On Santa's Lap With Theo & Ruby

That which you see above is one of my all-time favorite photos. 

My Niece Ruby and Nephew Theo not being too happy to be sitting on Santa's lap.

Whilst big brother, Nephew David looks amused.

Ruby, Theo and David look quite young in this photo.

In a couple days Ruby and Theo turn 15 years old.

Meanwhile, David is now 17 years old.

I do not know if Ruby and Theo still get unhappy when they sit on Santa's lap...

August Microsoft OneDrive David, Theo, Ruby Plus Memories

This morning, I talked to my great grand nephew, or grand great nephew, Cade's, grandma, also known as my little sister, Jackie, for the first time in quite a while.

My little sister, Jackie is also the grandma of my great grand niece or grand great niece, Cambri.

The subject of some of my other sibling's offsprings came up, those being my Tacoma nephews and niece, David, Theo and Ruby.

And now, right when I am feeling melancholy about it being so long since I have seen any of these relatives of mine, along with those two new entries, in Arizona, whom I have never seen, along with one in Washington, Hank Frank, whom I have never seen, what do I get in my email, via Microsoft's OneDrive Memories from this Day?

Photos from August of 2017, the most recent time I have been in Washington, with multiple photos of David, Theo and Ruby, along with one of my eldest nephew, Spencer Jack.

In the photo above, that is me in back of nephew, David, on the beach at Birch Bay. Daivd is 16 now, and quite a bit taller than he is in this photo documentation.

A few days after the above photo was taken, David, Theo & Ruby took me back to the airport to send me to Arizona to see their grandma.

On the way to the airport David, Theo & Ruby brought us to Pick-Quick Burgers because they knew this popular fast-food joint in Fife made real good blackberry milkshakes, and they knew how much I liked anything with blackberries.

If the year currently is 2025, and the above took place in August of 2017, is that not 8 years ago? Which means, if David is 16 now, he was 8 then. And the twins, Theo and Ruby, who are 14 now, were 6 then.

From sister Jackie today I learned that just a couple days ago Theo returned from two weeks in Tokyo, flying there with two of his best friends from school, one of them being the other kid in school named Theo. 

The trio flew with no adults accompanying them. One of the trio's dads is some sort of military contractor, currently stationed in Japan.

Can't imagine myself, as a 14-year-old kid, flying to Tokyo.

Then I remembered a time, way back late in the prior century, taking nephews Christopher and Jeremy to Sea-Tac, to put them on a plane to fly to Los Angeles, to meet up with their parental units, and their grandparental units, also known as my mom and dad, to go to Disneyland, among other things.

I remember it seeming so strange to put those little kids, solo, on a plane. I recollect talking to one of the stewardesses who told me she'd keep a close eye on them.

And now, what seems like only a few short years later, little nephew Christopher is now the proud papa of Cade and Cambri.

Sometimes the elderly favorite uncle of Jason, Joey, Christopher, Jeremy, Spencer Jack, Hank Frank, David, Theo, Ruby. Cade and Cambri does not much like how fast time seems to fly...

Riding Tacoma Waves With David, Theo & Ruby

The photo you see here showed up this morning in my email in the almost daily Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day.

Microsoft is off by a few days. This photo would have happened a couple days before August 11. 

In 2017.

Nephews David and Theo, and Niece Ruby took me to the Tacoma Wave Pool to have some water fun, with their uncle, under the blistering Tacoma sun.

It was fun.

One of the amusing moments in the pool happened when I had Theo on my back, dodging the incoming waves, and one of his girl friends from school came up to us and asked Theo if I was his grandpa.

No, this is my uncle, said Theo.

A few days later I was to find myself in another pool, but not one which generated waves, that one being the pool at the place we were staying at in Birch Bay.

The waves at Birch Bay are generated naturally. I had myself a mighty fine time there building sand castles with Theo and Ruby. David was wary of being on the tide flats, particularly when the tide began to roll in.

About a week later I was in Arizona, where I found the thumb drive which was storing many of the photos I took whilst in Washington, with some photos of Theo resulting in a blog post titled Theo's Birch Bay Sand Castle Building.

Looking at the list of blog posts I was surprised to see I wrote multiple follow-up blog posts with material from my Washington visit, including one titled Ruby Takes Me To Seattle's Amazon Spheres.

