We Are Thankful

Every year we alternate where we spend Thanksgiving and Christmas - this year Thanksgiving was with Dave's Family (which means his family has Christmas next year).  So we headed to Los Angeles to spend it with Tata and Abuela. 

While we were expecting not to make the 6-7 hour (non-holiday weekend) drive at about 3am Thanksgiving morning - we managed to get an early start on Wednesday since we both got off work early and I found a killer hotel deal in Bakersfield.  It was nice to break up our trip - even if we were driving with the crazies.

So we pulled in to Tata and Abuela's on Thanksgiving afternoon and we were able to help out setting up and preparing everything. It was a smaller gathering this year. 

That would be our little Jedi  - we brought his "light saber" to LA with us (just the cardboard wrapping tube) but when we got to the hotel and he whacked it against a light post, the light saber came apart.  Tata fixed it with some red duct tape.  Drew is a happy Jedi.

Or is he an Angry Bird Star Wars nut?

I didn't get many pictures expecting to see all the family again on Friday, so the only other Thanksgiving picture I got was Drew with his cousins.

L-R: Drew, Summer, Henry

The kids played so hard together and all had a great time!  I think this was the first year everyone played together as well as they did.  Here's to many years to come!

Dessert anyone?

On Saturday just before we left, we managed to meet up with Tata at the park to get some of Drew's wiggles out.
L-R: Tata, Daddy, Drew

Abuela went to visit family in Mexico after Thanksgiving dinner.  I wish I'd have gotten more pictures, but I guess I was too busy being Thankful for the family we were surrounded by.

Cousins

For the first time in an awfully long time we managed to get the cousins together while we were in Southern California.  As I hinted I was there for work but the boys in my family tagged along for the ride.

Well after the Anniversary party we got together a few days later for dinner with Dave's cousin Stephanie, her family and Chris and his family - we were missing Stephanie's brother Eric.

Even better the kids got to play and for a few of them meet for the first time - my Drew sees pictures of everyone on Facebook, but it's not the same as real life.

L-R: Drew, Drew and AJ (not pictured Lauren... who was making faces to get them to pay attention and Aiden who would've been crushed by this posse)

We went to John's Incredible Pizza in Buena Park - it's an all-you-can-eat Chuck E Cheese on Steroids.

After dinner the kids played arcades and rode a few rides until they couldn't take anymore.  Before Cousin Stephanie and her family could leave I tortured everyone with a group shot... we had to do it in 2 pictures to get everyone in.  Someone had to play photog...

L-R: Heath, Drew, Stephanie, Aiden, Dave, Me, Drew, Chris, AJ and Lauren

L-R: Heath, Drew, Stephanie, Aiden, Drew, Annie, Lauren, AJ and Chris

What's crazy is I remember going to Halloween parties when Dave and I were dating and Stephanie I believe was barely 21!  Thanks for makin' me feel old girl - your now the mama of 2 kids!

Silver Anniversary

Better late than never... we celebrated Tata and Abuela's 25th anniversary/vow renewal 3 weeks after the first attempt.  So while I was down in Southern California for work and Dave and Drew were coming down, they had the Hawaiian themed party that weekend.

I was a bit late - along with the camera because of work, but here are the pictures I managed to capture.

The "first dance"

Prepping for the vow renewal.  The Ring bearer - Drew gets ready.

"Bankers" - the Best Man from 25 years ago 'officiates' the ceremony this time around.

Exchanging the vows

Here comes the ring bearer...
This could've been the first or second attempt.  Not enough cameras were ready so we did a "re-do".

Awwww....

Speeches...

Trying to keep the 4 year old occupied and out of trouble during the lengthy speeches

And there was some dancing after the speeches.  Clearly I had a willing partner...

The reason that Tata and Abuela are together today - David's Brother Bobby and his wife Norma.

 L-R: David (Tata), Norma, Bobby, Yolanda (Abuela)

And our final goodbye.

L-R: Me, David, Drew, Dave Yolanda

The Other LA Fun

While the past few posts make it seem like all I did while in Southern California last weekend revolved around running - that's not entirely true. 

We also took our chances among the body parts and played tourist...

Thankfully we survived this trip - the scariest part was our tour guide (we did a tour) was making a call to who was likely his lawyer talking about bail or perhaps turning himself in.  I'm wondering if he was wanted for reckless driving... wowza!

After the tour, we headed back to my friend Angie's house for some adult fun...

Funny the ladies were partying happy, but Angie's husband was the one who woke up with the hangover.  Hehe Clearly we ladies can handle their liquor better than some men (we won't discuss the hangover I  had the last time Krista and I got together).

Friday morning we had to head over to the first of several trips to Disneyland to pick up our race packets.

We then did a little shopping in Downtown Disney.

Saturday was a down day for us, so we drove through LA, Beverly Hills, hit up Rodeo Drive and had lunch at Canter's. 

