Winter Break 2016

We had a wonderful time at our house in La Quinta over winter break. Our original plan was to go the day after Christmas. But Becky and Arek were going to be there the week before Christmas and the week after, coming home in between. It didn't make sense for them to do that so we went out to California instead.

We opened our gifts on the 19th in Colorado. We found out that Santa will come early if you leave cookies out. :) 

When we got to La Quinta the girls didn't like that there was no Christmas tree, so they made two of their own.

We had a few days with just the four of us in the beginning. 

On Christmas Eve we went to the 4:30 Mass. At 3:50 the choir lead the people in the pews in singing  Christmas carols. It was nice to have something to do when you are just waiting for Mass to start. It was just the four of us on Christmas Eve. We had fun going out to a fancy restaurant! The girls got Shirley Temple's.

They saw some other people taking pictures in front of this mural and wanted to do the same. Yes, they were underdressed. We decided at the last minute to not pack fancy dresses. Bad choice, everyone was dressed up! 

The meals were pre-fix which included dessert. All the deserts at the table had a different Christmas symbol on the plate.

Becky and Arek came on Christmas Day. We opened presents and had a barbecue.

Arek had to work most of the visit. But Becky and the rest of went on a hike at the Oasis Park the day after Christmas. Behind us is the San Andreas Fault.

The kids found "gold". 

The girls favorite present by far was their Fin Fun Mermaid tales. They played with them in the pool every day that it wasn't raining and even one day when it was!

Joey, Brittany, Ben, Avery, Dar, Sean and Danielle joined us for Dan's birthday. The guys all went golfing while the kids swam and the ladies talked.

Dar's gift to the girls would have been great if they had somehow held together!

We hit Minerva Street again for a leisurely stroll among the houses decorated to the hilt.

It rained several days while we there so we found some indoor things to entertain us. The local casino has a great bowling alley.

We went to several parks on the warmer days. This was a park we hadn't been to before. It had a nice walking track and good climbing trees.

We found a hibachi restaurant which the girls always love. You always seem to meet interesting people too when you sit around a grill with them.

Our last night there was New Years Eve.  We didn't do anything as we had to get up early and leave the next morning. Once again, we found a countdown that was many hours earlier than the actual time.

We had a very good time on this trip and were ready to come home and start 2017!

Some More Christmas Stuff

I am not taking nearly as many pictures as I have in the past few years. And since the girls are in school every day, we do not get out and go as many places as we used to go. So...I have a dearth of pics. But here goes...

Anna and Mia each had a friend over one day to make cookies. I can't believe this is the only picture I took!

Dan's Christmas party was pretty fun. I wasn't looking forward to it as most of the people I've known as friends through his job have retired in the last two years, but the new people are pretty great too!

You can see a box behind Mia. She seems to be always making things from cardboard boxes. No, it's not anything Christmas related but there are Christmas cards hanging in the background so I put it in this post.  It was a rocket for Charlie! I'll just tell you that since I wasn't smart enough to actually take a picture where you could see the thing.

We attended the cleft Christmas party again this year. Mia and Anna love the photo booth!

They had a scientist demonstration. Science is Mia's favorite subject!

That's a bubble on her hand.

Becky and Arek were already in California so we attended by ourselves. The cleft community in Colorado is alive and well!

Santa Express

This year we did something I have been wanting to do for quite some time, ride the Santa Express! We arrived at the train station around 12:00 for our 1:00 departure.

We chose the 1:00 departure so we could eat lunch on the train!

Santa's elves also played games and sang songs with the kids. Here they are doing the Hokey Pokey.

After about an hour we arrived at the North Pole!

The Big Guy was waving as we rode by.

Can you spot Rudolph?

We stopped long enough for Santa to climb on board!

Mia makes friends wherever she goes. These two new buddies decided to get some fresh air on the open-air car.

We LOVED this activity and hope to do it again, maybe with some grand kids.

Tree Lighting!

Normally, we are in California the weekend before Thanksgiving. And this is the exact time all the cities around us have their tree lighting ceremonies. But this year we went to Matt's wedding the weekend before so we chose not to go back to California for Thanksgiving. Now, we could attend a tree lighting ceremony!  We chose our very own town of Parker.

About an hour before the lighting we arrived. We tried out the big chair!

And all the ice sculptures!

I signed up for a carriage ride right before the ceremony. Our town offers these rides for free, but you have to be quick online as the spots fill up fast! The ride took us down Mainstreet and back again. It was a fun surprise for the girls.

Once we got back from the carriage ride it was time for all the trees, and the big Christmas tree, to be lit. After listening to the mayor go on and on and on he finally started the countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Viola! Lights on! Of course I took no pictures.

Our Thanksgiving Week

The Friday before Thanksgiving I signed up to chaperone Anna's class to the zoo. I should have had more sense than to sign up to go on an outdoor field trip in November in Colorado!!! It was in the mid 30's for the trip, but it was Colorado so it was sunny!! We walked around outside for about 30 minutes and then we would go inside for about the same. All the kids were bundled up and it really wasn't that bad.  I did make Dan go with me because he had the day off.

The visit ended up being great because all the animals were out in the open. It was amazing. Usually we are there are on a warm day and the animals are lying in the back of their enclosures. I hardly took any pictures because I was in charge of five five year olds!

The girls had the whole week of Thanksgiving off. It just so happened that there was a homeschooling event on Monday.  The event was to take snacks and water to the homeless people that live around Denver Public Library.

The girls enjoyed the happy faces of the homeless as we gave them a water bottle and snack. The homeless were SO appreciative. The girls loved making them happy. 

Afterwards, we went into the library for a little checkers.

We had Thanksgiving at our house with about 15 people. I got this gingerbread house for the kids to put together while all the adults were chatting. It's my only picture from Thanksgiving!

We are normally in California for Thanksgiving and so we never get to attend any of the cities' lightings which almost all occur the day after Thanksgiving. So this year we trekked out to see our local lighting ceremony!

There are free carriage rides down Mainstreet.  We were able to sign up online fast enough to get a ride on the night of the lighting. 

It was fun to stay home for Thanksgiving for a change!