Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!

On day 9, we headed to the North County mall to see Santa.  This is definitely not my favorite place to visit Santa.  Their set up is real modern and strange.  You walk through this hi tech strobe light tree or something and then get to visit with Santa sitting in this large ornament ball.  What happened to Santa sitting in a woodsy cottage or something?

 

The kids certainly didn't mind.  We were actually standing in line for a while when the line stopped moving.  Finally the elves explained that the camera was having issues and it would be a bit of a wait.  We said we didn't want the picture package, just wanted to see Santa.  The elves let me snap my own pics while Tatum told Santa she wanted a face painting kit and Ty said he wanted an ATV, like Daddy. :)  

Day 10 was cookie baking and then day 11 was ginger bread house making!  This year we got a kit with 4 small houses which proved to be more challenging but the kids loved it!

The finished product!

Day 12 was reading The 12 Days of Christmas and listening to the cd of course, and day 13 was making shredded Christmas paper Christmas trees (which I didn't take a picture of but they came out pretty cute!).  And then day 14 was Legoland!  We had two free tickets and then got two more on discount so Garrett took the day off and we all enjoyed our first time at Legoland.  Ty loved it!

 

We were there in time for their Snow show, where a little girl wishes for snow in San Diego and while she's asleep, her toys come to life and make her wish come true.  Here's Tatum with the fairy from the play.

Then it was pizza time!

Legoland has lots of great activities for small kids.  They could even board and ride this train all by themselves!

 

Tatum was eaten by a lion!

Down, down she goes! :)

While the kids enjoyed this play area, we got a call that Harley had escaped our backyard and was gone!  He wasn't wearing his collar since we had just given him a bath a few days before, so we were really worried about him.  The whole neighborhood was so helpful, driving the streets in the rain to find him.  And we felt so powerless since we couldn't leave Legoland until we at least got good use of the tickets we payed for. 

  

Poor Harley was lost out in the cold but we made the best of it. :)

We loved all their Christmas decorations and this concert we watched.

 

And the snow!  They had a whole snow area with sledding, lego blocks to build igloos, and these big snowmen with accessories.

 

Ty spent a long time decorating this guy.

 

And both kids loved this snow ball target area.  Here's Tatum taking a shot.

Go Ty!

Merry Christmas!!

Legoland has all these random structures made out of legos.  The kids loved climbing on them.

And we went through this maze where we were searching for lost keys in a mummy room,...

and an ice room where the polar bear got Daddy!

Since Ty loves pirates and instruments, he loved these singing and moving pirates show.

And both kids loved climbing and exploring in this large Medieval castle area.

 

After a horse ride,...

we rode on the Dragon roller coaster, their favorite ride of the day, and then it started to rain and our fun came to an end.  It was for the best since Harley was still missing and we needed to get home.  We started searching as soon as we got back and as it got darker and colder, it looked like we'd never find him.  A neighbor suggested posting on craigslist so just after I put up a post about Harley, I noticed a post about a found dog in Poway on the same street he had last been seen on.  We waited for hours for the person to get back to my email and after four people called telling me that there was a found dog post that sounded very similar to Harley (so nice to know there are such kind people in the world), the fifth caller was the woman who had Harley!  She said she was downtown at a Buddhist meditation center and would take another hour or more getting back up to us.  But when she finally arrived with Harley at 11 pm, and he was healthy and safe, we were all extremely relieved.  She had taken him to the vet, to Petco and then to the meditation center.  What an experience!  We never found out why she took him but either way, we were very grateful to have our family member returned!

More Christmas merriment!

On day 3, the kids unwrapped Christmas books.  A few were new but a few we'd had and we read them that night and most nights this month.  But on day 4 we made salt dough ornaments.  The kids loved rolling out the dough and picking different cookie cutters to use.

 

And on another day we painted them and then gave them out to friends and family.  Such a fun activity!

On the 5th day, Tatum's kindergarten went to see the Elves and the Shoemaker play.  I got to be a chaperon on the bus.  It had been many years since I'd been on the bus, a flash back to elementary school for me since I took a bus to school from kindergarten through 6th grade.  I loved it and so did the kids!

Abigail and I sat together and she said, like all the other kids, the best part about the bus is there are no seat belts. :)

This was my group of girls, from left, Regan, Kaitlin, Tatum and Abigail.  A sweet group of girls and great listeners.

After arriving at the Escondido Arts Center, the kids enjoyed lunch and some free time.

Then we headed into the theater for the show!

 

Tatum and I had a blast and I was so happy to get to be a chaperon for a day.  And we all loved the play, excellent job!

On day 6, I had my Wine Night girls over and we enjoyed a chili bar for dinner, festive pomegranate seeds and green rimmed champagne and then we all exchanged our favorite things.  We each brought 5 of our favorite thing or things under $6.  We all enjoyed getting champagne, hair ties, lip balm, candy, key ring, coffee gift cards and wine.  A wonderful night!

 

On day 7, while the boys enjoyed dinner and a movie out, the girls went to December Nights in Balboa Park.  It was a cold night and after finally finding a parking spot, we got there just in time for all the festivities to begin.

They had beautiful lights up all over the park.  There were lots of craft booths and food booths, and lots and lots of lights!

 

After walking around a bit, we headed to the courtyard outside The Prado for a drink.  Tatum enjoyed a Shirley Temple while Grandma and I enjoyed a white wine.

 

And then we all enjoyed throwing coins into the fountain and making wishes!  Tatum kept faking us out and not throwing hers in.  She thought that was pretty funny. :)

But eventually we all made wishes and Tatum's came true just a few minutes after when we walked down the museum strip and she got a cup of hot cocoa. :)

I had to get a picture of this.  Someone had dressed up their dog and were driving him around in this remote controlled car.  The things people will do to their pets! :)

 

After grabbing some delicious food from The Prado food truck, we sat down at the Spreckles Organ Pavilion and watched them light the tree and listened to a choir.  Really beautiful.

Then we walked through and reviewed the story of Jesus' birth...

and then after some chocolate covered strawberries on a stick, we said good bye to December Nights and headed home. 

On the 8th, we put together a foam Nativity Scene.  Wow, that was much more complicated than I thought it was going to be.  Lots of little parts and lots of details. 

But we pushed through (more work on my and Grandma's part of course) and it came together!

Then Garrett and I headed down and checked into the Manchester Grand Hyatt for his work party.  Here was our view and sunset!

 

 

Then we headed down to the cocktail hour and to my dismay, found it outside.  Come on, it's winter!  Who puts the cocktail hour outside!  Well, I was definitely not dressed for it but we enjoyed visiting with his work friends for an hour and then headed into the dining hall.

We enjoyed sitting with Garrett's coworker Chuck and his wife.  And after a delicious meal we all headed up to the 40th floor for more drinks and merriment.  A wonderful night!

The next morning, I headed down to the hotel coffee shop and on my way there, I saw this gingerbread display in their lobby.  Amazing!  This is a replica of the hotel, completely made out of ginger bread!  And then each little ginger bread house was made by a group of 3rd graders from near by schools.

They asked you to vote for your favorite so after looking at each one, I chose #7A.  Perfectly placed candy, love it!