We'd done lunch at the Dick's Drive-In by Seattle Center. That is where the Space Needle is. After lunch we drove to the Amazon complex, which is at the north end of Seattle's downtown. Ruby then took me to see the Amazon spheres.

I blogged about lunch at Dick's in Seattle Dick's Deluxe With Good Pay & Benefits & Long Lines.

Regarding Dick's, if a Texas Whataburger employee were to read this blog post they might find themself annoyed to see how much a Dick's employee gets paid. And all the benefits. And the menu prices did not seem all that much higher than when I lived in Washington.

I hope one day to once again have myself a Dick's Deluxe. Or two...

Microsoft Remembering Theo, Ruby & Me At Tacoma's Point Ruston

Seconds ago, arriving in my email, a Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day, which actually did happen close to, if not on this particular August 10 day, with the year being 2017.

That is me between Nephew Theo and Neice Ruby, at an ice cream parlor at Point Ruston, in Tacoma.

This was during a one week visit to Washington, my home state, to which I have not returned since that week in August of 2017.

I had my laptop with me on this trip, so I was able to write blog posts all week long, including the post the day we had fun at Point Ruston.

That blog post is titled Point Ruston Ruby, Theo & David Surrey Survey Of Tacoma's New Waterfront Development.

The blog post indicates it was posted on August 11. But, it was not August 11 we went to Point Ruston. It was a day or two before that we went to Point Ruston. I know this because we were up north, near Canada, at Birch Bay, on August 11.

If you have not experienced Point Ruston in Tacoma, click the link and you'll see multiple photos documenting what a fun location this is.

Point Ruston has expanded since I was there 8 years ago. I know a cool looking pedestrian bridge now connects Point Ruston to Point Defiance, among other additions, the details of which escape my memory at the moment.

So much has happened in the 8 years since I have been in Washington. Some good, most bad.

One day soon I hope to see Washington in person again...

With COVID Over Is It Time To Build A Sandcastle With Theo?

I almost lost something valuable, to me, today, returning books to the library.

I almost forgot to retrieve that which I use as a bookmark, before sliding the book into the "RETURN" slot.

My bookmark is getting a bit threadbare. It has been in use since early on in the time of COVID.

I do not remember the reason, Birthday, Christmas, Halloween, or what, but an envelope arrived in my mailbox. And in that envelope, among whatever else was in that envelope, there was a note from my Favorite Nephew Theo, also known as my Favorite Theo Nephew.

The note said...

When COVID 19

is over I want

you to come

over to build

a sand castle

Theo

Just a sec, I shall go find a photo which shows why Theo was thinking of sandcastle building with his Favorite Uncle.

In August of 2017 I spent several days at Birch Bay with Theo, his big brother, David, twin sister Ruby, parental units, Michele and Kristen, and Theo, David and Ruby's other favorite uncle, my little brother, Jake.

On one of those days at Birch Bay, when the tide was low, exposing a lot of sand, Theo, Ruby and I had a mighty fine time building a sandcastle. 

In the photo documentation above, Theo has not yet given up in the battle to stop the incoming tide from breeching the castle's walls.

The next morning, I discovered the elevator, accessed near the door to the rooms we were staying in, went up a few flights, to a rooftop deck, with a view. I elevatored back to get Theo to take him to the view from the rooftop deck.

From whence the remains of our sandcastle could be seen, in the center of the sandbar, to the left of Theo.

Now, just looking at this photo of Theo, you can tell this is one fun kid. 

Hard to believe it has been 8 years since I have been in Washington. Since COVID I have only been out of Texas once. And that was just to go across the border to Oklahoma.

Time flies by way too fast.

Just yesterday something caused me to calculate how old my Jason nephew is. The last time Jason and Spencer Jack went to Disneyland, Jason told me he now gets why I said it wore me out the last time I did Disneyland.

Well.

Yesterday I figured out Jason is now five years older than I was the last time I did Disneyland, Christmas Day of 1995. I stayed til Disneyland closed that Christmas Day. It was fun, but exhausting, even with a mid-day break back at the motel...

Microsoft OneDrive McDonalds Memories Of Horse Riding Pool Mesa Parks With David, Theo, Ruby & Mom

Til a couple days ago, when a Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day arrived in my email, I had not realized I'd not been receiving the OneDrive Memory emails for quite some time.

