New Year's Hike!

Today we started the day with donuts while we watched the Rose Parade.  And after lunch we went and hiked "our hill".  It was great hiking weather and we have really gotten faster!  Or at leas the kids have!  Stunning view while hanging out on the "big rock".  

After we made it to the top Mason found a frog which Olivier wanted to hold. 

And the kids left their sculptures! 

And today we remembered Rufus and his love of adventures with us. 

 Makes my heart happy! 

Mason made himself a rocking rock chair. 

 Olivier enjoyed smashing rocks! 

 And Anna was all sparkle! 

 Moo with a view!

 It took just under 27 minutes to get up and 22 to get down! 

Happy New Year! (East Coast Time)

Tonight we rang in 2020 with the East Coast.  We were watching a movie and paused to celebrate with the East Coast and then finished up our movie.  It was a nice quiet evening at home!

Loved this action photo!

And they had silly string too!

 The aftermath! 

We hope that 2020 treats you well!

Christmas dinner!

This afternoon we celebrated Christmas with the Arnold crew.  The kids opened gifts from Grandma and Grandpa and their secret Santa cousin.  It was fairly organized this year which is a nice result of them getting a little bit older. 

A view of the crew from Grandma Linda!

The boys played together.

And the girls made a dog pile.  Lina had the light saber Audrey got and was tapping Anna's head.  I thought it was a fun photo.

 And here's all four!

And a great photo of Grandma and Grandpa with all eight grandkids! 

We all left very full!  It was wonderful!

Merry Christmas!

We had an unexpected start to our morning (one of our cats got a bit too adventurous and woke four out of the five of us almost right at 6 a.m.).  Once we got that sorted it was time to check out what Santa brought for everyone!  Stockings are always the first stop!

This year the game Santa brought was Mad Libs!  Silly Santa!  And a book of Dad Jokes for Matt, and book called "It's Hockey Time Franklin!" (from Charlie Brown) for Mom.  The kids also got their usual calendars, gum, a candy bar, and we all got socks and chips!

Then it was time to open Santa Gifts!  Anna got a series she has started called Keepers of the Lost Cities. 

Olivier got a jelly fish tank!

And Mason got wooden puzzle books call incredibuilds. 

Then it was onto gifts from us.  It was a wonderful morning! 

Happy Christmas Eve!

Today we spent a relaxing day at home and had a wonderful dinner with the Remillard's!  And we got a rare group photo!  

After coming home and getting ready for bed we made sure everything was ready for Santa to arrive.  

Including the gingersnap cookies Anna made, carrots for the reindeer, and glass of milk.  

Now off to bed so Santa can come and visit!

Visit with Santa!

This afternoon we took the kids to visit with Santa in the Village.  Olivier and Anna were eager to talk to Santa and he spent a lot of time chatting with them, especially Olivier!  

After they chatted for a bit we took a family photo with Santa. 

Then Santa convinced Mason to chat for a bit. 

It was a good day for a visit because the weather wasn't crazy warm and actually felt like December!

Visit to Washington DC

Today I returned from a trip to Washington DC for work.  It has been a busy couple of weeks of travel for work, with San Diego last week (December 5th and 6th) and leaving for DC on December 8th.  I did a really bad job of taking photos during the DC trip!  I started out well with taking a few photos during the flight from home to San Fransisco.  It was a beautiful sunrise!

On December 9th we had our meeting for work and I saw this cool outdoor rink (before it opened for the day). 

And then I only took one more!  So bad of me because the rest of the trip I was able to visit with family and that is when I really should have been taking photos.  Shame on me!  The one photo I did take was of the light dusting of snow that happened overnight/early in the morning of December 11th. 

My aunt did take this cute one of me playing with my cousins two youngest kiddos.  It was so nice to be able to meet them and play. 

It was wonderful to visit family and wonderful to come home to my family!  Hope to visit them all again in the next few years with our family!