More Christmas 12-29-13

Richard's parents came out from Arizona to celebrate a belated Christmas and to spend the new year with us. They brought presents, and Cecily was so excited to see them and get more presents to open. Richard's brother, David, sent us cool hot chocolate ornaments and cactus terrariums. Cecily is going to send him back one of her cool Santa hot chocolates. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3ViUg

Family Christmas 12-28-13

Since Great Grandpa and Great Grandma came down from the bay area, we drove up to San Gabriel to celebrate Christmas with them. After a quick stop to say hi to Michelle, we headed to dinner with Caren's family. We opened presents when we got back to Grandma and Papa's house. Cecily's favorite gifts were the bow and arrow set from Brave and the talking minion, Tim, that Clement picked out for her. Cecily and Catherine had a great time playing with the photobooth function on Catherine's Macbook. Those pictures were so funny! http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3ViQw

Christmas 12-25-13

Merry Christmas! Cecily was so excited she woke us up to open presents. She got to open her stocking and presents from Santa first. He brought her lots of the things she wanted, and she was very happy with all her goodies. Then we opened up more presents before Grandma and Papa arrived for brunch. After eating, we opened up more presents, and Cecily played her new Minion Monopoly with Grandma and Papa. When Brendan, Aunt Cindy, and Uncle Allen arrived, we opened more presents. Then we had a delicious prime rib dinner. Caren was excited to use their wedding china. We ended the evening with a lovely Duffy boat ride in the harbor to see the Christmas lights with our friends Eric, Denise, Emily, and Kimberly. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3ViNA

Christmas Eve 12-24-13

On Christmas Eve, Cecily and Santa Bear left out mini gingerbread men cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. Cecily was so excited to see what Santa would bring her the next morning. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3ViJQ

The Nutcracker 12-23-13

Caren and Cecily went to see The Nutcracker Ballet today at Goldenwest College with Emily and Denise. The girls were excited to see their friend, Alexsia, dance in the production as a Soldier. They got to sneak in backstage before the show to say hi to Alexsia. We all went backstage at intermission to give Alexsia flowers. Cecily's friend, Madison, was also in the ballet as a Party Girl. Cecily and Emily also each got a nutcracker ornament to hang on their Christmas trees. We ended the evening with dinner out and driving through Trinidad Island to see the Christmas lights. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vh6g

Pelican Pride & Xmas Tree 12-20-13

Cecily was so excited to get the Pelican Pride Award for December. She guessed she would get it because she happened to get it last year on pajama day in December as well. Looking back, she also got her first Pelican Pride in first grade at the December assembly as well. What a coincidence! After the assembly today, Cecily's 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Peasley, was so proud to tell Caren that all 3 kids who got the Pelican Pride Award in 4th grade were all from her 3rd grade class last year (Cecily, Ava, and Presley). We took Cecily to finally get our Christmas tree after school, and she had so much fun decorating it. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vh2Q

School Holiday Party 12-19-13

At her class holiday party today, Cecily made reindeer water bottles, Santa hot chocolate, coupon gifts, snowman cupcakes, wrapping paper wreaths, and soap snowballs. The kids had fun, but the paper wreaths were a little harder than we thought with a few moms stuck on hot glue gun duty the whole time. After lunch, our class had a yummy treat: ice cream sundae bar. Dandy Don's came to serve the kids ice cream, and they got to put on all the toppings they wanted. Mrs. O even came to enjoy the treat. We also gave Mrs. Murdock a lovely gift card wreath for her holiday present. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VhyA

Santa 12-18-13

Even though our week was crazy, we squeezed in a visit to Santa at the Grand Californian Hotel with our friends Alexsia and Emily. We ate dinner at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen and walked through Downtown Disney. We checked out the candy shop where they were making awesome holiday apples, grabbed some beignets for dessert, went through the Lego Store, and then watched the ice skaters at the little ice rink. It was such a fun night, hopefully we can do it again next year. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vhvw

Legoland 12-14-13

We drove down to Legoland to check out all the holiday decorations. Since Richard got a new camera, all three of us had cameras to take pictures. Cecily loved having her own "big" camera to take pictures. We saw two different Lego Santas (one made with Lego bricks and one giant Lego minifigure), and Richard and Cecily went snow tubing down a hill in Funtown. We went through Sealife to see the fish before heading to the Legoland Hotel for dinner. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vhrg

Girl Scout Meeting 12-11-13

At our Girl Scout meeting this month, the girls wrapped presents for the Harbour View needy families. Then they all got to participate in a fun gift exchange before enjoying some yummy hot chocolate, cookies, and cupcakes from Bubba Sweets. Alexsia's mom also gave each girl a troop tote bag so they can carry all their Girl Scout stuff in it. Plus, since their sashes can't fit all their patches, they can put their bigger patches on their tote bags. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VhQA

