National Park and everyone headed to Yellowstone must pass through Cody to get there. Monday morning was the Cody 4th of July Kid's Parade! Andrea's cousin, Jenelle, decorated Joe's bike so he could ride in the parade with her kids Sarah and Reece, Taylor (Justin's daughter) and Chantz (Johner's son). Joe's just learning to ride a 2 wheeler and hasn't mastered it quite yet (Matt followed him at a slow jog the entire length of the parade route) ... he only fell once but it was a doozie - mid-parade, he lost control and SPLAT! The crowd let out a gasp of concern to which Joe quickly jumped up, hands raised, and announced, "I'm alright!"


It was HOTTER THAN HADES so Andrea, Matt, Joe and all the cousins cooled themselves at the ONE pool in town down at the KOA campground. They hung out on the porch with the 'Clampets', went to an old western gunshow at the Irma Hotel, stopped into the Gillespies consignment shop that they bought last spring "Mountain Made Treasures", watched the 4th of July Parade go down Cody's main drag, had a BBQ at Jenelle's house and played in the sprinkler, went to a rodeo (where they let Joe be the photographer for a little bit and got 15 shots of the giant Coke bottle!), watched the sunset and lit fireworks!

They left Cody on Thursday, drove all day and arrived at Lusk, WY - a small ranching community in eastern Wyoming where Bob and Polly Johnson live. The Johnson's are Dee's parents, Dee is one of Andrea's good friends - they met just after Dee's husband accidentally rear-ended her and she was referred to Andrea's healing hands! They spent the weekend at the Johnson's ranch. Joe played with the filthy dogs (they LOVED him), in the sprinkler clown, with a peeing frog, and fed the wild 'Y' cow a barley cake!

Monday morning they packed it in and drove the 800 miles from Lusk, WY to Missoula, MT with the promise that Joe could swim at the hotel when they got there ... They finally arrived at 9:30pm and the pool closed at 10 ... Joe went to bed sad but without a fight because it opened promptly at 7:00 the next morning! They played in the pool and Joe got to go down the slide!!


They drove from Missoula to Spokane where they left Joe with is maternal Grandparents then Matt and Andrea headed into the sunset on their way home.


The 3000 miles were filled with many sights, sounds, heat and laughs! It was a GREAT time had by all!!