After Christmas

Every Christmas in Santa Barbara, we traditionally go to Hendry's Beach for a walk.  It's always sunny, warm and beautiful on Dec. 25th in SB.  This year, we got preoccupied and nap schedules didn't allow for us to go, so we wen the next day which was just as fun, and less crowded : )  

 Emily ran most of the  way to the beach and was pretty tuckered out by the time we got there.  It was nap time....we were pushing it!

 We had lots of races with Owen.  He insisted on taking my camera (my expensive DSLR) and took some  cute pictures of us running with  Emily.

 He met some boys on the beach who were playing with a new toy they got from Santa.  The parents fling it in the air and it comes down like a slow helicopter.  They boys run around waiting to catch it (like a pop fly).  Owen was in heaven!  We were thankful the boys were OK to share it!

 Pure JOY!

Meanwhile, Miss E was getting pretty sleepy waiting for her brother to finish playing.

Later, Owen pulled out one of his new favorite Christmas presents, LEGOS!  We are all having so much fun with these!  

 OK, here is a Santa Barbara day in January : )  Owen was washing the car in swim trunks!  I think he looks so old in this picture!

They put their aprons/ smocks on to help me make cookies.  After the Christmas cookies were gone, I decided to make one more batch of oatmeal, dark chocolate and dried cherries.  YUM.

 Since Owen was born, my Mom has taken a picture of him next to this Frosty the Snowman every Christmas.  This is his 5th Christmas with Frosty.  When I get the older pictures from my Mom off her computer, I will add them to this post.  It's cool to see the difference in how much he has grown every year!  Frosty used to be much bigger than him that first year!