Christmas #3

Brace yourself. This post may have more pictures than any other post that I have ever posted. EVER. I took over 700 on this trip and I just couldn't narrow it down more than this! (well, maybe I could have, but I didn't)

 

Saturday (Christmas Eve):

We had to get poor Luke up at 5am for our early flight to California, but despite being forced to wake up three hours earlier than usual, he did really well on the flight and all day!

The free video games on the flight saved us!

That, and the fact that we miraculously had an empty seat between us for Luke on our otherwise full flight!

Luke is soooo ticklish!

Playing 'Memory'

Luke thought it was hilarious when the two matching pictures jumped off the screen together.

Towards the end of the flight, Luke went crazy! He was literally bouncing off the walls!

I caught the moment when Luke climbed onto the arm rest and leaped off in my general direction. He either really trusts me to catch him (I barely did) or he didn't think that one through! I'm going with the latter.

Cant. Sit. Still.

Chowin down on a peanut butter sandwich, waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to pick us up from LAX.

Luke was determined to climb to the top of this 'out of order' baggage carousel. When climbing up didn't work, he tried walking up a few steps and then lunging for the top.

Grandma and Grandpa decked out the yard just for Luke. He loved it!

Once, my mom unplugged them while Luke was outside with my dad. As they deflated, Luke shouted, "Uh-oh! Uh-oh! Uh-oh!" but before they were completely deflated, my mom plugged them back in and they sprung back to life. Luke cheered so hard!

Grandpa and Luke make such a great pair. Luke had to sit on each and every level of the bricks.

This one was a bit of a struggle.

Cute, friendly Carl welcomed us when we got to Mamal and Papal's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Luke was overjoyed!

We exchanged gifts.

Family picture (we interrupted Grandpa and Luke's lemon juggling to take the picture)

 Candy, candy, candy! I'm pretty sure this is the most unattractive face Jared is capable of making.

In Papal's house, if you have the dog, you get your picture taken!

Sneaking sweets

I have the cutest mom!

This boy ate enough junk on Christmas Eve to last him a month! Jeff made sure everyone was careful to feed him healthier foods for the rest of the week!

Sunday (Christmas!): 

Church was from 9-10am Christmas morning and since Patrick and Ashley needed to join us from Fullerton and we are all adults now, we waited (gasp!) to open presents until after church!

A yummy breakfast/brunch before presents

Everyone took their seats around the living room and dug through their stockings while Katrina volunteered to hand out the gifts.

Luke got his very own throne. Grandma helped him with his stocking.

For me?!

Notice Patrick in this picture with Jared in his sights. Don't worry, it's a lighter. The boys all got gun-shaped lighters in their stockings.

Patrick and Jared combining lighter-gun forces.

Patrick and Jared were both so jealous that Jeff got the coolest gun lighter.

Luke knew what to do with that gun right away! Watch out Daddy!

My parents are the best!

Part of Jared's gift from Jeff and I was a rabbit caller, which actually makes me a little sad, but both Jared and Patrick unexpectedly decided to get into hunting after I moved away from home, so it seemed fitting.

I love this polar bears smile!

Note the kitchen timer in Luke's right hand. For a while, he was more interested in that than any of his presents! Silly boy!

Luke traded the kitchen timer for a remote control car.

My dad was going through all of his old Broncos things and thought Luke would like carrying things around in his Broncos lunchbox. Good call, Grandpa!

The lunchbox was full of toy cars! TONS of them!

Feeding his baby duck its bottle (this cute duck quacks and moves and makes little swallowing sounds when it is "fed").

Jeff and Jared were driving their remote control cars all crazy across the floor and running into Luke's duck and over his little cars. He didn't appreciate it! He turned his duck around so that the cars would just hit the cardboard and then started pushing the remote control cars away and yelling and pointing for them to leave. Jeff and Jared couldn't argue with that! It was hilarious and adorable.

Katrina got a pile of boots for Christmas (5 pairs)! She is obsessed!

Mom had the great idea of playing bingo on Christmas day, since we couldn't do our usual tradition of going to a movie on Christmas (it was Sunday and we don't spend money on Sundays). There were tons of prizes (28 to be exact), all costing between $3 and $20, and wrapped so that we wouldn't know what they were before we chose them.