When I saw these current memories, I thought these can't be from this day, as in a day in March.

And then I remembered, these memories did happen in March. In 2019.

That March was the most recent time I have seen my Tacoma nephews and niece, David, Theo and Ruby. Or their parental units, Michele and Kristen.

That March was also the last time all my siblings, but one, and all the nephews and nieces, but two, plus my mom, were all together at the same location. As in, we were all in Arizona.

After a short search I found I made a blog post of David, Theo and Ruby on a horse riding expedition into the desert at a Dude Ranch in west Chandler, Arizona, with additional photos, in addition to the one above.

That was one super fun day.

After the horse riding, we went to a nearby McDonalds, where Uncle Jack had arranged a special tour for David, Theo and Ruby. Along with an all you can eat McDonalds lunch for all of us.

That would be my mom, with three of her grandkids, and their Happy Meals. After this we headed north, to the town of Mesa, to have fun in the two best city parks I have ever experienced.

The OneDrive Memories included photos of the Mesa parks. I shall see if I can find the blog post I made of that day and those parks.

Found the Mesa Parks blog post...

David, Theo & Ruby In Mesa's Riverview & Pioneer Park

The photos in that blog post give one a good idea why I thought these to be great city parks.

And then, this morning's OneDrive Memories from this day were memories from a day following the day of the horse riding, McDonalds and Mesa city parks.

There were multiple pool pics, including this one of me hoisting Nephew David.

This was in Aunt Jackie's backyard pool. Prior to the party Jackie thought the water would be too cool to pool. I thought otherwise. The kids all agreed.

I must have made a blog post of this, and the parade to a nearby park which followed.

 Be right back.

Yes, found the pool party and park blog post. Forgot it includes an amusing video of Theo driving grandma's van...

Cool Arizona Pool With Theo Driving Ruby On Handlebars

That concludes our look at Microsoft OneDrive Memories, for today...

Theo & Ruby's Happy 2024 Birthday

This blog post was first posted five years ago, and has been slightly updated for today...

On this day, in the year 2010, the Mother Ship landed two new inhabitants on this planet.

Theo & Ruby, born December 17, 2010 in Tacoma, Washington.

And now, on this day in 2024, Theo & Ruby are 14 years old, born during the reign of a good president, turning 14 years old near the return of a bad president with a likely follow-up embarrassing reign.

Theo & Ruby are politically minded, even at their relatively young age. That type thing happens when one is born in many locations in the progressive, liberal, better educated, more modern parts of America, such as Western Washington.

I recollect the last time I was in Washington, summer of 2017, Theo & Ruby directed mama Michele to drive us to downtown Seattle, to a Dick's Drive-In, and to see the Amazon spheres.

At some point on that drive through downtown Seattle we came upon a cluster of protesters protesting some Trump nonsense. One, or both twins, or maybe it was older brother, David, shouted out, loudly, "IMPEACH TRUMP!" I do not remember if the vehicle's windows were open.

Today, on Theo & Ruby's birthday, let's take a look at some photo documentation I found on my computer, documenting fun times I have had with Theo & Ruby (and David).

In the year 2019, in the month of March, I got to watch Theo & Ruby practice their cowboy and cowgirl skills, on horseback. Good preparation for that day in the future when they visit Texas for the first time.

The twins waving goodbye as they mosey out into the Arizona desert.

I do not remember where the above photo of the twin cutie pies was taken. My best guess would be Birch Bay.

Now, I know where the above photo was taken. This photo was taken during a water balloon battle on the street in front of Aunt Jackie's Chandler abode.

And here we see Ruby & Theo coaxing their uncle to slide down a slide of rollers in a fun park in Mesa, Arizona.

Here Ruby is driving Theo and David in a pedal powered surrey on the paved trail on the Tacoma waterfront.

And now the trio has let me get on board to continue the Tacoma waterfront tour.

Above I know for certain is Birch Bay. Theo is mounting a final defense against the incoming tide. Ruby surrendered a few minutes prior to this and headed to shore. I am hoping to help Ruby and Theo (and David, if he is cooperative this time) build sandcastles some future summer when we return to Birch Bay.

The last morning of that 2017 summer visit to Birch Bay Theo and I discovered that the elevator took us to a rooftop lookout where we were able to look down on the beach and see the remains of the sand fort we had built the day before. Those remains are visible due left of Theo, in the middle of the sand bar.