Brendan's Birthday & Boat Parade 12-08-13

Happy 3rd Birthday, Brendan! We helped him celebrate at his Despicable Me themed party at Pump It Up. Cecily had so much fun going down the slides and bouncing with Brendan. She got a good workout because she had to help him climb up to the top of the slides. Brendan's minion birthday cake and goody bags were so cute. Brendan loved his minion balloon that Caren got for him from Katelyn's birthday party the day before. Cindy was so nice to give Cecily extra minion figures to take home. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vg-g

We had to rush home from Brendan's party to get ready for our annual boat parade party. The theme this year was Nutcracker, and there was a giant Nutcracker to greet us when we arrived. There was spin art, a magic show, and a balloon artist for the kids to keep them occupied. After dinner, we headed across the street to Van's house to watch the boat parade. Once the parade was over, we got to ride the boat again through the harbor to see all the Christmas lights on the waterfront homes. Our hosts, Kelly and Eric, always put on such a wonderful holiday party. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VhBA

Katelyn's Birthday Party 12-07-13

Happy 10th Birthday, Katelyn! We celebrated at her house with a fun birthday party that turned into a boat parade party. They had yummy home-made Vietnamese food, mini bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cake, a taco cart, and they also made a delicious pho in a HUGE pot (so sad we didn't get a picture of the pot!). There was a face painter, balloon artist, photo booth, and gingerbread decorating to keep the kids occupied. Caren even got the balloon artist to make her a minion so she could give it to Brendan the following day at his Despicable Me birthday party. It was funny to see that we would be watching the Boat Parade the next day from across the water at Van's house. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vg2A

Cotillion 12-04-13

Tonight was our Holiday Cotillion. The room was festively decorated. Last year, Cecily had been one of the only girls wearing red, so she wore a pretty turquoise dress this year. All the other girls this year wore red, black, and silver. Afterwards, we took pictures with the pretty Christmas tree in the lobby of the Seacliff Country Club. Then we went to Buon Gusto with Richard to celebrate his birthday. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vgvg

Richard's Birthday 12-02-13

Happy Birthday, Richard! Since we had just got back from our vacation and Richard had a long day at work, we decided to celebrate later. Caren and Cecily did get him his favorite dessert from Roman Cucina so he could have a special birthday cannoli. Cecily also started her Lego Friends Advent Calendar too. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vgrw

Polar Express 11-30-13

On our second day at the Grand Canyon, Richard and Grandpa Otto got up early to take pictures of the sunrise. This was what they saw: Grand Canyon fog. They got some fantastic pictures, and by the time they came back to the lodge, the fog had moved up and covered everything. But with the fog came frost, and the kids were excited to see "snow" on the trees. We had lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge, and then we checked out the Hopi House. The kids became Junior Rangers after they turned in their booklets at the Visitor Center. While we were taking pictures with the frosted trees, Uncle Doug made it "snow" (although it did really snow very, very, very, lightly!). On our way back to the Maswik Lodge, we checked out the El Tovar Hotel and the Grand Canyon train station. When we were driving out of the Grand Canyon, we had a group of deer cross the road in front of our car. Then, we were off to the Polar Express. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VgjQ

We drove down to the train station in Williams where we boarded the Polar Express. We got hot chocolate and cookies while we listened to the Polar Express story. When we reached the North Pole, Santa got on board the train. We all sang Christmas carols as we waited to see Santa. He gave every child a bell, and Grandma Lynn and Caren also got one too (since they asked). Caren asked Grandpa Otto to engrave 2013 on her bell (and he did Grandma Lynn's too), so that she could hang it as an ornament on the Christmas tree. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VgnA

Grand Canyon 11-29-13

In the morning, we started our drive up to the Grand Canyon. We stopped for lunch in Flagstaff before arriving at the Maswik Lodge around 1:30 pm. Since we couldn't get our room until 4, we decided to go see the Grand Canyon. The view was amazing, and we walked the Rim Trail to Verkamp's Visitor Center, where the kids picked up their Junior Ranger booklets. Then we continued our walk to the Yavapai Observation Station along the Trail of Time. We grabbed the shuttle to another visitor center (where the kids collected a stamp in their books) before grabbing another shuttle back to the lodge. We enjoyed our dinner of meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, and baked potato soup in the lodge cafeteria before checking into our rooms. We celebrated Richard, Christina, and Grandma Lynn's birthdays with a giant donut and hot chocolate while we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Richard and Grandpa Otto ended the night with pictures of stars. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vgcg

Thanksgiving 11-28-13

Happy Thanksgiving! We drove out to Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving with Richard's family. Cecily was so excited to be with her cousins. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VgYw

Bubba Sweets 11-25-13

For Girl Scouts this year, the girls were working on the "It's Your World Change It" Journey. They learned about how women in our community worked hard to achieve their goals. One great example in our neighborhood is Erika from the Bubba Sweets cupcake shop. The store is down the street from our school, and they won Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. So we took a field trip to Bubba Sweets to learn about how Erika achieved her goals and won Cupcake Wars. After touring the shop, the girls each got a mini cupcake. Cecily loved her Holy Grail (red velvet with cream cheese frosting), and Caren enjoyed her Adam Sandler (banana cupcake with caramel frosting and maple with bacon bits topping). http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VgUA