We had three winners for each round of Bingo. In the first round, Jared was the first winner. Of all of the prizes stacked on the piano, he had the good fortune of choosing a raccoon-like Zhu Zhu Pet hamster - it was Luke's by the end of the day. Jeff and I were winners two and three in round one. I clearly have a talent for picking winners because I chose "The Clapper" (haha). Jeff picked a little remote control car - pretty cool. But we were all a little envious when Katrina won next and went straight for the $20 Target gift card, which she had scoped out and identified earlier.

Jared won a giant box of Fiber One bars. Ashley was so happy that Jared won this prize because Patrick loves Fiber One bars and despite the fact they give him gas and without any regard for Ashley's poor nose, he always eats at least a couple when he is at my parents house. She did NOT want a giant box of them in her own home! Unfortunately for her, Jared traded them to Patrick before the end of the game.

Ashley was so jealous when I opened a little pink, sparkly bag and nail polish (she loves sparkly things - just look at her blindingly sparkly license plate frame for proof) that she offered to trade me Kung Fu Panda 2 for it. I wasn't about to turn that deal down! We all died laughing when we noticed how perfectly the bag matched her nails!

Dad was the official number caller

Debi and Russ came over and joined the fun. Debi, of course, had us all laughing, and she won the final prize. Notice Jeff's and my haul in the middle of the table - we cleaned up (a giant gingerbread men decorating kit, two cans of macadamia nuts, Super 8 on dvd, a remote control car, the clapper, Kung Fu Panda 2, a motorcycle night light, and an awesome dragon kite)!

Patrick is the best uncle!

Katrina was cracking Luke up by letting the little Christmas tree poke her and yelling, "ouch!" He could barely breathe, he was laughing so hard!

My mom also planned a glorious gingerbread (graham cracker) house contest for Christmas day. I'm pretty sure she bought out Stater Bros.'s supply of candy and she even had little foil covered boards for us and the hot glue gun at the ready! Katrina insisted on making her house entirely edible, but the rest of us got some good use out of that hot glue gun. Patrick and Ashley judged the contest from pictures my mom sent them from her phone (they had to leave before the contest started). They chose one winner and gave out awards to the rest of the houses.

Mine: "Creativity award" Check out the draw-bridge and moat!

A close-up of the little Sour Patch men launching the catapults.

Mom's: "Most Traditional Award"

Katrina's: Winner! Isn't it the most adorable little log cabin? The fence and gate were a nice touch.

Jeff's: "Most Festive." That husband of mine is so creative! Check out the little ice skating gummy bears. I warned Jeff that if he is going to be the brilliant engineer, he needs to let me have the creativity in this relationship! No one is THAT perfect!

I was a little disappointed that I didn't win because the prize was a $25 gift card to Olive Garden and I love that place! But Katrina gave the gift card to Jeff (a.k.a. Jeff and Kira) for his birthday - everybody wins! :)

That night, we all walked up to East Lake to see all of the Christmas lights.

Until this year, all of us, except for Katrina, were oblivious to the fact that each street around the lake has a theme during Christmas time. This is the Christmas tree street.

This looked so much prettier in person!

The snowman street

Beautiful. I love the way the lights reflect off of the water.

Every house on this street had one of these cute mailboxes!

These icicles were so cool. You would have to see them in person to get the full effect. Some of the lights flashed on and off moving down the icicle really quickly to make it look like they were dripping.

Grandpa and Luke

The present street

Luke became obsessed with stomping and dancing all over the truncated domes (that's what my dad called them anyway - the kind of official term only a contractor would know) at the start and end of each cross walk.

He insisted that Grandpa do it too!

I liked the way the fire flickered on this one.

Grandma and Luke walking home

Poor Luke tripped while he was helping Daddy push the stroller. I was just trying to take a picture of how cute they were pushing it together, but I caught Luke crashing to the ground instead.

A close-up. Notice his right had still clinging to the stroller handle.

Finishing the night with Grandma, his bottle, and some Yo Gabba Gabba! What more could you ask for?

Monday:

Luke gets a kick out of the weirdest games! Like, "Let's transfer this marker back and forth from my mouth to yours."

Of course, we had to make a trip to beautiful Huntington Beach! This is what I love about California. Everyone is at the beach at the end of December!