Saturday night we had to be low key since we were getting up so early Sunday morning so Angie and I could run.  After the race we all had well deserved naps and then a celebratory drink (or two) at Vinatero.  Angie has some good connections...

 How do you like our bling?

After getting a slight buzz it was back to what was our 4th and final trip to Disneyland to actually enjoy the park!  

L-R: Me, Angie, Krista

With our Neverland 5K registration we received one twilight ticket to a park of our choice.  The twilight ticket is good after 4pm (or 6 hours before close) and had to be used by Monday.  Going Sunday gave Angie and I a good reason to stretch out our legs.  This was Krista's first time to Southern California, and while she had the behind the scene's tour on Friday night, it was her first chance to see the park up close and personal.

Santa Visits the Hotel

Did you know you don't have to have a chimney or a house to have Santa visit?  All you need is some reindeer food and cookies for Santa!

Drew woke up Christmas morning to see that Santa came.

He was mighty excited to see that Santa listed and brought his wii.  Of course 3 days later he was complaining that Santa forgot his VReader (no he isn't getting one nor does he need one).

And here he is opening some wii games from Grandma and Grandpa.

Drew was so excited to give Daddy the Christmas present he made - a ceramic travel mug.

We passed the camera to Drew to have him take pictures of the gift he made at school...

What you can't see is that it was an ornament with his school picture inside.

Daddy was super excited to finally get the Dodger's windbreaker he always wanted.

Drew opened a ton of Rocky figures - including the Thunderlips/Hulk Hogan in his hand.

And then it was time for the annual bury Drew in all the wrapping paper...

Feliz Navidad from LA

This past Christmas we drove to LA... leaving the Bay Area at about 4am on Christmas Eve and checking into the hotel by 10am.  Not bad!  We managed to beat all of the traffic and were hoping we could all get a nap in.  Well 2/3 of us did... a certain 4 year old did not.

That night we joined Abuela's family for their traditional Christmas Eve dinner and visit from Santa.  Drew of course crashed by 8pm and missed out on the awesome dinner (he did have a PB&J before falling asleep).

And it's tradition for a family member to dress up as Santa Claus and pass out presents to the kids.  This year it was Uncle Lupe.

We were all a little chilly at that hour.

Drew did end up waking up, but wasn't in a good mood.  He was a bit nervous of Santa and then when everyone laughed at him grabbing his gifts, Drew was rather embarrassed and it was the end of him for the night.  We went back to the hotel by midnight.

The next morning we went back to Tata and Abuela's for the gathering of Tata's family.  Including Great-Grandma Tomasa.

And we managed to get a family shot...

The family was awfully generous for Drew and brought him some presents - lots of noise makers.

After awhile, Drew was begging to go back to the hotel. I  think he needed to unwind - we were hoping for a nap - but we went back to Tata and Abuela's that night for the exchange of our gifts.

Drew couldn't believe all the Rocky stuff he got, including the Title fight Ring from Rocky III.

It was wonderful holiday filled with family.  We are very lucky.

Hot Fun in the Summertime

I shared with you the other day the adventures we had at Dodger Stadium, but baseball wasn't our original intention for going to Los Angeles last weekend - it was to see Tata and Abuela, Dave's parents!

Friday night, Tata and Abuela came to the hotel with dinner and some adult beverages so they could spend some quality time with Drew.  The next morning Drew read Abuela a story - you know to show off a bit.

That day we went to the Dodger game, and afterward headed over to Tata and Abuela's house to watch another game... football - Soccer that is.  US vs. Mexico.  Guess who this group was cheering on?

It was a divided group as we watched the game from the front yard - about half rooted for the US the other half for Mexico - who ended up winning.

Drew only napped for about 30 minutes from Dodger Stadium to their house, so he was a little feisty to say the least.  In trying to take a picture of he and Tata he would only make weird faces.

And a bit later on he was beyond ticked that I wouldn't let him ply outside the fence.  You couldn't tell that he was mad or anything by looking at him...

He did however pose with his cousins, Jasmine and Henry as we were leaving for the night.

The next day we met up with Tata and Abuela at Jonathan and Claudia's house - Drew's Aunt and Uncle and enjoyed their pool!  It was definitely warm in the sun!

Little Henry - who is about a year younger than Drew - was too small to join everyone in the pool, so he had his own pool.  And loved splashing everyone in the big one!  They of course returned the favor (you can see Drew's orange water wings in the big pool).

L-R: Dave, Drew from behind, friend of Drew's cousin Johanna, Henry & Tata

But alas we had to make the long drive home - so we needed to say our goodbyes.  I love this shot of Drew and Abuela.  We were hoping to make a few pit stops on our way home and visit a few friends who live along the way, but Drew had enough and was quite the beast (until he finally fell asleep - thankfully for 2 hours).   

We decided to take the 99 all the way home - we usually take I5 - but with some road construction on the 5 it seemed to make the most sense.  On the way to LA - the road construction detour allowed us to have a potty break at our friend's Mel and Chris' house outside of Bakersfield.