Santa came to Washington State :) Christmas 2013

Well, hello again! 

Aren't you all proud? Two posts in one day. I know, amazing. So, the adventures in Washington were amazing. I wish I could draw a map showing all the routes and locations we got to see, but alas I will have to describe it in words. We had hoped to see everyone, but couldn't. We hope to see everyone next time! Apologies for any slightly out of focus pictures, since I lost my good camera for a portion of the trip. My dear husband retrieved it for me :)

We began in Bellevue, WA with Abuelo. We decorated his house for Christmas, sang songs and ate approximately 1,428 clementine oranges. Jocelyn is now a pro at signing Jingle Bells, Rudolph, Santa Claus is coming to town, and the reindeer pokey. The reindeer pokey is a lovely modification of the old time favorite, but now you put your red nose, antlers, and tail in the circle. Jocelyn missed her Christmas pageant, but that was the song she would have sang for it.

We saw Grandma Gina and Great-grandma Cathy, aka GiGi, and the extended family as well. Jocelyn perfected her present opening skills :) I think she now believes Christmas is the whole month of December! Now, it's not only her birthday everyday (she loves to pretend to serve cupcakes with candles and celebrate her birthday, and sometimes the other person's birthday too) but Christmas every day. We have a festive child :)

 We managed to pull off the self portrait as well! Jocelyn smiled. It was a miracle. 

Next, we visited the upper peninsula of Washington. We crossed through Port Angeles and arrived at our final destination, La Push, WA. It is a gorgeous shore area that I had never seen growing up. This is also the region where Twilight was filmed, though we did not run into any sparkly vampires along our way. This is also the land of the legendary Bigfoot. I also didn't have the pleasure of his company, though we managed to find a wonderful burger joint in the midst of all the woods that Bigfoot himself would have loved. 

We then traveled back to the mainland area north of Seattle via ferry to see Great-grandma Violet, Abuelo's mom. Jocelyn received her first Barbie, an astronaut Barbie! It was really great to see her get a chance to see more grandparents and great grandparents. 

We then traveled a bit more north to the wedding stomping grounds of Camano Island, WA. We got a chance to see our cousin Emmett, Uncle Carlos and Aunt Ali (below). He is a handsome little fellow who loves Dumbo, trains and just having fun. He unfortunately got sick (in the picture below), but we did get a chance to have fun with him later on. They bonded over Barney, and are fun bunch together. :) 

And, if you are wondering if we dress Jocelyn, we have to put out a disclaimer that her outfits are 100% J Rose McKeown, crown and all. She received more wonderful gifts, including dresses, tutu's, dolls, doctor sets, coloring books, and many more things. We are very grateful for all the love from family and friends. 

Thanks!!!  

We took J to the Seattle aquarium, a place I visited for the first time when I was around J's age. Jocelyn was in love with the touching pool, and did not mind the freezing water. Here are some highlights! There was a scuba diver in the back, but she fluttered off. 

 On the roof of the aquarium with the pier in the background.

The ocean on a sunny day! 

The touching pool :)  

We then traveled to almost the bottom of the state to Olympia and passed through it to arrive at the bottom of the peninsula to see Tio Eric and Tia Didi. We rode atv's in the mountains, and got up to approx 10,000 feet. It was the most incredible view that is hardly captured in the pictures. We had a great time exploring the woods and making fun memories together with them.

Ryan was ecstatic Jocelyn was learning strategy from her Tia Didi. She liked to double jump the pieces :)

Christmas tree! 

Jocelyn showing off her Butters shirt :)

Here is Chunkie (left) and Little Foot (right) with their parents. There are more furry kids, though not pictured. Roscoe is the big boy pup, Winnie is the new addition white Bichon and Odie is the cat. 

Ryan and I with J on the atv. Ryan was such a natural, which I think is because he is secretly a mountain man. Didi showed me how to ride, and was an awesome teacher. I think I need to work on my technique a little, but I had a blast. 

Into the river we go!

 Into the woods we go!

We then built a fire!

Ryan, J and I then traveled to the upper peninsula to see an incredible maritime town of Port Townsend. I have decided that one day we will have a little cottage there, and Ryan can brew beer and I can open a yarn shop and be a happy old lady with yarn by the sea. 

After Port Townsend, we visited Princess Rowyn in Tacoma, WA :) We have been able to see our good friends Kristi and Tristan for the past three years around this time. I have known Kristi since middle school, so it is really neat to see our girls play together. Jocelyn perfected her squealing skills and had a blast with Rowyn. 