Luke was so excited! He just loves the beach!

The tide was out farther than I've ever seen it! Before we reached the waves, we walked forever through wet sand and water that was only an inch or so deep!

Luke ran straight for the waves!

Aunt Katrina is so fun!

Katrina found whole sand dollar! You never find one of these things without at least one chip out of it! It was a miracle!

Luke saw his opportunity to make a break for the waves when no one was paying attention. Look at that determined face! Unfortunately, those little legs don't move quite fast enough to beat Daddy.

I love my husband.

Look at that little Buddha belly!

The shallow water was perfect for floating Luke's little boat.

Jeff and I played catch. I focused a little more than the last few times we have played and was catching pretty well. Jeff was excited to see my old skills return. He said, "My wife is back with the handles!" He had to explain to me what "handles" were.

One-handed!

Eyes closed and one-handed?? Impressive!

Katrina played a little catch with Jeff too.

Header?

Luke worked on filling his bucket with sand.

Luke got tired of digging, so he brought his shovel to Katrina and told her to get to work!

She listened.

Luke, with no warning, braced himself on Katrina's back and lifted his foot for her to brush off. Apparently, he thinks she lives to serve him.

Chasing the birds

Aaaaah waves. That's the one big thing missing from the Galveston beaches.

Luke filled his whole bucket .. with a little help from Mommy and Grandma.

Trying to sneak up on a sea gull

Luke thought feeding the sea gulls his goldfish and oyster crackers was the funnest (and funniest) thing ever!

This crazy bird wasn't afraid of us at all. I swear he was trained because he caught every single cracker in his beak! Even if we threw it way too high, he flew up and caught it right out of the air! It was awesome!

He was a little brave for comfort. Katrina found his boldness unsettling and my mom feared for her toes (note how close he is to them).

Flying up to make a catch!

Bird's got hops .. sort of.

After Jeff chased the birds away (meanie), Luke ran after them to feed them more crackers.

Our 18-month-old does cartwheels.

When he realized he was almost out, he decided he'd better eat a few too.

Jared played with Luke all week! Luke loves him!

I don't think I ever mentioned the following cute story about the two of them on this blog before, so I'll do it now ... When Luke was 5 months old and we were visiting California for Thanksgiving, Luke was still waking up about twice each night. Katrina is a night owl, so she was usually still awake the first time Luke woke up around midnight, and she would often beat me to him. The sweet aunt and sister that she is, I would frequently walk into his room to find her already changing his diaper or giving him a bottle (love her!). 

In those days, Jared usually came home around that time or even later. One night, Jared was already home when Luke woke up for the first time. When Katrina heard Luke cry, she came out of her room to get him, but when she got to Luke's room (yes, he has his own room), he wasn't there. She walked into Jared's room to find Jared sitting on his bed, playing his guitar for Luke, who was lying on the bed next to him. Luke was just quietly listening and staring at Jared. When Katrina walked in, Jared softly asked, "How do you get him to go back to sleep?" 'The Sweetest Uncle Award' for sure!

Sleepy Luke with his little feet up during dinner

Tuesday:

On Tuesday morning, Patrick and Ashley went with Mom, Dad, Jeff, Luke, and I to Irvine Park. It's a huge park with so much to do: a zoo, a train, pony rides, duck ponds, play grounds, walking paths, and

paddle boats and bikes to rent. We had a blast!

First we went to the zoo:

Luke is always game for a good petting zoo.

Being "soft" petting the goat's ear

This was the creepiest, craziest goat EVER! I wish I had taken a video of it so you could see ..er, hear what I mean. This goat sounded like a big, gruff, human man! It was walking around saying, "Maaaaa!" in a deep, booming, belch-yell! It sounded like a person - a really scary person! And just look at it's three horns! Unsettling!

Luke drove this poor goat crazy, feeding it only one pellet at a time! The goat didn't want to leave because it was being fed, but it was swinging it's head back and forth between pellets in frustration!

Luke made Jeff's "biiiig bite!" face every time.

I appreciated the goats being careful not to bite Luke's fingers with the way he was feeding them!

"MAAAAA"

This goat waved at us! Seriously! I guess it didn't want to be left out of the feeding because it climbed up onto the fence and waved it's left hoof up and down at us for several seconds straight! It was hilarious ..and a little creepy.

