Christmas 2008

My parents came to California for Christmas this year!! This is Randy's first visit to California since I have moved here. He has never really been a big fan of traffic!

They arrived on Christmas Eve and we went straight to Santa Monica Pier for the afternoon. Had an earlier dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Randy's favorite place and then drove up Malibu to get to our house.

Christmas day we just hung around the house and opened presents, ate dinner and went to the beach to check out the ocean.

We went to Universal Studios the day after Christmas...One of Randy' favorite theme parks! It is a lot closer than Disneyland and geared more towards adults. They had Grinchmas going on there and that was a lot of fun to see!!

On Saturday, we headed up to Santa Barbara, Solvang, Firestone Winery and Firestone Brewery. Mom said the winery was her favorite part of the entire trip. Firestone Winery and Firestone Brewery are about five minutes apart, but totally different atmosphere. Ron and Randy did the beer tasting and they both agreed it was the worst beer they have ever had!!

Sunday was the day they all left and the day Kelly started to get sick!! This was a great Christmas and I was so happy that everyone had a great time!

Mom, Randy and Ron doing wine tasting at Firestone Winery

Kelly at Wharf in Santa Barbara

Mom and Kelly on Wharf in Santa Barbara

Kelly, Randy and Mom in front of Universal Studios

Our first REAL Christmas tree!!

Ron, Kelly, Grinch, Mom and Randy!

Kelly with her Mickey Snowman Hat!

Beach Day for the Dogs

We took to the dogs on an beach day not to long ago and they had a blast. Normally we take them to the beach and they are on their leash and run around, but this time...We put them on 20 ft. long ropes and let them run around! They had so much fun and Ron and I never had to get wet!! (Normally Kehau will pull us into the ocean so that she can swim. With the 20 ft. rope, she got to go into the ocean and we got to stay on land!!)

Izzy about to dig!

Kehau on the way home after beach day!

Running back from her ocean swim...55 degree water!!

Deshae Visit

Deshae came down from Texas to visit for Thanksgiving week. We went to Disneyland for the weekend since she has never been to any Disney park. It was all decorated up for Christmas and we had a great time. Ron and her also went to several local attractions; Malibu, Santa Monica Pier. It was a great week and we look forward to her visit again this summer.

Victoria's New Room

With all my training for 1/2 marathons, I go through running shoes like there is no tomorrow. Victoria has found a great use for the shoe boxes...She will use them as her new bedroom until they bust out of the side and then we toss it!! Isn't she so cute!!