The photo above was taken on what turned out to be the funnest day of many fun days we all had that  March in 2019 in Arizona. Here we see Ruby leading us to the park near Aunt Jackie's house. That is David right behind Ruby, and Theo with the basketball. Someone cropped my face out of the photo, but that is me pushing Miss Daisy, also known as Grandma Shirley, behind Ruby.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THEO & RUBY!!!!

COVID Is Over So Time To Build A Sand Castle With Theo

That which you see here I have used, for years, as a bookmark, marking what page I am on in a book being currently read.

This 'bookmark' was part of a folding card, which, yesterday, after years of use, split into two pieces.

I'd long forgotten the message on the card sent by my Favorite Nephew Theo...

"When COVID is over I want you to come over to build a sand castle.

Theo"

It was way back in August of 2017, at Birch Bay, in Washington's Whatcom County, that I had myself a mighty fine time making a sand castle with Theo and his twin sister, Ruby.

I think the exact date of the sand castle building was August 13, 2017, a Sunday.

I can remember the date because two days prior was my birthday, with that day starting off with the Tacoma Trio of David, Theo & Ruby singing me happy birthday, in Tacoma, before the long, laborious, traffic-jam ridden ride north to Birch Bay, where that night, at a restaurant next to our lodging location, happy birthday was again sung to me, along with a cupcake with a candle lit up in the middle of the cupcake. 

The morning after the sand castle building, I took the elevator to the roof of the lodging location, from whence I could see the remains of the sand castle which Theo and I made the day before. So, I elevatored down to the lodging location's floor to get Theo to take the photo you see below.

Theo was six or seven when we were at Birch Bay. I am fairly certain Theo is now a teenager. I have not seen David, Theo, Ruby and their parental units since March of 2019, in Arizona.

The COVID nightmare has mostly faded into history...

David, Theo & Ruby Caught By Giant Wooden Troll On Bainbridge Island Before Escaping To Poulsbo's Little Norway

 Incoming email from Tacoma, with the subject line of "Where in the PNW?".

Text in the email containing not much of a clue...

"Two different, but geographically close, locations."

Well, there is currently a thing in the Pacific Northwest, Washington, specifically, were large wooden trolls take up residence at various locations in the Puget Sound zone.

I think the troll which has David, Theo and Ruby it its grasp is known at Pia the Peacekeeper.

Pia resides on Bainbridge Island. 

The second photo I can only guess at, with the geographically close clue being all I have to go on.

Bainbridge Island is accessed via ferry, from Seattle. I do not remember if one can drive onto Bainbridge Island from the Olympic Peninsula side, via a bridge, or if the Vashon Island ferry in Tacoma is a route to a bridge, or other ferry to Bainbridge Island.

So, I am guessing this pirate ship mural in front of which Ruby, Theo and David are standing, is located near, or at, the Bainbridge Island ferry terminal.

No, upon further reflection, I think where the Tacoma Trio is standing is the town of Poulsbo, in the section of that town known as Little Norway.

Remembering Pick Quick Blackberry Milkshakes With David, Theo & Ruby

 Arriving a few minutes ago, in my incoming email, today's Microsoft One Drive Memories from this Day.

And today, for the first time, I think, this photo did happen on August 15. Though the day was a Tuesday, not a Thursday. 

And the year was 2017.

Left to right, that is nephews Theo and David, me, and niece Ruby, at Pick Quick Burgers, in Fife, a little town between Tacoma and Seattle.

Theo, David, Ruby and their parental units were taking me to Sea-Tac, to put my on a plane, to fly to Arizona to see their grandma, also known as my mom.

In addition to Pick Quick burgers we also had, except for Ruby, blackberry milkshakes. 

If I remember right, and sometimes I do, I have previously shared this photo, what with it being one of my favorites.

That was one fun, poignant week in Washington, that week in August of 2017.

Also, in today's memories, is one of me being dropped off at the airport, after lunch at Pick Quick.

Theo is looking a bit sad at saying goodbye to his uncle. I was a bit sad too, wondering when next I was going to see these three I'd come to feel so fondly about in such a short time.

It would be almost two years before I would see David, Theo and Ruby again, in March of 2019, when they flew to Phoenix for a week of fun with their uncle, grandmas, grandpa and cousins...

