Christmas 2014

Well, another great Christmas happened at the Meeker home!  We even had Papa Frank & Grandma Sherry here to enjoy the day with us.  Right about HERE is where I would normally post our cute family pictures BUT a certain son of mine (who's name starts with "M") borrowed my SD card from my camera for a project he was working on and somehow "accidentally" deleted all my pictures!!!  UGH!!!  I could tell that he felt REALLY bad about it so it's all good and I'm now over it after my little rant there:)

So I did re-create the Christmas PJ picture:

He's feet are being ATTACKED!

Right after Christmas we were having the entire inside of our home painted.  So we decided to get out of the way for a few days and head over to California to see my older brother and his family.  They go to Big Bear every year for sledding so we headed over for some SUPER fun cousin time!!!

Seth, Cali, & Max

Ethan's first trip down the hill was apparently
QUITE exciting--I wasn't outside yet:)
He got some air time when he hit the snow bump
and hit his chin pretty good:)  Poor guy was much
more cautious than normal the rest of the day!

Wyatt, Papa Frank, & Carlie

Carlie & Tatum

Papa MAKING Ethan "jump back on the horse:)"

Knoop & Meeker Cousins!!!

We also went to the local zoo there in Big Bear.  This was a really cool & unique zoo in that it takes in only animals that are found locally and that are injured.  It was really interesting to learn that the average life expectancy for any animal in captivity is significantly longer--like an owl in the wild lives 5-7 year and in captivity they can live up to 35-40 years old.  Not sure if that how nature wants it to be but kind of a cool fact nonetheless.

Max & his pal Wyatt

Ethan, Tatum, & Max

Tatum at the wolf cages.

The Timber Wolves were by far my favorite.  I never realized how HUGE these things are up close.  I always thought they were about the size of a large dog--NOPE!  WAY bigger!!!  Super cool to see them behind the fence, would definitely NOT want to meet one out in the wild.  The wolves were easily set off howling by the kids.  It was super cute listening to everyone howling.  Here's a video of it:

Max was freaking Wyatt out with his zip-up/mask jacket:)

It actually began snowing on us while at the zoo.  Good thing it was a small zoo because the AZ kids weren't handling the cold well.  As we were walking back to the cabin (in the snow), Tatum suggests, "Let's NOT come back here next year.  Let's maybe come back in like 4-5 years."

So we had a great time with our cousins in Big Bear, CA.  We came, had fun, saw & played in snow, and then came back to our wonderful home in AZ:)  Thanks Knoops for letting us crash your vacation:)