Santa Made It Again This Year

As the empty plates will attest to, Santa and his reindeer made it again this year.  Santa enjoyed the cookies while the reindeer had carrots.  I wonder why the reindeer eat all the healthy food??

Of course you had to have a visit with Santa to tell him what you would like for Christmas.

The Cheeseman family was together for Christmas for the first time in eight years.  They had a great time and the cousins enjoyed having Christmas morning together.

Christmas at the Bird house was done in phases this year but everyone in the bay area eventually made it over to celebrate together.  Fun time as always!!  Still missed the Texas Bird's but got to Skype with them.

Santa actually brough Alli to the house (oh, that is just Jay).

Kristin made sure that Christmas traditions were kept and enjoyed. 

The new camera that the kids gave Mom has a panoramic mode.  Takes some getting used to when you get pictures like this one that goes from one end of the room to the other!!

Nathan the Magician made an appearance after getting a magic set for Christmas.  After much practice he put on a magic show for us.  Thx to Andrea for being the assistant in the swivel head trick!!!

The Jammin' J Man is alive and well with his new DJ set.  He can really rock out to tunes and beats.  The attached video shows that with only a few minutes of practice he was ready to put on a show!!

It was a very Merry Christmas as always!!

Jason and Papa had an outing together at the ice rink.  After this visit I think Jason is ready to skate to the North Pole in case Santa didn't make it this far south!  Fun Time

Christmas in San Francisco

Thx to Tom and Diane for organizing this fun event again.  Riding around San Francisco, singing Christmas Carols, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and having a good time is always fun.  Marianne, Alli, Jay and the kids all seem to be having a great time!!

One of our stops had a candy/gingerbread house you could walk through.  The Kristin and Alli tried to keep the kids from "enjoying" the house.

The hotels were all decorated for Christmas and Alli, Jay, Jayla, Brodie and Jaxson had to have a picture in front of this big Christmas tree.

This is as Jolly as I Get!

The Palace Hotel had a Gingerbread competition and everyone enjoyed the various creations.  I think everyone was thinking of ways to eat the creations.

Alli, Kristin, Holly and Suzanne enjoy the art, music and etc. as well.  Great fun and great company!!



Merry Christmas to All

The ice and cold reminded me of Idaho and I am sure if Marianne could remember that far back to when she was two she would say it reminded her of Denmark as well.  It was a wonderful experience just the same!

We even found cold and ice in Texas as we prepared for Christmas. 

The ice sculptures were amazing and so was the family.

Thanksgiving in Texas

Thanksgiving in Texas started with a visit to Fossil Rim Safari park.  We got to drive through and see lots of animals and enjoy feeding some of them as well.  It was a wonderful experience and very exciting.

Audrey checking out the Zebras.

The octrich was very intimidating as it tried to eat off food off of the paper.  Marianne and Audrey handled it well (until the long neck came further into the car).

Food was a big hit with the deer, long horned sheep and etc.  Big heads to fit into the car.

David and Joshua liked the animals as well.

The visitor's center looked out over the valley where all of the animals were.

The giraffe's were a big hit with everyone driving through the park.

TANGLED

Memor had promised to take Audrey to see Tangled that came out that weekend.  It turned into a girls outing and it looks like they enjoyed the 3D movie with all of the trimmings.

ICE

The Gaylord Hotel had the ice sculpture event again this year in Dallas and we enjoyed attend with kids and grandkids.  2 million pounds of ice were used to create all of the sculptures. 

The Texas Santa is alive and well.

Is this the one horse open sleight???

November 2010

What do you do on a beautiful warm fall afternoon when there is no school? You go for a hike of course and see the wonders of Nature.  That is what Andrea, Nathan, Jason, Memor and I did and it was great !!

Nathan and Jason started off the adventure to hike to Little Yosemite by crossing this nice bridge.  They always wanted to be out front.

Jason was making sure Memor knew how to skip.  I think she is doing a great job!!

As we walked along Andrea told us to stop and turn around.  We did and found a nice Trantuala walking across the trail.  It was facinating to watch him. 

Up close and personal !!

There wasn't much water at Little Yosemite but there was enough for the boys to throw rocks!

Andrea was trying to get the best angle for her pictures and I got a good angle on her.

Nathan showing off a pretty rock to Memor and Jason.

October 2010

October started off with a hike in the Pleasanton hills on a beautiful day.  The grand kids kept us moving!

Nathan, Memor and Jason

I tried to get the boys to lay on the ground but they wanted to do pile-on!

Who can make it to the top first?  Not Memor or Papa.

We were trying to hide from Memor in the long grass.

As we hiked back there was a flock of turkeys off to the right in the shadows.  They would let us get very close but the boys were ready to throw rocks at them if they came close.

October is always Blue Angels month with Fleet Week in San Francisco.  We enjoy going over every year and this was no exception.  Lunch at Boudin and a great show afterwards!

The Blue Angel model planes are always a hit

Waiting for them to come back.

The sight is always one to capture your attention.

This is the pier we watched from.



With Halloween coming this month you have to visit a pumpkin patch.  We had Jason for his first official sleep over at our house and went to the pumpkin patch first.

Trying to hide from Memor.

The tow truck driver was not in a hurry to tow me back to the shop.

Which one is the Great Pumpkin??

Looks like a great big hug for Memor.

How did Mickey get out of Disneyland?

Can you find Jason?

It was a fun day of hide and seek.

Alway good to sit down and rest a bit.

We had a low key celebration of Andrea's birthday but are so grateful for her and her family.  Looking forward to another great year.

I think some people can't wait to blow out the candles.

Opening presents is always fun.

Of course we had to have some games in the garage for the kids.  This year the theme that Memor came up with was some of the "Minute to Win It" games.  Lots of fun.