Remembering Birch Bay Sandcastling With Theo & Ruby

Continuing on with this week's Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day, which I remember, from a week in August, way back in 2017, several days of which were spent at Birch Bay, a few miles south of Washington's border with British Columbia, Canada.

Whilst the tide was still way out, Theo, Ruby and I started building a sandcastle.

In the above photo, I cannot tell if that is Ruby or Theo shoring up the sandcastle as the tide starts to threaten the wall of our castle.

The Birch Bay tide eventually breeched our wall defenses, after a long, valiant effort.

The morning after sandcastling Theo and I elevatored to the roof of the place in which we were staying.

Theo was quite pleased to see that we could make out the remains of our sandcastle, still visible, after an incoming and now outgoing tide.

You can see those sandcastle remains pretty much at the dead center of the photo documentation.

That week up in Washington, back in 2017, was one of the best times I had had in a long time. From the moment I exited security, at Sea-Tac, to see David, Theo and Ruby, for the first time, and the days which followed, getting to be uncle to kids was something I thought was history, but almost instantly, upon meeting the Tacoma Trio, I found myself in full uncle mode.

I have not seen the Tacoma Trio, or their parental units, since March of 2019, which was another fun week, in Arizona. And then in 2020, COVID hit.

I do not think I have had a mighty fine fun week since COVID, that I remember...

Microsoft OneDrive Remembering Me, Theo & Ruby At Point Ruston

Today marks a rare occurrence of the daily Microsoft Memories from this Day actually being a memory that easily did happen on August 11.

The year was 2017. I flew to Washington on, I think, August 8 or 9. One of the days following my arrival, prior to driving north to Birch Bay, the Tacoma Trio of David, Theo & Ruby, and their parental units, took me to Tacoma's Point Ruston.

If you are ever in Tacoma, drive the Tacoma waterfront north til you reach Point Ruston and Point Defiance. You won't be disappointed by what you will find there.

It seems to my memory that I recently shared the above photo which showed up in my email today. That is me between Theo & Ruby in a Point Ruston ice cream parlor.

This is one of my all time favorite photos.

Back In Tacoma Pedaling With David, Theo & Ruby

That which you see here showed up this morning in my email, from Microsoft. a OneDrive Memory from this Day.

The day was in August, but not the first day of August. The year was 2017. I was in Texas the first day of August in 2017. 

A few days later, well, over a week later, I left Texas and flew to Washington where I met my nephews David and Theo, and my one and only niece, Ruby for the first time.

A few days after arriving in Tacoma, David, Theo and Ruby directed me and their parental units to Tacoma's Point Ruston, where we soon found ourselves driving along the Tacoma waterfront, a pedal powered motion device.

In the above photo Theo is in the driver's seat, with Ruby next to him, with David next to Ruby, keeping an eye on the rearview mirror.

The pedal powered motion device was a lot of fun. Someone should bring these to the town I am currently in. Methinks people would enjoy renting one to pedal themselves along the Circle Trail.

Way back in August of 2017 I blog posted about the day we pedaled a surrey with a fringe on top, in a blogging titled Point Ruston Ruby, Theo & David Surrey Survey Of Tacoma's New Waterfront Development.

Point Ruston is an impressive development on the Tacoma waterfront, transforming an industrial wasteland into a huge complex of residential towers, restaurants, and other attractions, like the aforementioned pedal powered surreys.

Point Ruston came to be a bustling success during the same time frame the Texas town named Fort Worth has struggled to reclaim an industrial wasteland on the north side of the town's downtown. Point Ruston is a bigger project than Fort Worth's proposed, stalled, project, which has limped along since this century began.

Point Ruston is the site America's biggest Superfund cleanup, mitigating the pollution left behind by the long-gone Asarco copper smelting operation. After the cleanup billions of bucks of private funding showed up to transform the cleaned-up land.

Fort Worth has not yet reached the point where the EPA determines the former industrial wasteland is safe for development.

It is so strange how two towns in the same country can be so different. One dynamic, the other not.

Perplexing...

Microsoft OneDrive Takes Me Back To An Arizona Desert With David, Theo & Ruby On Horses

 A Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day, today, that I do remember.

Although it was in March, not July. The year was 2019, the next to last time I was to fly to Arizona to see my mom.

