Holiday Happenings

SOUTHBOUND: We left Seattle Saturday midday for a holiday junket. Saturday night was a fun family party in Lake Oswego. The sunset over the Columbia River was gorgeous as we crossed the I-5 bridge. My crappy cell phone camera certainly didn't do it justice.

PUZZLED: Sunday, we mostly worked and played around G&G's house in Vancouver. Annabelle found a brand new bamboo puzzle in a box, and decided to give it a go. She labored on it for a few minutes and when she had it completely disassembled announced with great flair, "I did it!" LOL. 

Um, no, Annabelle, you're done when you have reassembled the puzzle. Above is a 'before' picture. Looks pretty complicated to me.

We were invited to visit a remarkable, century-old estate in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland Sunday afternoon. What a wonderful, beautiful history lesson that was for all of us. 

WISH LIST: Today, we worked and played around G&G's house again, and the kids went to see "Walking with Dinosaurs" with the grandparents." CJ reports, "It was OK." I think it got a bit more enthusiastic review from Annabelle. 

While they did that, Christian and I did a little shopping. We did NOT buy this "Mars Explorer" Barbie for Annabelle (or CJ). 

I have taken a few photos of our travels, but I stupidly forgot to bring the cable to link my camera to the computer. Hopefully, I'll have it tomorrow.

MEANWHILE, ABOUT 18,000 FEET OVERHEAD: Saturday, we watched part of the spacewalk undertaken by a couple of NASA astronauts in attempt to repair an ammonia leak on the ISS. The views were astounding.

Here is a photo of flight engineers Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, who completed a 5-hour, 28-minute spacewalk, to remove the faulty pump module getting suited up for the spacewalk.
Their spacewalk went mostly well - they were able to get more of the repairs done than anticipated, so they may be able to finish the task in two spacewalks rather than three. The second spacewalk will commence on Christmas Eve, at 4:10 Pacific time.

Though the clouds blanketed most of the sky, we were able to catch a few glimpses of the ISS tonight, as it flew over just before dinnertime.

Here's hoping their spacewalk goes off without a hitch.