Arctic Blast 2008

After two weeks of trying to get around in the worst snowstorm Portland has had in 30 years, Brian and I are finally back in Amsterdam. We had a great time, but our trip was full of unexpected events. Let's just say the weather made things interesting...

We were lucky that my parents have a 4-wheel drive Volvo geared up with snow tires, so we didn't have to cancel all of our plans. We made it down to Eugene to see Molly and Mike, but had to leave early because of fears of freezing rain and snowy roads. We spent a lot of time with my family (which I loved), but sadly never got to see Brian's dad or many of our friends due to the crazy weather and terrible driving conditions.

Christmas itself was a blast - we were able to get all of my family up to my parents' treacherous driveway around midday, and had fun playing games, eating good food and playing in the snow. We even got to go sledding with the kids and build a gigantic snowman (it was around 8-10 feet tall I think, Todd had to get a ladder to get the head and shoulders on it), which was really fun. It was my first white Christmas!

Since I didn't want to bog down our blog with photos, I decided it would be better to put most of the pictures on our Picassa web album, so check that out if you're interested. Here are a few of the highlights below:

Our first night in Portland at Matt & Julia's Christmas party - were exhausted!

Early on in the trip - these were the days when we could still get the car up the hill

Brian and Wyatt having a snowball fight

The 8-foot tall snowman we built on Christmas Day - the picture doesn't do it justice, it was huge!

- Krista

Christmas in Amsterdam

In case you haven't noticed... it's officially the holidays. Yes, it's that time of year - the time of weird looking Santa Clauses everywhere, manic-crazed crowds in department stores, and terrible Portland traffic... oh and of course there's all the good stuff too, like family, the look on little kids' faces when they open their presents, and lots and lots of good food...

Well here in Holland, we seem to be missing out on all that good traditional Christmas stuff. In fact, if I didn't know what time of year it was, I would have no idea that Christmas is just less than two weeks away. Sure, there are some nice wintry scenes like this one around town:


How can you go wrong with a fake outdoor ice skating rink?

But the Dutch just don't seem to care much about Christmas. Maybe it's the whole Sinterklaas thing, but they put up a pretty sad looking Christmas tree:

Where's the decorations? The lights? And yes, that is Darth Vader standing by the tree. He could have at least put on a Santa hat!

And take a look at these trees that just appeared near our house:


Yes, that first tree is decorated with... clothes. Where are the Rudolfs and angels and Christmas ornaments decorated by first graders? Is this some sort of joke?

Fortunately, we did find a few "normal" looking decorations at our favorite library. Here's me getting giddy about Christmas below:


Basically... we are really excited to be coming home for the holidays, because as much as we like it here, it just doesn't feel like Christmas without friends and family (and sugar cookies, and Christmas lights, and stockings, and the Macy's Day parade downtown Portland, and apple cider, and...)

We can't wait to see (some of) you in the next few weeks!

Happy Holidays!

- Krista

We sold our car!!!

We sold our car!

Thanks to Brian's dad, who put in tons of time and effort to sell Brian's 2004 Acura after the wedding in this absolutely terrible economy, we are now officially a car-less family. Hurray!

Thanks Rick/Dad, for all your help. We appreciate it so much and we're so glad it all worked out!


- Krista & Brian