Soccer & Family 11-24-13

We had our last soccer game of the fall season in Santa Clarita. We were one down, but we borrowed Gabby, a girl who played up in our U12 team. Richard told Cecily he would get her a puppy if she scored a goal, so she played really well. Our girls worked hard on their passing, but the other team's girls were just too fast. Now that the fall season is over, we have a couple tournaments coming up. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VgQQ

After the game, we headed over to Pasadena to see Papa, Grandma, Great-Grandma, and Great-Grandpa. We had dinner with them along with Uncle Allen, Aunt Cindy, and Brendan to celebrate Great-Grandma's 90th birthday and Great-Grandpa's 97th birthday. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VgNg

Grandparents Day 11-20-13

It was Harbour View's annual Grandparents/Special Person Day today, and Papa came to be Cecily's special person. Caren was in charge of the event this year, so she went a little crazy getting it all together. It turned out great, and everyone commented that they liked it better in Pelican Hall than in the tent they used to rent. We also helped support Harbour View by having lunch at Red Table and dinner at Olive Pit. Both restaurants donated a portion of sales back to the school. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vf1A

Soccer Game - Marina 11-17-13

We had our last home game of our fall season today against the Victorville team. Although we lost, we did score one goal on a penalty kick. Afterwards, we headed to the new Hawaiin shave ice place for lunch and dole whip. Yum! http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VfxQ

Caren's Birthday 11-15-13

Happy Birthday, Caren! Five years ago we celebrated Caren's 30th birthday on board the Golden Princess as we sailed to Hawaii for Thanksgiving. Today, we had lunch on the Golden Princess as it was docked in San Pedro for Caren's 35th birthday. We brought along our friends Kelly and Eric to show them a Princess cruise ship, as we hope to go to Alaska with them next summer. The Golden Princess is the sister ship to the Star Princess, which is the ship we would take to Alaska. We happened to be the only four people doing the Bon Voyage experience so we got our own private tour of the boat before having lunch in the dining room. It was so fun to be on the cruise ship, and we were all a little sad we had to disembark before the ship set sail for Ensenada. After soccer practice, we celebrated Caren's birthday with dinner at Roman Cucina. We also celebrated at lunch the next day at Cheesecake Factory. Cecily made Caren a really cool Rainbow Loom bracelet called the ladder for her birthday. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vfow

Girl Scout Meeting 11-13-13

At our Girl Scout meeting today, the girls earned their first patch in their new Journey - It's Your World, Change It. Scarlett also joined our troop from her old troop as well as the new girl, Ireland. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VfkA

Ava's Birthday Party 11-10-13

Happy 10th Birthday, Ava! We helped her celebrate at her party at John's Incredible Pizza. The kids had so much fun, Ava's dad invited us all over to his place so the kids could swim afterwards. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vffg

Soccer Game - Bakersfield 11-09-13

It was finally the weekend of our dreaded Bakersfield game. We ended up with only 8 players, but we made the most of it. We all carpooled so the girls had fun with each other in the car. They played ok considering we had 8 girls and the other team had 17 girls. The best part of the trip was our dinner at BJs. The kids ended the night with a giant pizookie which was delicious! They were being silly and made Coach Rick a "trophy" out of the trash on our table. Only two more games left in our fall season, one home and one away. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VfXA

Soccer Game - Marina 11-03-13

We were down one player today since Felicia was sick, and the other team had 16 players (11 on the field with 5 subs). However, our girls played AMAZING today and nearly won! We ended up tying the game 1-1, but the effort the girls put in was awesome. Cecily was on fire and did such a great job. The teamwork and attitude to not give up really showed on the field. Way to go Galaxy! http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VfTQ

Happy Halloween 10-31-13

Happy Halloween! Can't believe how fast Halloween came up this year. Originally, Cecily wanted to be a minion, and Caren put together a cute outfit and made goggles for her. But then, she decided she wanted to be a witch again. So we pulled out her old witch costume she wore two years ago and gave one to Nicolette so they could match.

At school, they had their annual Halloween Parade. Loved seeing all the kid and teacher costumes. The 4th grade teachers were Guess Who characters (too bad they did the Lego costumes last year!). Some of the costumes were so creative. After seeing a bunch of the 4th grade boys as minions, Cecily was glad she wasn't a minion (although Caren was sad she missed out on the group minion picture). http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Ve9w

After recess, our class had their Halloween party. We had 5 stations: pumpkin decorating, cursive skeletons, vampire donuts, mummy game, and spooky boxes. The kids all had so much fun. We ended the party with a pizza lunch. Apparently it is the busiest day of the year for pizza. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VfCQ

In the evening, we went to a Halloween get-together at Ava's house with some school friends. We had snacks, the kids played, and then we headed out to trick or treat on Humboldt Island. The kids got tired at the end of the night, so they jumped in the wagon for a ride back to Ava's house. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VfGA