Right before we left for Winnemucca, we took the kids to Candyland. They got to play on a giant gameboard and meet all of the characters…Princess Lolly, Lord Licorice, Queen Frostine and even Grandma Nut. They seemed to have fun. There were also some arts, and crafts they got to do as well as a snow hill they could sled on. It was a nice one time activity.
We had a “Take 3″ for family photos. It seems the photos highly depend on smiling, happy people. We went to Coronado with some of our friends and had so much fun! Even though the day was “chilly” everyone was content. Here is what we got!
It was extremely windy so we are all sporting the “windblown” look!
Merry Christmas!!
We have been doing everything in our power this year to embrace almost every aspect of Christmas this year. Tonight, that took us to the Wild Animal Park.
It is getting more and more chilly. I had a happy little moment to myself when I realized I could see my breath. Notice below, that Annie has put down roots and embraced San Diego and thus refuses to wear shoes.
I must admit that we so no live animals at the park, but had tons of fun nonetheless. Hudson and Annie were doning items from the sand station (Annie got a bracelet and Hudson settled for a key chain.) Will had fun helping the kids. They made animal masks, played a coin toss game, ate “roasty, toasty marshmallows,” decorated stockings, “observed” Santa and did chalk drawings. We opted out of the snow hill, since we have seen plenty in our time.
Part way through the night Hudson comes waddling past me saying, “Waddle, waddle, roar. I’m a lion penguin.” I didn’t know how to respond so I just watched and giggled to myself, thanking my lucky stars that he is my kid!
We attempted Santa. Hudson wanted to have nothing to do with him, but Annie was actually waving to him while we were in line. She finally panicked when the little boy ahead of us saw Santa and started screaming. She put two and two together and deduced that Santa must be a scary guy if the little boy is screaming about him. As soon as her turn came up she wanted nothing to do with him. Santa kindly gave up his chair so we could at least all be in the picture together.
I sat on my couch contemplating our Christmas traditions and memories in my home growing up. Putting up the fake Christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving (big task, the biggest one that goes up has an 86 inch diameter at the bottom). I still remember lugging the huge chests of decorations up the stairs from the basement. Making baklava was always fun, even if my mom made me chop all 3 lbs. of walnuts by hand into a “fine dust.” Since I have gotten a home of my own, I can testify of the greatness of the food processor. Let’s see, my mom let me hang all of the outside garland one year over the garages and on the fence. She was impressed until she found out the staple gun had been my choice method for placement. Honestly, I’m just glad she didn’t try to make me putty the holes after…sorry Mom! OH, and I can’t forget my mom making us all the kids sleep in the same bed Christmas Eve. Tricky, sneaky on her part. Siblings are the best when it comes to ratting on someone else for trying to peek early or sneak down the stairs. Although, she refuses to give up the tradition and Will has had a difficult time trying to adjust to that one. Can I say that my little brothers aren’t so little anymore? Will and I make them sleep on the floor, we don’t share the bed anymore!
Having a fairly new/small family, I have started playing with different ideas to set as traditions. I think I found one that I liked today, although it was quite messy. Hudson and Annie went to the store with me and picked out wooden ornaments. We brought them home and I let them paint them. For Annie, more paint was on her outfit than on her ornament, but I was kind of expecting that so there was no surpise factor, just mess.
We went to Seaport Village to go check out the boat parade through the harbor with Emily and Buzz.
All of the yahts and sailboats were all fully decked out with lights, music, dancing and singing crews.
There were even a few ocean kayaks. We put the kids in fleece jammies and bundled them in blankets. After all it was a chilly 60 degrees out. I’m a wimp, I was even wishing for my fleece lined mittens.
We loved watching the boats. Will got some great pictures of the evening.