We then went full circle and returned to Abuelo's and Grandma Gina's backyard area. We took another ferry, and ventured into the islands one last time. We took a similar photo like this right after our wedding day, and I believe it was just as cold as this day, though I had a jacket! Behind is the Seattle skyline. 

Puget Sound :) 

And here ends the adventures of the McKeowns in the Evergreen State for Christmas 2013. We wish you all a very happy new years!! Happy 2014! Perhaps, I should say a resolution will be to post weekly/monthly...let's make it an intention :) 

Love to all, 

Jocelyn, Ryan, Alisha and Butters

Happy New Years Eve! Recap from September to December 2013

Hello :) 

We have returned! I vowed to get a blog update up, and here it comes! The McKeown clan has been settling down nicely in good ole Rockville, MD. Butters has successfully barked at all who dare to cross his path, and Jocelyn has made two new friends in the neighborhood, Anja and Dominic. We do miss our State College friends dearly, but we are branching out. Ryan has made a good friend at work, named Brad. Jocelyn is especially jazzed about him, and calls him "B-wad"! Mama McKeown is still getting to the know the area, but all in all we are a happy Maryland family. Jocelyn apparently knows that we live in Maryland because she saw a map with a crab on the state and said "We live in Maryland daddy". She is one smart cookie. 

SEPTEMBER

We got ready for our new school by purchasing our first lunch box. Thanks to Auntie Colleen for the tip on these. Jocelyn chose the kitty. 

Our first school excursion was to the local farm where we met our first goat. Jocelyn, being the animal lover that she is, hugged it with gusto! We loved this farm, and learned a new word that day, 'chivo' = goat!

Later in the month, we visited Levittown for Benny's baptism :) He was quite the stud in his white tux, and Jocelyn loved patting his head saying "Hi Benny". She didn't cry this time when we got to hold him, and even tried to hold him herself. At the end of a very fun family mini-reunion, we went out to Gramps and Grammy's backyard and searched for bunnies. If you didn't know, Jocelyn is a huge fan of bunnies. She saw some, hence the electric, mouth-gaping look!

OCTOBER

This was a very, very fun month. Jocelyn's new school went all out teaching the kids about pumpkins, autumn, Halloween, letters and numbers. She learned a new song called "Pumpkin Pumpkin" that essentially asks the pumpkin why it's so big and round and stuck on the ground. She may break out into song if you ask her, but it's not guaranteed. We went back to our chivo farm, which by this time had grown acres and acres of apples and pumpkins. We chose some, and carved them later when Abuelo visited. J did not like that the pumpkins were dirty, hence the lovely face. For Halloween, J wanted to be Tinkerbell. She looked amazing, and insisted that she wear the dress during nap time and days later. She has abandoned her favorite princess, Princess Aurora, for Tinkerbell. We think she will reappear. And, to keep with the family Halloween theme, Ryan was a dapper Pirate, Abuelo was Captain Hook, Alisha was Tiger Lilly, and Butters was a Pirate Pug. We went around the neighborhood and had a great time. Who knows what we will be next year! Suggestions? I think Ryan wants to avoid anything with tights and sparkles. 

NOVEMBER

Part 1: Auntie Alisha got to see Benny, and loved every minute of it. He is the most amazing little boy :) Here he is in his overalls with the best smile ever. He loved showing me all the plush and jingly things around the house. I fully enjoyed eating and playing with him. Later, his foxy friend came to visit. 

Part 2: Gobble gobble! Jocelyn fully enjoyed eating turkey this year. We spent Thanksgiving with the McKeowns on dear geranium road and we had a blast. We got to see the Szathmary's and had a really nice, relaxing turkey day. Here are the great-grandkids with Mom Mom and Pop Pop. Jocelyn recognizes them perfectly now and says their names. It's really neat to see her matching faces to names. We also got to see Grandma, Grandpop, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Brian. We didn't get a picture, apologies, but the kids had a great time showing them toys too. J and B were really great together, and I can't wait to see what mischief these two get into next Thanksgiving.

DECEMBER

Here is a preview of the whole family trimming the tree at Grammy and Gramp's. Jocelyn is becoming more and more in love with pictures of herself, yes yes we know, but the positive is she is now smiling for the camera!! Jocelyn did not enjoy Santa that much, but we managed to bribe her with the promise of cookies if she would stand next to him. We managed to get a quick picture of her looking like a scared puppy. Ha! We will make a new post dedicated to the December adventures in Washington State, where we spent Christmas. We hope you all had a lovely Christmas :) 

Love,

McKeown Clan!!