We had a wonderful holiday this year. After Disneyland, we headed up to do the family festivities. Grandma even created a Star Wars bedroom for Jack!
After a couple of days relaxing at Mike's mom and stepdad's house in Bonsall, we arrived at Christmas Eve. In the morning, I made dinner rolls and a trifle for dessert and then we headed off to a quick visit with Great Aunt Shirlee, Donnie, and Dave in Ramona. It's always fun to see Aunt Shirlee and family when we are in town. She's still sharp as a tack although she's gotten very tiny!
After our visit here, we drove to Kami and Jason's house in San Marcos for Christmas Eve. Kami made a great dinner of gnocchi and several different kinds of sauces. We had a concert from Katelyn, Alyssa, and Uncle Michael (on Katelyn's sax), Jack found the legos, we opened presents which were really thoughtful and wonderful, and we even had some box tower destruction, arguably Jack's favorite part of the evening.
Then, we drove back up to Bonsall, and put Jack to bed while Santa's elves got busy putting a few toys together. Santa left the presents unwrapped and easy access :).
Despite threatening to jump on our bed and shout "It's Christmas" in the early hours, Jack slept in until a respectable 6:30am before waking us up. He was very excited about his Santa presents and stocking and played with these until the Mandells arrived.
After Kami and Jason and the girls arrived, we had breakfast and then got down to the rest of the presents. Again, they were wonderfully fun, thoughtful, and exciting. Of course, in the Pierce family Legos and Star Wars were prevalent themes.
After present opening, a big portion of the afternoon was taken up with Lego construction...Alyssa had her set, and Mike, myself, Kami, Jason, and Katelyn all ended up helping Jack with his various sets at different times.
We had a very yummy Christmas dinner of beef tenderloin, smashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and mushrooms. The table as always was beautiful, and since we forgot later, this is also the only family picture we took...
After dinner, we all played games, had some dessert, and then were ready for bed early.
On Monday, we moved down to San Diego with Mike's dad and stepmom. We had a good time with the Mandells and Papa and Gran Fran wandering through the USS Midway Museum.
A lot of planes fit on the flight deck of this carrier!
The view from deck...
Briefing rooms...
There were a lot of buttons and knobs in the communications room before modern computers came in!
On Tuesday, we went to Coronado and hung out on the beach and wandering through the Hotel Del Coronado. The weather was beautiful and much appreciated by us sun deprived Western Washingtonians. Plus we saw laws of WSU fans since the holiday bowl is today. Jack, of course, got his pants wet in no time! But it was okay because it really warmed up nicely today. 72 degrees by lunchtime!
"The Sand Castle Man" hangs out near the hotel and creates elaborate creations each day.
It's been a great trip overall! Tomorrow afternoon, we head for home. Time to get back to reality (and homework)!
