New Cat -- He's Jack

We got a new cat. He's actually Lily's cat. We made a deal with her that she would get only a few presents for Christmas and she would get a kitty. It turned out that Nana gave her plenty of stuff anyway so she got the best of both worlds. Anyway, we spent three or four days shuffling between the Oregon Humane Society (oh that place is nice!) and the Southwest Washington Humane Society before we finally settled on our new kitty.

Initially, Lily wanted a black kitty but decided that she would be flexible. We test drove perhaps ten felines before we tried Jack on for size. He's a six month old orange tabby. We already have an orange tabby but he seemed so sweet that we decide to take him home. He started off skittish but he's settling into life here at the Hoyer's. He's got quite the motor. Here he is snoozing on Lily's trundle bed -- when it's been pushed under the bed.

It Snowed

After a couple of snowless winters, we finally got some snow down here in the lowlands. It actually snowed twice. The first time was a wet snow that froze overnight to create some hazardous driving conditions. The resulting icy patches stayed around a long time. About a week later, it snowed again -- about four inches of powder! Lily and Frost had a ball playing in the snow. The next day, it was warm enough to make snowmen and Lily constructed her first solo effort.

Christmas in Florida

The fam made the loooong trek to Florida to visit Nana for Christmas. The first leg of the trip was a five hour flight from Portland to Houston. We had a two hour layover in Houston which wasn't bad since we had lots of time to get to our connecting flight and get a bite to eat. Then we had a 2-1/2 hour flight to West Palm Beach and a half hour drive to Nana's in Jupiter. We got in the door there around midnight.

Nana has a pool and we went swimming every day since the weather cooperated. Oh yeah, the pool is heated too. Frost made huge strides in swimming ablity. He got quite good at pushing off the steps and swimming to mom or dad. We just need to get him to come up for air and he'll be swimming across the pool.

Christmas day was a big hit with the kids. Now that I have Lily and Frost, I've come to enjoy Christmas much more than I have in years. Lily got stuffed animals and Frost got trucks -- just what they wanted.

We relaxed a lot but still found time to get out of the house. We went to the Playmobile Fun Park. It was a bit of a disappointment but at least Lily got some pretty cool Playmobile stuff at their store. There is a very nice animal refuge very close to Nana's house. Lily was excited to see the Florida panthers and the bobcat. We also saw a ranger demonstration so Lily got to pet a skunk and a snake as well as seeing other cool animals.

We visited the Palm Beach Zoo. Since it's warm year round, the zoo had a tropical feel to it and we got to see lots of animals that we don't have in the Portland Zoo. I was reacquainted with some southern wildlife at the zoo -- I got bitten by fire ants which is something I haven't had the pelasure of in almost thirty years.

Nana's and Paul's club hosted a couple of buffet dinners over the holidays that catered to families. They had a kids buffet and lots of kids activities too. At one, they had a great balloon artist (this guys was really outstanding). He made Frost a polar bear and he made Lily a jaguar, helmet, and a bow and arrow.

Paul let us use his golf cart to drive around the community (gated, guarded). Unfortunately, his cart is in need of battery maintenance and we couldn't drive it for more than about twenty minutes per day. Still, the kids loved the rides and Frost always wanted more.

Since the weather was so good and we were all having such a great time, we extended our stay for an extra five days. After two weeks of vacation

South Florida was a bit of culture shock for Nicholette and I. However, it made us more confident of the choices we have made in our lifestyle and methods of child rearing.

We were sad to leave but it was nice to get back home.