Christmas

I don't think Christmas gets any better than when you have a five year old in the house and I am so lucky to have 2. If you ever feel jaded about Christmas and lacking the true Spirit of the season, take some time to talk about it with a child. Nick and Natalie have given me 5 things this season to think about and make me smile
1. Christmas projects- There is nothing quite like hanging homemade Christmas projects up. I am especially blessed to have the twins at a religious preschool where the projects are Christ centered. There is nothing quite like having the tiny Baby Jesus made a preschool join the tree.
2. Christmas Lights- They love the Christmas lights and point out each house we see as if it is the greatest ever.
3. The Christmas Tree- When you live with a 5 year old they make sure the tree lights are always on.
4. Christmas lists- As much as I want the kids to know the true meaning of Christmas, I love to hear them make their lists. It is the one chance they get to ask for anything and everything. It is so fun to see the expectation. It is also good with 5 year olds because they happy with what ever they get.
5. Jingle Bells Batman Smells Robin Laid and Egg. . . Yes, I heard this beloved Christmas Carol coming out of the twins room last night after they had gone to bed, followed by hysterical laughing.

I always love Christmas and the time to reflect on my blessings and love that I have in my life, but having a couple of 5 year olds in the house just makes it sweeter.

Merry Christmas!

This girl!

This week is parent teacher conferences at Vista Grande so Allison has early days all this week. Yesterday, when I picked her up the twins were still at school and Adam didn't get home for 90 minutes. It was the first time in who knows how long that Allie and I had some uninterrupted alone time in the afternoon. It was great. We sat on the couch ate peppermint ice cream and watched girl TV. It is so easy in our busy family to forget about the little things. Thanks Allie for a great afternoon.

Update

Ok, October and November have been those months where lots of things are happening but no time to sit down and write about it. In an effort to update what we have been up to, I am doing a quick post and some pics. Hopefully, we will be able to slow down and enjoy the Holidays

Nick discovered that he loves ribs. We went to a BBQ championship at Viejas to cheer on some of Scott's coworkers. We were able to sample all of their great BBQ. We loved it all, but Nick really loved the ribs

I went camping with Allie's Girl Scout Troop. Great fun and very exciting to be at camp with seven 4th grade girls.

Halloween as always was great. It is interesting to see how costumes evolve as the kids get older. Allie gets scarier and Adam's costume was more "interesting". Thankfully, I am still able to convince Nick and Nat that the costumes in the Halloween box are cool

Adam turned 12. Wow, am I old enough to have a kid that old? I guess so. It is a great time seeing Adam turn into a great, sarcastic young man.

Natalie gets a hold of the camera. It doesn't happen often, but occasionally we find pics that the kids take without our knowledge. I loved this one with the animals and her feet. A little picture into the mind of Natalie.

Ensenada Cruise - Day 3

Ensenada! The ship was in port and tied up in Ensenada when we woke this morning. It had been about 8 years since I was last in the city and I was pleased to see so much new and improved infrastructure. Particularly downtown and around the harbor. It was clear to see that becoming a major cruise ship destination has helped the city tremendously.

Our first stop in Ensenada was to Plaza Central - where the largest flag I have ever seen flies 24/7. Our guide told us the one in Mexico City is actually 4 times larger than this one. Apologies in advance for the strong language. I was in another country and let myself go a little...

Ever the cook, I signed Lisa (and me) up for the "Taste of Mexico" class as our on-shore excursion. We got to go to a local restaurant (The Mango Mango) where we spent a couple of hours making traditional Mexican dishes including salsa Mexicana, guacamole, tamales and tostadas.

Lisa's bowl of ingredients before we started. Pay attention to the following video - you'll see she did a much better job than I in preparing her salsa.

(Hey - I think it was the first time I had ever sliced a tomato. Give me a break.)

Our maestro, Jesus.

Lisa's guacamole - yummy.

Lisa enjoying her tostada. Ok - so not exactly the most exotic of Mexican dishes -- I don't think they wanted us messing with fire -- but still a blast to do. I love watching this beautiful woman prepare food. (Almost as much as I like eating it...)

Evidence that she passed the class.

After our class, we had several hours to wander and explore the city.

Picture of downtown Ensenada. According to the locals there are about 500,000 people in the city.

Random shots from the downtown-market area. Plaza de Mateo I think was the name of the street.

As mentioned, the city appeared much cleaner since the last time I visited. Notice how that enormous flag dominates the skyline from pretty much anywhere. And people complain about saying the pledge before school or work meetings here in the U.S. - go figure.

More of downtown.

I couldn't convince Lisa to go for a ride in this pony-tugged buggy. Seemed incredibly romantic to me - at the time.

Nothing says "I really love you" like challenging some too-small animal to try and haul your fat butt around the pot-hole-riddled streets of some developing city.

I couldn't get Lisa to "subir en este camioneta" either - a former U.S. Postal Service jeep turned into train. And only $1 for the pleasure. Oh - Lisa: I think we blew it!

Late afternoon view of the ship before heading back.

I just liked this shot for the color.

Looking back across the bay from the main deck.

Day 3 Timeline:

800 Wake and breakfast

900 Line up for the tour

1000 Tour and cooking class

200 Shopping and site-seeing

400 Back on board, lounge by pool

600 Ship leaves Ensenada

830 Dinner

1030 Hypnotist show

1200 Chat while watching stars from cabin window

100 Sleep

Ensenada Cruise - Day 2

Day 2 started for us about 930 in the morning. We went up top for some laps around the track. It was a bit crowded but the views were unequaled. Above the sun shines through the clouds looking east back toward the coast of Southern California.