The wave worked, Luke went over and fed our new friend.

This sheep might have been going for a handshake (hoofshake).

This makes me laugh.

He loves his uncle Patrick! It's crazy to think that at the rate Luke is going, he might be as tall as Patrick one day!

This goat immediately fell in love with my mom. It kept nuzzling her and wouldn't let her leave.

My mom loved it back.

Better wash those hands after playing in the petting zoo!

On to the rest of the zoo...

Luke loves all of the attention he gets from Grandma and Grandpa (and the rest of the family for that matter)! It's good being the first grandson/nephew!

Sleepy mountain lion

I just want to snuggle up and take a nap with this guy! If only he wouldn't maul me.

Love this guy

Do you see that little raccoon nose? These two raccoons were so cute napping in their little hammocks.

Our little monkey

A bald eagle has a larger wingspan than Patrick (7 feet)!

This bird looks totally like a villain in an animated movie to me. The kind that you would maybe kind of like because he's so cool.

This huge tree was growing sideways with its roots above ground!

Feeding the ducks. We forgot to bring bread, but we had mini crackers.

Luke opted for a "one for you, one for me" pattern. He didn't want to give away all of those tasty crackers!

On our way to the pony rides, I stopped to take a picture of the ponies and this one came over to say hi. He was so sweet and let me pet him and talk to him through the fence for a while.

Luke rode a pony named Rocky.

It was already past Luke's nap time so he kept a blank sleepy face for most of the ride. This may have been the only "smile" I got out of him the whole ride, but he definitely loved it because he really didn't want to get off at the end!

Patrick was trying to get Luke to look at the camera, but he was way too out of it to notice.

Train ride! Mom was behind us and Dad and Patrick were behind her...

Until Patrick moved in front of us and Mom made Dad sit by her.

This boy has loved every train ride he's been on! Even when it's past his nap time.

This boy was SO the center of attention all week long!

Uncle Patrick is a funny guy!

Luke wasn't ready for the ride to be over!

There were so many big beautiful trees in the park! And here, Grandpa is smacking Luke into the leaves. At least Luke thought it was funny!

Luke was so excited when he saw Grandma waiting at the car.

That night, Ashley and Katrina took me shopping at Kohl's and convinced me to buy two pairs of jeggings and a cute pair of boots to go with the skinny legged pair. I never thought I would get on board with the jeggings trend, but oh my gosh I love them! They look just like jeans, they can be very flattering, and they fit perfectly whether you gain a few pounds or lose a few pounds! They're magic! A pair of jeggings would have been much more believable in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Wednesday:

Wednesday, the 28th was Jeff's 27th birthday (and Luke's half birthday - he turned 18 months) and we celebrated by having my mom babysit Luke while we went to the movies to see Mission Impossible III and to the Long Beach Aquarium. We had a wonderful time, but there are almost no pictures because it was Jeff's birthday and he decreed that no pictures would be taken. He is always so patient with me and my obsession with taking pictures, so I agreed.

Luke became obsessed with playing in the sink this week. He was shocked that I wouldn't let him do it anytime he wanted after we got home.

Outside of the aquarium admiring the boats and yachts docked there. Jeff allowed one picture on his iPod Touch.

My parents took us all out to dinner at a new burger place called The Habit to celebrate Jeff's birthday. It was soooo good!

After dinner, we all went for frozen yogurt. It was a birthday miracle that they had chocolate covered raisins available as a topping! They are Jeff's favorite and up until this night, we have never found a yogurt place that has them!

My mom had the brilliant idea of entertaining Luke with beach balls floating over her fan. He couldn't get enough of it!

He even got brave enough to grab the balls as they flew around!

Thursday:

Grandma and Luke doing some early morning sidewalk chalking. Look at how focused Luke is!

Later that morning; Jeff, Luke, and I enjoyed a great visit with Mamal and Papal (they live only two blocks away from my parents).

Papal took us down to the green belt behind their house, where he often takes Cisco (his chihuahua). He pointed out the neighbor dogs on both sides of his house, who barked like crazy at us, but love Papal because he feeds them dog treats.

