Ready for 2026!

We celebrated the close of 2025 tonight at 9 p.m. and look forward to find out what 2026 has in store!   

Merry Christmas!

Today we had Christmas Part 2!  It always fun to see all the kids together!  And see how they have grown!  

The kids have changed a lot in the last 11 years!

Merry Christmas!

Hockey time!

Yesterday the kids got their Christmas gift!  A hockey game!  There was a minor league hockey game in Bakersfield where they were playing the San Diego Gulls, and my Dad's cousin has a relative on the team!  Go #2 Noah Warren!  We watch warm ups along the glass.  

Olivier was wearing my Duck's jersey and was really hoping for a puck!  

And his wish was granted!  Look at that grin!

Some photos from warm ups!  And yes, I was focusing on #2 to share with my Dad's cousin.

It was a great game and a great win!  So much fun!  Thank you for the special treat!  

Merry Christmas!

We didn't have a white Christmas this year (and hopefully never will at home!) but we did have a very rainy one!  It was nice to have a little weather to make it feel more like Christmas.  We started the morning with a yummy breakfast, then onto stockings, gifts from Santa, and gifts from us!  

This is the storm water runoff behind our house just before 11 a.m.  There was a lot of water running!  

We celebrated with some of the cousins and Olivier's girlfriend in the afternoon.  The kids started by painting gingerbread ornaments.  

There was a lot of focus!  

The results!  So fun!

And since the kids are older now and we don't need to bribe them to eat dinner by gifts, we let the kids open gifts and then we had dinner.  

Grandma had the kids recreate this photo from ten years ago!  

And here are the fun results!

It was a nice holiday!  And more to come on the 29th!

Wresting tournament!

Today Olivier had a wresting tournament!  He had three matches and won one!  He is learning more and more!  Here is the first match!

And the second one - he won!

And here is is third match of the day!

Keep up the hustle Olivier!

Wrestling!

 Olivier had another wrestling event today and did a great job!  Here is round 1:

And here is round 2:

Congratulations Olivier on the win!

Volleyball tournament!

This weekend Mason had a great volleyball tournament in LA!  I am going to put the fun videos as the top and the details down below!  This is a video from Friday!

And this is an amazing rally from Saturday, it is a little bit of a longer video but you have to see how it end!  Wow!  Way to go Mason!  They didn't win this game (first loss of the tournament) but they kept it close and put in a lot of effort!  Very proud!

Okay, now more details!  On Friday they played three teams and got three solid wins!  

On Friday afternoon I went on a walk and took photos for Anna of the plaques along the way that included Taylor Swift!  We were close to the Grammy Museum.  

Saturday was tougher competition and really tested the team with the last game!  These are from the earlier games, before they played the crazy team (second video above).

I took this photo of the outdoor ice rink.  We didn't skate because we were tired and it was only open in the evening.  

There was a group protesting, not sure for what, but they had someone in a chicken costume!

Friday morning we got things sorted out in the hotel, and Mason still wouldn't let me take his photo with this lobby display.  

And here is the bracket for Sunday!  They made the top 16 out of 64 and they were in the Gold bracket!

They didn't get the win and got eliminated but they really played!  It is always exciting when we get to this point of the season because they really start coming together!

We stayed around to watch some of the other teams play before heading home.  Wow!  It is impressive and exciting to watch!  But now we are thankful to be home and back to our own beds!

Jazz concert!

Today Olivier had his first Jazz band concert for the holidays!  It was fun to hear him playing a different style of music and get in the mood for the holiday season!  The first song was "And the Angel Swing".

The second song was "The Christmas Waltz".

The third song was "Santa Baby".

The next was "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear".

To end the concert all the students in jazz band played Feliz Navidad together!  Fun!

Parade! Wrestling! And a silly bird!

This post is going to go backwards time wise!  So, starting with the Christmas parade on Friday night!  Anna and Olivier had a lot of fun, and Anna felt the bittersweet moment of her last marching band event in high school.  Take a listen!

On Friday afternoon Olivier has a wrestling event, and although he had to leave early to make the parade, he did get one match in.  He is working super hard and learning a lot!  We are very proud of him!

Earlier in the week I was in San Diego for work and had an surprise visitor.  The room was on the 22nd floor and this sea gull came to visit a few times (likely a few different birds).  And the view was amazing! 

This was the view from the plane on the way home.  So spoiled to live here!

And a photo from last Sunday when I walked to the beach.  Another reason we are spoiled!