That would be mom, on the right, in her transit chair. Next to mom are my sister-in-law, Kristin's, mom and dad. And on the horses that would be nephew David on the left, nephew Theo in the middle, and my one and only niece, Ruby, on the right.

That was a fun day in March. After the horse ride in the desert, we went to a nearby McDonald's where Uncle Jack had arranged a behind the counter tour for David, Theo and Ruby, along with multiple Happy Meal toys.

After McDonald's we drove to two parks in Mesa. Both the best city parks I have ever seen. With the best playground attractions I have ever seen in a park.

I do not remember what we did after we were done playing in the Mesa parks.

Hard to fathom that in March of this year, it has been five years since I had fun playing in those Mesa parks, with David, Theo and Ruby.

A lot has happened in those five years, some of it good, most of it not so good...

Remembering Blackberry Milkshakes At Fife's Pick-Quick With Theo, David & Ruby

Last night, scrolling through the gallery of Microsoft OneDrive Memories of the Day, a feature I did not realize, til last night, was something one could do, I came upon the photo you see here.

One of my all-time favorites.

Theo, David and Ruby and their parental units, Mamas Michele and Kristin, were taking me to the Sea-Tac airport to send me to Arizona for a week, before making my way back to Texas.

On the way to Sea-Tac we stopped at the iconic Pick-Quick Burger restaurant in Fife. In addition to Pick-Quick Burgers we all had fresh blackberry milkshakes.

The Tacoma Trio of Theo, David and Ruby were still kids way back in August of 2017.

All three are now teenagers.

That week in Washington, back in 2017, was the most fun I have had being an uncle in a long long long time. I'd thought my fun uncle days were over.

I was quite pleased to learn my fun uncle days were not over...

Getting Detained In Canada With David, Theo & Ruby

Incoming "Where in the PNW (Pacific Northwest) are David, Ruby?" email showed up this morning when I woke up my computer.

Text in the email indicated this one is too easy to guess where the Tacoma Trio are. Which it clearly is, what with the Slotemaker Road sign indicating the Tacoma Trio were in the Lynden zone, a short distance from the border with Canada.

The rest of the text in the email, that accompanied four instances of photo documentation, was a chilling tale of what it is like these days at the border, a border which used to be super simple to cross, both going to Canada, and coming back to the U.S.

The email text telling the chilling tale is below the next photo.


There seem to be some details missing in this cross border detention tale. They must have somehow accidentally driven across the border. I don't quite know how one might accidentally do that. At the Lynden crossing you clearly know you are at the border, you pass through a checkpoint to enter, something you don't accidentally do.

I am thinking crossing the border has drastically changed since I last did so. Back then you did not even have to show an I.D., let alone a passport. The Canadian border guy would just ask where you're going and if you are all American citizens. Then on the return the American border guy would ask a question or two, like do you have anything to declare that you purchased.

Ok, this one is too easy. But a funny story. Went to Bellingham for a soccer game. Jake and Joe and Monique and Henry came to the game. Henry is a hoot! And Ruby’s team won 1-0, so now they need to come to all the games. After, we hit up Slotemaker road again, had a lovely lunch with Judy and the Whatcom County cousins, visited mom and dad then got ice cream cones at Edeleen. Since we were so close to the border, we drove to show the kids. But we went too far, had to enter Canada, didn’t have ID for the kids and we got detained! I had pics of their passports on my phone and that worked and they gave us paperwork to get back into the US. It was a bit of an ordeal. They even searched our car. So weird!

I am assuming Edeleens is a dairy store selling ice cream that has arrived in Lynden since I was last there, back in August of 2017.

I assume the above is a border marker at the Lynden border location. I do not recollect ever having seen this myself. 

I am assuming the above photo shows Theo, David and Ruby in the detention area, awaiting being cleared for passage back to America.

When my siblings and I were kids we were often taken to Canada by our parental units. Usually entering via the crossing at Blaine, which is the location of the iconic Peace Arch Park. When we were kids we thought it great fun to jump back and forth across the border, thinking it clever to later say we went to Canada 50 times today, or some such number.

I do not recollect ever going to Blaine's Peace Arch Park with David, Theo & Ruby's Mama Michele. Michele is the youngest of my siblings, younger than me by almost two decades...