I couldn't believe how much Luke loved Papal! He kept hugging him and asking to be picked up.

So sweet.

Papal was very happy to know that he can still lift 28 pounds at 82 years old! He did it several times, at Luke's request!

These two make the cutest pair.

Luke kept insisting on walking to the top of the hill, just so he could run down it!

Group shot! Luke is riding the springy horse he loves to ride at Mamal and Papal's house. Impressively he can climb onto it himself!

Saying hello to the birds

The birds kept a close watch on that little short guy wandering around their cage.

Luke wanted to look at the birds again from inside.

Cisco normally hates Luke, even though Luke loves him! But on this visit, Cisco was actually pretty friendly with Luke. Shortly after we arrived, Cisco came over and gave Luke a kiss and their bonds were strengthened even more when Luke shared his grilled cheese sandwich with Cisco.

I love Mamal's laugh! And she makes the best grilled cheese!

That afternoon, Patrick and Ashley took Luke to the Santa Barba Zoo, just the three of them. Luke had a blast with his Aunt and Uncle!

Luke and Ashley checking out the birds

Luke was DJ'ing with all of the big cat sounds.

I told Patrick that Luke can hang forever, so of course, he had to see for himself!

Luke will never pass up an opportunity to drive! Even if it is just pretend.

This girl is the coolest! I'm SO happy Patrick married her! And clearly, so is Luke!

That night, Jared gave Luke a piano lesson. It was so cute to watch them play together! And every time Jared played a song, Luke would look up at him and then nod his head really hard to the music. Check out the video HERE.

Friday:

On Friday, my mom took Jeff, Luke, and I to Pretend City. It is the coolest place! It's a whole city with a grocery store, library, police station, etc, but it's all child-sized! Luke had so much fun!
 

Fishing

The dentist office. Notice the giant magnetic braces we put on the top row of teeth.

X-ray at the doctor's office.

Dr. Luke

Getting his blood pressure checked

Doctor's office

The kitchen of the restaurant

Fire station - more than anything else Luke wanted to drive ALL of the cars in Pretend City!

At the beach (they had a big sand box to play in)

Construction site

I hope this boys parents wouldn't mind me sneaking a picture of him. He was just so cute all decked out in construction gear and taking his job so seriously! I couldn't help it!

There was a big playroom at the back of the city.

Pumping gas

This car was Luke's favorite. He went back to it multiple times.

Picking out produce in the grocery store.

Shopping - so far for very healthy foods. That's my boy!

Picking apples at the farm

Raking at the farm

There were real baby chicks at the farm.

 Adorable.

So unbelievably cute!

Just doing a little mowing

Another construction site. This one looked so fun for older kids! There were tons of PVC pipes and boards to fit together.

Quite possibly, my favorite thing in pretend city was the AAA tow truck!

Saturday:


On Saturday morning, I went to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe with my friends Jackie and Shelley. Jackie and I have been friends since Kindergarten and Shelley and I met through Jackie in high school and became really good friends. They were both bridesmaids in my wedding and I love that I get to see them almost every time I visit for the holidays and in the summer. I just love them and I love catching up on each other's lives!

Jackie, Shelley, and I

Jackie came back to the house to see Luke. He fed her goldfish crackers - a clear sign that he likes her.

I had a lovely time chatting with Jackie some more while I packed to go home and Shelley came by just in time to see Luke and the rest of the family for a few minutes before we left for the airport.

Luke did well on the flight home and Jeff's parents were kind enough to drive our car and theirs to the airport so that we could drive our car straight home, getting there much sooner. 

We got to our house just in time to see our neighbors shooting off fireworks in the street to welcome the new year. I had no idea that the big fireworks, seen only in public firework shows in California, are legal for ordinary citizens to purchase in Texas! Much to my surprise, they were being shot off all over our neighborhood! It was crazy! Luke loved it! We stood outside on our driveway and watched for a few minutes. Luke watched the dark sky so intently and when a burst of color appeared, he laughed and pointed excitedly.

With the flash, these pictures failed to capture the color of the fireworks, but trust me, they were there!

Luke insisted we watch for fireworks for a while longer from his bedroom window before we put him to bed.

The conclusion of this incredibly long post: I have the BEST family (husband, son, my side, and Jeff's side)! And the BEST life!