The view north toward Catalina.

View from the track looking south toward Mexico. I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch the dolphins and seals that were following the ship. Its quite something to see a dolphin do a Flipper-style jump out of the water. I figured that was "only in the movies" or at Sea World. I guess its true - they really are happy performing. :)

View down the side of ship.

After our jog we headed to breakfast. A little cantaloupe, a little egg, a little oatmeal.

After breakfast we hung out on the deck above the pool.

While this guy sang...

To this style of music...

And this lady kept scoping me out (ay ay, captain!)...

And these people squeezed uncomfortably into this way-too-small-for-this-many-people jacuzzi. Fungus anyone? We enjoyed crab baguettes, sushi and Mongolian beef salad for a late lunch along the way.

Alas the sun began to set as the ship turned around and headed back south toward Ensenada.

Night #2 on the Elation is "Elegant Night." Everyone gets super dressed up -- well there were tuxes, just not on me -- and they host a formal dinner in the main dining hall. Before dinner they introduced the crew. Kinda creepy actually - the self-promotion. I took and include the following photo because all but 1 of them seemed like they could easily double as a German bad-guy in any movie of the last 15 years. Die Hard anyone? Especially check out the 4th from the left -- "ver ies dee meecrofielm, Mr. Bonde?"

Ok - so I was more "elegant casual" but here we are waiting our 830 dinner time. I'm kind of a fan of the late dinner. Doesn't my date look great?

My date explaining what's on for the evening.

Here's what we look like after 3 lobsters, a dozen shrimp, a cup of pumpkin soup, some stuffed mushrooms and 2 "Melting Chocolate cakes" (my new favorite dessert btw). Can't you just smell the happiness?

The aforementioned melting cake. More like a bowl of warm pudding with a slight cake-like surrounding.

Day 2 Timeline:

930 Wake up and jog

1030 Breakfast

1100 Sleep

100 Pool/lounge

300 Lunch

400 Pool/lounge

830 Dinner

1000 Karaoke lounge

1030 Carnival show

100 Sleep

Ensenada Cruise - Day 1

After years of talking about taking one, Lisa and I finally got around to taking a cruise - spending this weekend aboard the Carnival Elation for a 3-night cruise to Ensenada. To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect - although images and fears of armies of blue-haired ladies manning the slots, warmed-over left overs under heat lamps, and rolling waves of sea-sickness weren't far from mind as we boarded. Not to mention feeling "cagey" - I love to wander and explore when traveling. Not much you can do about that 35 miles out to sea...

The trip was, in short, absolutely perfect.

We boarded the ship around noon. The security/check-in process was a lot like boarding an airplane. We were among the first at the terminal and crowds weren't bad at all. The rooms aren't immediately available when you board this early -- but lunch is. So we first went to the Lido deck and enjoyed lunch overlooking the U.S.S. Midway. By this point, the sun had burned off the clouds and felt great on our skin as we watched the ferry's shuttle people between downtown and Coronado.

The view from the top level of main-entrance / atrium.

Lisa shows off our lunch spot on the southside of the ship.

Lisa stands at the rear of the ship above the Serenity deck.

View from the upper deck of the ship looking west across San Diego bay to North Island Naval Air Station / Coronado.

View from the same spot (top deck rear of ship) only east toward downtown San Diego.

The miniature golf course on the top most deck at the front of the ship. The course was skirted by a 1/10 mile running track - very popular in the morning. And perhaps the best walk-jog Lisa and I have ever taken come Saturday morning some 30 miles out to sea. Quite something to be 250 feet over the water some 30-miles out to sea, virtually no land to be seen to all sides, sun coming up and seals and dolphins jumping in the ship's wake.

View of the center-most portion of the ship.

Our room was adequate - I'm guessing about 250 square feet. No fussing, no fighting. See, Lis? We don't need a bigger home.

San Diego disappearing in the distance around 6PM on Friday evening.

Lisa lounging on the deck as we departed San Diego.

Apologies for the blurry photo. I asked the kid not to mess with the settings but he just couldn't keep his hands off the lens. And blew the photo doing it.

We were very happy to have a window in our room. To be honest, you spend so little time in your room that an interior room would have been fine. But we particularly enjoyed sitting in the window bay looking at the stars and waves in the early morning hours. Its remarkable how dark everything is on moonless nights out to sea.

The first day went as follows:

Noon Security check-in and boarding

12:30 Lunch on the Lido deck overlooking the U.S.S. Midway

2:00 Tour ship and spa

3:00 Room / relaxing

4:00 Safety/evacuation drill

5:30 Depart San Diego

8:00 Dinner in the Inspiration dining room

10:30 Introductory program/comedy show

Air Show

Uncle Brad is in town this weekend so we decided to attend the annual Miramar Air Show.  The kids had a blast seeing and climbing on all of the airplanes, tanks and guns as shown in the following. 

Nick takes control...

Nick and Nat surprised by the size of the plane tires...

Sniper Nick demonstrating his ability to be stealthy...smiling all the while.

Eyes on the road, Adam.

Nick and Al in the cargo area...

Al sporting her new bike.