The Big Race

We had some fun at Hendry's beach a few weeks ago. It was a chilly day, but had a good time running around. Adam started a start line in the sand and he and Owen would run and run until Owen won of course :) I ran along and snapped pictures. It was a refreshing break from an otherwise boring day at home.

"Look at me Mom!!"On your mark, get set, GO!!!He was saying "I am the winner!"I thought this was a cool picture of the pattern in the sand.

Merry Christmas 2009!

Oh where do I begin? 24 days since my last posting, there is a LOT to cover in our simple yet busy lives! And of course lots of pictures. I may just have to work backwards to get it all covered. Let's start with Christmas, shall we?

Owen has been SO excited for Christmas this year, as this is the first year he actually "gets it." We have been excited for him! Christmas Eve we had a delicious dinner at my Mom's house with David's family. Owen had a good time getting lots of attention (which he is not used to of course ;). After dinner, we put him in his new red polar bear Christmas pajamas and headed home. We put out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer, and we put our sleepy head down for the night. Before long he was out while visions of sugar plums danced in his head. :)

When he woke up in the morning he walked out to see what Santa had left him. Adam had set up a HUGE train set that took up more than half of our living room the night before. Owen didn't even see it. You can't miss it, yet the boy didn't notice a thing. It must be the male gene. Once we had to finally point it out to him he was excited and was happy to make it run. The presents were a bit overwhelming and took some time opening, but he got pretty good at it by the end.
Checking out his new beta "gold" fish that he named Freddy the Fish : )

Apparently he was VERY excited to get a soccer ball from Santa!Once we finally wrapped up at home, we got dressed and headed back over to my Mom's house for brunch with Grandma Zena, Katie and Matthew, Jean and Clark. Owen continued to open up box after box. He got a lot of great loot!

Once he opened the box for the trampoline he was done unwrapping and ready to set that thing up ASAP! So, David pulled out the tools and Adam and Owen got to work! Notice that Owen is holding the screwdriver!

The finished product. This was his favorite gift of all, and OURS too. He bounced for hours that and slept in the next day until 10:45 AM!!!! What a blessing! Mom and Zena gave each other the same book for Christmas.

Here's the family on a beautiful warm sunny California Christmas day!

Waving hello to the fireman who hitched a ride on the train. (The fireman came with his firetruck he got from Pop Pop and Mimi).

Cookie Exchange

Some of our friends from PEP got together with the kids to exchange some cookies before the big holiday. We hung out at a local park to let the kids run around so we could actually have adult conversations at the same time.

The cookies were all delicious as expected! The kids had no complaints and were not picky in what they liked : ) Owen had way more than he should have. I thought, why not? He doesn't get to eat like this often....boy did I regret that decision later that day! He would not take a nap and was quite a grump for the rest of the day. Next time, Mommy and Daddy are putting a cookie limit on! We learned our lesson.

On our way to the park Owen is giving me his fake smile "Cheese!" face. Nicholas licking up every crumb off the side of his mouth : P Odin, Mika (reading the ingredients on her juice box) and Nicholas always smiling.

Owen is eyeing Laith's cookie...as usual.Love watching the parents trying to get their kids to sit still and smile! Yeah right!Mason, looking for crumbs that Owen leaves behind. Gabbi is wondering where her cookie is? "Hmmm, I think this cookies needs a good glass of milk." Says Odin "Look Mom, messy hands and face....now what?"

Cruise to Mexico!

Adam and I needed a much needed break from life for a bit and could not pass up a four day cruise to Mexico that we saw on Travelzoo. We had never taken a cruise before, so it was nice to experience it together and with just the right amount of time. I was off work from UCSB, Adam only had to take two slow days off from work and Nana and Pappy were more than willing to take our little man for the week. (Thanks guys! xo)

When we got there we realized that we left our passports at home. Not a good way to start the trip. The lady who was checking us in laughed in our faces and thought we were joking....nope. After checking with her supervisor, they let us on and said that we might get extra questions from customs on returning from Mexico, but "welcome aboard!" PHEW!

We saw some great comedy shows on the ship, ate way too much (as expcted), slept in and just relaxed. We spent a few hours in Catalina just walking around on day number two. It was a cute little town, lots of shops, but probably a better time in the summer.

A seagul was greeting us to the island :)There's our tiny ship from Catalina.Ensenada, Mexico was day 3. We walked around the town which is full of shops and street vendors trying to reel you in. Yuck. We decided to take a bus tour to "La Bufadora" (one of the three natural blow holes in the world). It was a fun little 45 minute bus drive on twisty roads. Once we got there, we were guided through (my interpretation of) a "Mexican strip mall" of people bombarding us with cheap trinkets and churros. The craziness ended when we got to the blow hole (that didn't seem to be blowing while we were there there).

It was peaceful and beautiful over looking the ocean. We hung out there for a bit before heading back for a quick lunch of below par fish tacos and overly sweet margaritas (one being virgin of course).
Before heading back to the bus for our departure time I was swindled into buying some horrible fake "vanilla extract." I was tired and wasn't thinking straight. Adam got some nice cocktail glasses and a toy for Owen. When we got off the bus I noticed a military vehicle parked on the corner with armed men holding machine guns standing up in the back of the truck. Adam said this was to "make us feel safer"...whatever. I couldn't wait to get back on the ship and get in the hot tub! Ensenada is a place I have no desire to return to. Not to sound so negative about the whole thing, I just have yet to find the nice part of Mexico that people are always talking about. I have only been to Mexico twice...maybe the third time is the charm?

Here we are getting wild and crazy at an empty bar with my non-alcoholic margarita (that actually tasted good as it was made with fresh lime juice) served in a Pepsi cup! Whooooo Hooooo, Viva La Fiesta!Every night they had a turn down service and made the cutest little animals out of towels on the bed. Not sure what animal this was supposed to be, but Adam made him look even cuter with the mini guitar and hat : )Adam is going to kill me for putting this picture on here, but he was making me laugh so hard, I had to share it : ) This is Owen's sombrero we brought back for him (he wears it around the house all the time now!)Day four was at sea. We hit the gym, ran the track (had to work off all those desserts!), and relaxed on the chaise lounge chairs reading our books. It was so nice. Relaxation at it's finest.I didn't really miss Owen until this day, and then all of a sudden around dinner time, I couldn't wait to jump off the ship and give him a huge squeeze the next day!

When we finally got home to see Owen, he was not quite as happy to see me as I was to see him. Though he had an amazing time with his grandparents, I think he was a little pissed that we left him for 4 days! : ( It took about 10-15 minutes or so for him to warm up, then he was full of hugs and love for the rest of the night.



The End.

Finger Paints

It's been a while since we did these since it's so messy, but Owen sure did have fun with it this time!