Jamaica!

The Breckenridge family goes international!

After a red-eye flight and a drive across the island, we arrived for our week in fabulous Treasure Beach, Jamaica.

We took some great day trips, spending time with friends from Paul's Peace Corps days in Munro, and swimming at the waterfalls at YS Falls. Mostly, though, we enjoyed relaxing days in the sun, where our biggest decision at any given moment was whether it was time to swim in the sea, play on the beach, hang out on the veranda, or swim in the pool!

Our morning routine -- coffee, milk, and bananas from the patio...

So nice to have a week where we didn't have to bundle up in fleece, gloves, and hats!

Just as we expected, Sammy couldn't get enough swimming!

Paul visiting with his friend Buzby, at his former Peace Corps community in Munro.

We happened to be at our friends' place in Munro right when the all-age school -- right next door -- was on a break for lunch. Sammy was thrilled to have all of the kids around, and we made lots of new friends!

Unlike her sister when we were last in Jamaica two years ago, Nina was not afraid to really experience the sand...

This scene -- Sammy excitedly sprinting back from the water, a bucket full of water to add to her sand castle or sand pit -- happened, oh, about 50 times each day.

View of "our beach" from the water. The house we rented is on the left.

Holiday Rewind

We stayed close to home for the holidays this year, enjoying lots of good time with family and frineds. Here are a few of the highlights from our holiday season:

The family, at the annual holiday brunch with the Macnab family, hosted by Pam and Dick Breckenridge.

A rare beautiful day in December, playing in the grass with the Macnab kids and grandkids.

A Christmas eve outing downtown for a ride on the Christmas carousel!

Our group of friends continued a great tradition of joining together to sponsor a family. Here's what we were able to deliver to the family just before Christmas!

Our annual walk down the block to the Christmas tree sale at the Dunshee House was even more fun this year with the wagon...

We ventured up to Paradise on Mt. Rainier just after Christmas. It was a long drive (longer than Paul or I realized when we began the journey...), but Sammy loved the toddler sledding hill, and Nina had a great time trooping around the beautiful lodge.

Here's Nina, sporting her new bibs and snow boots that we bought en route. In retrospect, probably not a necessary purchase, given that she much preferred the gift shop to the mountain!

And here's a video of Sammy, cruising down the mountain. The scene you see in this video was repeated, oh, about 23 more times or so. We were amazed that our normally cautious girl was totally unfazed with her repeated wipeouts on the mountain!

Sisters

Steps

With Nina now toddling around all over the place, it's hard to believe it was just a month ago that she was practicing her first steps. Here's a video of some of those early steps, taken by Gramps...

Thanksgiving in the City of Roses

It seems like a long time ago now, but we had a great Thanksgiving in Portland with the Savages and Flosis. As usual, it was really fun to get the cousins together. Sammy and her cousin Becca are just five months apart in age, and were inseparable throughout the weekend. Jake, who is now 5 and in kindergarten, took extra special care of his cousin Nina, making sure she always had a buddy when the big girls were off doing their own thing. Meanwhile, we as parents and grandparents actually had a few minutes to catch up!

Here are some pictures from our fun weekend...

the whole gang!

Nina and Jake

the girls try their hand at Nani and Papa's piano...

Nina snuggles with her new quilt from Nani
Game is on between two of the biggest competitors in the family...

Happy Birthday Nina!

Nina is 1 year old!



We love this stage with Nina, as every day it seems she is trying something new, or impressing us with a new feat. Just in time for her first birthday, Nina ventured into the world of the walking, and she's now able to string together 5 or 6 steps before gravity takes over. She is thrilled with this new achievement, often stopping to laugh, clap, or wave as she tries to maintain her balance.

Nina loves to climb things, and has already made us think that a certain additional level of babyproofing may be required this time around. She's also become quite the chatterbox, talking words or even what seems like sentences in her own language. Words so far include "Dada," "Mama," "Buh-bye," and something that sounds like "Tank you" (if you really listen for it!).

It's hard for us to believe that it's been a whole year since we were preparing for a big Thanksgiving feast with a 5-day-old...Happy Birthday Nina!

SNOW!!

We've been through enough winters by now to know that all it takes are a few inches of snow to completely shut the City of Seattle down. Our perspective on the chaos is a little better this year, however, with a 3-year-old girl who is extremely eager to get out there and make the most of it!


With Sammy home from school today, she and I bundled up and joined our neighbors for some sledding and snow angel action outside, and even a trip to the snowy playground down the street. Then, it was off to carefully walk down the slippery hill (past multiple abandoned Metro buses -- quite the sight!) to meet Daddy for lunch at the sushi place in his office building. Temperatures are around 25 degrees, but the sun is shining and it's a beautiful scene here. Now we just hope it melts in time for our Thanksgiving trip to Portland!!

Here are a few pictures from our adventures today.

Fall Recap

It's a snow day here (pictures to come!), and I'm catching up on a few great pictures from the fall...seems like a long time ago already that we were picking pumpkins with the Cho-Thompson family, riding bikes on Alki with the Sousleys, and trooping down in the rain with the girls to the Husky game!

Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween! We had a very fun Halloween night with Jake, Aurelie and Julien McKinstry joining us for the Capitol Hill festivities.

These are our pumpkins (l. to r.: Karen, Sam, Paul, Nina). Note: Sammy specified that she wanted a "mad" pumpkin this year.

These are our trick-or-treaters -- Nina as Lion, Sammy as Bumblebee (round 2 -- she decided not to wear this year's costume, a monkey), and Julien McKinstry as none other than Chewbacca.

And here they are, having a rousing time wandering the streets of Capitol Hill! Both Sammy and Julien were pretty excited to trick-or-treat this year, and Nina loved being along for the ride, until she decided to call it a night...

Happy Birthday Samantha!

Sammy is 3 years old!

We had a great time celebrating Sammy's big day along with Grandma, Gramps, Nani, Papa, and Aunt Abby. This was the first time that Sammy really seemed to anticipate her birthday, and she loved running around telling us that she was now THREE! Of course, she is now already talking about what she'll be able to do when she's four...

We're so proud of our big girl. Happy Birthday Sammy!