Our Street

Here's our street, Panorama style! Our house is the one in the middle. If you look close enough, you'll see Laura, CJ, and Preston standing in the yard.

Sledding After The Big Snow!

Well, we just had our first Big storm of the winter season. Apparently it was also one of the biggest snow storms in Spokane's history. We got about two and a half feet of snow and it's been a lot of fun! Most of Thursday was spent digging out of the snow, then Clay went with some of the squadron members and helped dig some other people out while Laura took the boys outside and played with the neighbor kids. Friday, Clay didn't have to go in to work, in fact, most of the base had a day off due to the snow. We were really excited because Grandma and Papa Ward were going to spend the weekend with us, but unfortunately their flight got canceled earlier today. It was a big bummer, but we'll have to get 'em up here again soon!
We hit the big hill this afternoon to do some sledding (It isn't a Real Big hill, unless you're a three year old, then everything is Big). It was lot's of fun and most of the kids there live on our street, which was even better. Anyways, i'll shut up now.

Christmas Lights on OUR house!

We decided together that this year, we were going to put lights up...and not just one strand, but several! Clay even went up on the roof several times! We weren't too smart as to our planning though... we put the lights up on the one and only day it snowed that week....yeah, that would be our luck...but they went up, they look beautiful, and no one got hurt...maybe a little frozen, but no permanent damage done!


CJ was a great helper, he stayed in the back of the pickup and called orders from there...he wanted to be sure to stay warm and dry from the snow.

Putting up the Tree

The Boys had a great time helping put up the tree this year. CJ couldn't wait to put the top on..Preston was just excited to see a tree inside our house!

We're Cruisin' Baby!

It finally happened! We got Clay on a cruise! Clay and Laura dropped the kids off with Nana and Papa..and off to Florida they went where they caught their boat and were off for a week to be together - yes, just the two of them! And let me tell you...it was Fabulous! A week of no cell phones, no kids, no flying, no cleaning, no cooking, all we had to worry about was each other and deciding what we were going to do next....the pool, the hot tub, the endless food supply, the games, the movies, the shows, etc. It was so nice just being together - laughing, having fun, relaxing, no stress - heaven, pure heaven. (the warm weather in November was also VERY nice!)

Clay and Laura ....KID-LESS

While on the cruise, we took advantage of the photographers on the ship. We had so many pictures taken we felt like celebrities by the end of the week. It was really hard to pick which ones to get...but these were our favorites. Man...I sure wish that tan lasted longer than a week!

Caribbean Snorkeling

One of the excursions we chose was snorkeling! We snorkeled in the port of St. Thomas. Some of our friends, Hans and Laurel, went on the exact same cruise 2 weeks before us- - quite the coincidence.... so they told us that this was an excellent excursion and they also let us borrow their underwater cameras!!! It was so much fun taking pictures of each other under the water...I think the pictures tell all!

Some Adult Adventures

We rented a scooter in the Bahamas - Nassau. It was fun riding around and seeing all the more remote areas of the island - we worked together trying to remember to drive on the left side of the street! We only messed us a few times, and we went down a one-way street the wrong way once...only once, so no worries...right?




We won a trophy...the coveted 'ship on a stick', actually we won 3 of them by the end of the trip! We won a scavenger hunt and were on a winning trivia team....YIPEE! Now...what do you do with these things once your home? Ebay? Cruise ship trophy for sale...anyone? Well, the boys sure love playing with them...another toy, just has a sharp point...hmmm.
























We enjoyed all the towel animals that our room steward left for us each night...the monkey was our favorite!

Clay's favorite past time on the boat was to search in restricted areas to try and get to the front of the ship.....he really wanted to be like Rose on Titanic and pretend like he was flying on the front of the ship.... just kidding about the Rose thing...but he did try everything in his power to get to the front of the ship...which is off limits to guests...and yes, Laura got roped into the detective work too...In the end it was a lot of fun trying to solve the puzzle.. we never quite made it to the front...but we got awful close.

We really enjoyed the waterslide on the boat! Clay was particularly good at making a big splash at the bottom. He could create such a big splash he would get people in the neighboring pool wet. However, by the last day, he was even making waves and splashing water over the side of the slide AS he went down - which would splash sleeping babies below and innocent bystanders walking by....it was great. Laura would wait and watch on the top to see if he hit anyone, she would then slide down and report...we make such a good team!


ALL chocolate BUFFET.....yum!!!

Paradise Parasailing

In St. Maarten we parasailed. It was soooo neat! It was Laura's first time... and she loved it! It was fun because we got to go together - side by side. I guess if one goes...we both go right? The view was gorgeous. We ran out of film when we got up...so we don't have too many pictures of the view - but believe us...it was breath taking.