More Christmas Greetings From Arizona & Washington

More photos arrived on this Christmas day. Not via email. Via multiple phone text messages. 

Above, Kristin, Michele, Theo, Ruby, David, Jackie and Jack on in something called the Scottsdale Fashion Mall. Which, I guess, explains why they are all dressed so fashionably.

Earlier this Christmas day, in a blogging titled Merry Christmas Greetings From Arizona With Cousin Cade, I erroneously guessed where the Tacoma-ites were staying, and where they were desert exploring.

Well, they are not staying in a hotel in Scottsdale. They are staying at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Hotel in Chandler. And their desert exploring was not on South Mountain, but instead was at a location called Sabino Pass.

I also heard from my Skagit Valley nephews today. That would be my favorite Jason nephew and my favorite Joey nephew.

A couple photos from Joey. None from Jason.

But, Jason sent a lengthy word picture, also known as a text message. On Christmas Eve Jason went to brother Joey's house for what Jason says all thought the Christmas Eve dinner was the best any had had in a long time.

I have had multiple reports that Hank Frank's mom, Monique, is a real good cook.

Also at Joey's was Joey's mom, my favorite ex-sister-in-law, Cindy, her current husband, Asher, Hank Frank's grandpa, my little brother Jake. Apparently, Hank Frank had a lot of presents to open.

For reasons I have yet to learn, Spencer Jack, who is now 16, boycotted Christmas Eve.

Above, that is Hank Frank opening another present, or playing with one he already opened.

Grandma Cindy gave Hank Frank a wheelbarrow which he instantly liked a lot. Grandpa Jake gave Hank Frank a big rope with which a swing will be installed on one of Hank Frank's trees.

The above photo was among the ones Joey texted today. It is not a Christmas photo. It is a Thanksgiving photo.

Joey's in-laws, that being Monique's parental units, live on a ranch near Helena, Montana. Like his dad, Hank Frank is good to go on a long roadtrip, but, Joey and Monique have learned if they want a break from Hank Frank's chattering an ice cream cone will keep him silent for a few miles.

The Arizona Christmas is taking place at Cousin Cade's house, in Chandler, about three miles from Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Jack's house.

Meanwhile, in Texas, I had myself a relative-free Christmas with a Mexican food themed fiesta. The highlight of which was Tamale Pie Casserole, along with Chile Cheese Rellenos and Chicken Chimichangas...

Merry Christmas Greetings From Arizona With Cousin Cade

David, Theo and Ruby flew their parental units to Arizona, which is how they are sending greetings from that state, this Christmas morning of 2023.

Well, actually the photos arrived, via email, on Christmas Eve.

Several photos follow, with the last three photos documenting the Tacoma cousins meeting their Arizona cousin, Cade, for the first time.

The text in the next two photos said simply "From Out Hotel".

Due to the wall of rock in the background, I am guessing the hotel Ruby, Theo, David, Michele and Kristin are staying in is in Scottsdale. 

I am assuming the guy with the white beard is a desert version of Santa Claus.

The text with the next two photos asked "Where in the desert Southwest?"

I would guess they are heading to the summit of South Mountain. Which is in Phoenix.

Or maybe they have driven south to Tucson, since that is Kristin's mom, Janet, on the right of Ruby, Kristin, Theo and David.

 

That looks to be Kristin's mom, Janet, after taking off her coat, next to Ruby and Theo, with a big Saguaro cactus behind them.

And now, the newest member of the Jones/Slotemaker/Weston family, Cade Weston.

That appears to be Grandpa Jack, on the couch behind Cade and Ruby, with Uncle Jeremy on another couch, on the right.

Cade sure does look a lot like his papa, Christopher, when Christopher was a baby.

And now it is Theo's turn to hold Cousin Cade.

And, the final photo is all the Tacoma-ites, except David and Kristin, on the floor, with baby Cade.

Hope y'all have a mighty fine Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas Crying With Santa, Ruby, Theo & David

This is one of my all-time favorite photos.

I'd estimate this photo was taken over a decade ago.

That is Ruby and Theo being expressive on Santa's lap.

Ruby and Theo became teenagers last Sunday, hence the decade ago estimate.

Big brother, David, looks away, looking amused.

I have never eye witnessed any of the Tacoma Trio crying.

When I've been around the three they spend most of the time being funny and laughing...