Merry Christmas

Bradyn claimed that she was "too shy" and "too embarassed" to go see Santa this year (not sure what that was all about) but she was all over the idea of dressing up like the big man herself. For $4.50 at Dollarama, you too can look like Santa.


She was LOVING this - if she wasn't laughing so hard, you'd see the sparkle in her eyes.
Transformed into one of Santa's elves, she demonstrated how they put gifts under the tree.

Unlike in this picture, we are having a very wet, green Christmas. However, we are spending it with family, and that's what matters.

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas, a safe holiday season and lots of exciting new things for 2012.

Love,

Brenda, Kevin & Bradyn

Dear Santa

Here is one of those things that just makes your heart melt.....

We're a little late writing Bradyn's letter to Santa this year, but here it is. I swear there was no discussion about what she was going to say or ask for - she dictated and I wrote it out so that she could copy it. (As you can see, she only got the first 7 words done before she was too tired and asked me to finish for her, but it was a good effort)
Here is our little angel this morning at Westin Bayshore (it was another Brady - Daddy adventure day).

Seattle 2011

On Remembrance Day, Kevin, Bradyn and I headed south of the border for our 2nd annual 'Weekend of Fun in Seattle'. Unfortunately, our weekend did not get off to a good start. We spent 4 hours and 9 minutes at the border, sitting in the line-up, waiting to cross. No, I am not kidding. At one point I just sat with my head leaned against the side window while the tears silently rolled down my cheeks - I have never been so frustrated in my life. Bradyn was an absolute trooper - she did way better than me with the wait. When we finally got through the border, we blazed our way to the Seattle Premium Outlet mall where I whipped through Ann Taylor and numerous other stores. Here's a shot of Bradyn in one of the rides in the children's area.
After quickly agreeing not to wait in line for an hour so we could eat at Red Lobster, we headed on to our hotel in Seattle and grabbed some sushi at a little Japanese restaurant. We were up bright and early on Saturday and walked over to the first attraction on our agenda - the Avatar exhibit at the Experience Music Project (EMP). Bradyn had been talking about seeing this for months! Here she is, measuring up to an Avatar.....

Pretty big boots to fill!

The coolest part of the Avatar exhibit was watching Bradyn and Kevin creating their personalized Avatar videos. They stood in the motion capture room and followed the lights on the floor, moving their arms as directed. While they did that, you could see them in the movie! It was cute to see Bradyn concentrating so hard on making sure she walked exactly on the lines.

This screen shows Kevin in the motion capture room (bottom right corner of the screen) and how it played out in the actual movie scene - very neat!

Here are the links to their videos - hopefully it works:

Bradyn - love the wobbly legs on her Avator - she was trying to hard to stay on the line!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXIpNK2u4yA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqLqMtt7OLQ

I realize I may be biased, but I think Bradyn is much prettier. :-)

After Avatar, Bradyn and I checked out the gift shops while Kevin went to the Lure of Horror exhibit, then he and Bradyn went to the Battlestar Gallactica exhibit while I went to the Lure of Horror (really wish I hadn't - very disturbing - I have definitely lost my horror loving edge as I've gotten older). After some lunch, we were off to the Children's Museum - the second most important thing on Bradyn's 'To Do' list. Here she is watching over the 3 bears after tucking them into their beds.

Making porridge with Mama Bear.

As you can see, sitting in the story-time chair is VERY serious business.

On Sunday morning, we walked over for our first trip to the Space Needle. Here is Bradyn having a snack 520 feet above Seattle (and it only took us 41 seconds to get up there!)

After that, we took the monorail downtown, anxious to visit Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe and find the mummies (the shrunken heads were an added bonus).

I decided to head on to the Pike Place Market while Kevin and Bradyn headed into The Bug Zoo (sorry, just not my thing). Here is Bradyn pretending to be scared of a tarantula. This picture did not fool me - she LOVED this place.

Not sure I like her loving cockroaches.
Upon entering the zoo, they were given flashlights and magnifying glasses to ensure their viewing experience was the best it could be - ugghh.

Um, not sure what the deal was with hugging the pig - my kid's a bit nuts.

On Monday morning we headed towards home but made a number of detours to our U.S. favourites - Target, Walmart Supercentre and Ross.

Here is the official Reeves Family Seattle Vacation Photo.

Maybe next year we'll actually make it to the Seattle Zoo.