The Magic of Christmas

Our Christmas Village

We arrived home from our day long travels back from California around 5:00 on Sunday evening. The boys traveled wonderfully, but it was still a long day. And yet, when we got home, my eldest wanted to decorate the house for Christmas. He was practically dragging me to the basement to start getting the decorations. Even though I was all set on relaxing after a day of travels, D-man had other plans. I was so happy he did.

It won't be long before he won't want anything to do with Christmas decorations or putting up the tree. He'll be all about getting the gifts and not giving them. Soon he will not believe in Santa. So, when he is getting me in the holiday spirit, I'm game. And, when T-man joined the fun (albeit just for a short time), I was truly feeling the magic of Christmas with my boys. We put up the Christmas village. We took turns deciding which building went on which bookcase. We carefully placed them on the shelves. T-man made a forest out of the trees (which was soon redistributed to more desirable locations by his older brother). We had fun and admired our work.

Tonight we got out the little Christmas trees that we put in their bedrooms. My eldest always takes the one with the colored lights. T-man was just happy his had lights (even though half the string is out). Both boys kissed their trees (without any prompting at all) before bed. It makes me so happy that I can build these memories with my boys. They may not remember, but I certainly will. And I'll cherish that magic forever.

Why I Never Go to the Mall

Tonight we ventured to Rock Bottom Brewery at the request of our two sons (it was the highlight of Nana and Pop's visit last week and they wanted to return). The boys were able make their own pizzas and Marshall and I got to have happy hour drinks (and reminisce about our first ever trip to Rock Bottom Brewery over 11 years ago).

Marshall left to meet friends and I decided to take the boys to the mall to make a couple returns. And yup, now I know why I love online shopping and only go to Target. After having T-man fall in the parking lot, using the opportunity to teach my eldest a lesson about listening to his Mom (he chose not to bring a coat), having to give the kids a lesson on not making fun of people (there was a very obese man at the mall), and having my eldest not make it to the bathroom in time, I have a feeling that future trips to the mall will be few and far between. And yet, we had a good time. We got cookies. We checked out the fountain. I got time with my boys, and we jammed out to the song "Dynamite" on the way home.  It wasn't the most productive trip, but after a week of being at work, hanging out with two of my favorite guys in the world, even at the mall, is alright.

Making pizzas

Another pizza master

So Much to be Thankful For

Today, Marshall and I were able to have "Thanksgiving Dinner" with our youngest at his montessori school. We were able to enjoy lunch, watch him do some yoga with his friend, and have him show us some "work". It was a nice break in the day and just some time to reflect on all we have to be thankful for.

Yoga pose

Thanksgiving "dinner"

Dinosaur "work"

San Diego 2010

Click here to view this photo book larger

(Bitter)Sweet Halloween

It was a beautiful Halloween night here in Denver. And it was a bittersweet one for me as D-man went trick or treating with our neighbor boy. So, no family outing around the neighborhood this year. I was happy that D-man has a friend he can actually go with. After all my lamenting about the lack of neighborhood feel here, I should be so happy about this. However, it means my little boy is growing up and eventually his younger brother will be bummed that his big brother doesn't want to go with us. But, this year, T-man was just fine and only was interested in going to a couple houses.

So for now, I'll be happy that my son had a good time trick or treating with his friend. And cherish the fact that he still wanted to carve a pumpkin with his Dad.

Our little Transformer

Darth Vadar!

Sunny San Diego

the view from the Cabrillo National Monument

I don't think I can truly do our trip to San Diego justice in a blog. I don't think we could have planned it more perfectly, ordered up better weather, or had a better time to travel. Besides T-man battling some sort of illness, the trip was pretty much perfect. Here's a quick rundown of our trip.

• Flew in Wednesday, ordered tacos from a local place and hit the beach with our wonderful tour guide (and former co-worker of mine). We were actually in the water and basically had the beach to ourselves. We then hit the pool and the hot tub. We stayed two nights with my friend and her family - how lucky we were to have such great hosts and be able to catch up in person as well! 
• Thursday took us to LegoLand for the entire day. Besides the vomit in the middle of park thanks to T-man, it was a perfect day. It was in the 80's and the park felt almost empty. Once again, we barely waited in line and the boys got to ride a ton of rides. Highlights included the entire family on the dinosaur roller coaster, touring Miniland USA, and just seeing the joy in the boys' eyes.  
• SeaWorld was our destination on Friday.  We saw the Shamu (Marshall and D-man got soaked) show, touched bat rays, went through the shark encounter, fed sea lions, and enjoyed a family ride on the Journey to Atlantis (among other things). At the end of the day, we truly felt like we were the only ones in the park. We definitely were spoiled with the limited crowds and lines. 
• We checked into the hotel on Friday night, hit the hot tub, watched the sun set, and had happy hour drinks and food at the hotel bar.
• T-man slept in Saturday morning while D-man and I hung out with our coffee and hot cocoa waiting for the rain to stop. Fortunately, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. We headed downtown to have lunch at Seaport Village.  We walked along the water and admired the boats (D-man was very impressed with the aircraft carrier). We then headed to the Cabrillo National Monument and met my friend from grad school and her family. The view was amazing and then the kids really enjoyed playing down in the sand (it was high tide so we didn't get to see the tide pools). We wrapped up the afternoon with a trip for ice cream. 
• Saturday night was lounging at the hotel with a trip to the hot tub, take out, and watching the Buff game. 

We returned Sunday in time to unpack, do laundry, have dinner, and partake in Halloween activities. What a perfect, perfect vacation.

Here are a few pics - you can view them all by clicking on this link. 

Beach on Wednesday

fun in the sand

Legoland!

made of Legos - wow!

Shamu!

Atlantis Ride

Atlantis Ride

Sunset

There are tide pools underneath that high tide

loving the water and the waves 

An Amusing Sunday

You know us - we don't want to pay full price if we can help it. So, we had to head to Elich's to use up the free tickets that the kids earned during the summer reading program. With the Bronco's playing that day at Invesco Field, we got to see the parachutes as well as the fly over.  It was another beautiful Colorado day and since it was the end of October, we hardly waited in line.

T-man was able to enjoy the kiddie rides (he had a GREAT time) and Marshall and D-man got to enjoy some big kid rides. I even got to ride the roller coaster with D-man (I avoided all spinning type rides). The day was even made better by having lunch downtown with friends that were in from Texas. We got to meet their daughter for the first time. What a treat!

Go Buffaloes

Ok - well, I never say "Go Buffaloes", but this is one of T-man's phrases these days (along with Go Big Red!). We had a beautiful day at the CU/Texas Tech game a couple of weeks ago. We met up with the Snow family and enjoyed throwing the football around and trying to cheer the Buffaloes to victory. Apparently, it will take more than cheering this year.

D-man stated he had a good time until the Buffs lost in the last couple of minutes. Alas, no day can be perfect. :)