LA KINGS

Last weekend, we had the chance to meet a couple of the players and the mascot from the LA Kings. I can not even tell you how excited the kids were to meet them (especially Jake). Madison wanted to get her Kings shirt signed and Jake brought his hat, puck, and little hockey stick. My favorite picture is of Jake looking on with amazement as Kopitar signs his little hockey stick. It's almost as if he's saying "you're real?" So cute.

Wildwood

So, we spent a couple of hours up at Wildwood Canyon the other day. The kids love it because it is just open areas of wilderness and they can explore. Got some cute pics too!

The beach in February

So, even though it's February, and a bit cold, we decided to head to the beach. When we got there, the weather was beautiful but very windy. We had a great time just walking around exploring and checking out all the tide pools. Madison & Jake both wanted to go in the water so badly, but we had to explain to the the difference between the beach in the summer and the beach in the winter. We had a great day. I included a video also of them playing around.

Rainy Day

I swear, as soon as it starts to rain, Jake jumps up and wants to get into his rain gear and go outside. So, that's just what we did. The ran, jumped, and danced in the pouring rain for about 45 minutes until Jake says "mom, my hands are freezing. Let's go inside." So we came inside, took a nice warm bath, got in our pj's and made some hot chocolate. Good times.

Zoo Trip

For Christmas, we were given a family pass to the LA Zoo for the year. So, a couple of weeks ago we went out and enjoyed a great day at the zoo. It was probably one of the best "weather days" to go. It was perfect. We were able to see the new gorilla habitat that they built last year. It was really neat to watch the gorillas play in this much larger area. And of course we had to spend a lot of time with the giraffes. Madison asked me to take a picture of her Raffi with his mommy and daddy. So, we did (see below).

Christmas

Well the festivities all began around 4:30 pm on Christmas Eve when we headed off to church. Services were nice, not the usual band which was weird, but still nice. Both kids slept through the entire service! After church we all headed to Pasadena to have dinner at El Cholo. The have to best chips and salsa. Yummy! After dinner we went to my parents house to open our Christmas pj's. Even the big kids got pj's. And then we heard jingle bells outside, so off we ran to make it home before Santa arrived.

Christmas was a blast to say the very least. There were endless gifts for the kids, and we all had a great time. We started out the morning at our house (obviously), and Santa brought Madison the jingle bell doll that she had been asking for and some Littlest Pet Shop toys. He brought army guys, army helicopters, and army tanks for Jay...which he LOVES!!! Next stop was my mom and dad's house where Lizzie and Jay met us too. Santa left new bikes for the kids there. Jake's is a Spiderman bike, and Maddie's is Cinderella. The gifts just kept coming...Maddie got some clothes, movies, a special Christmas doll that was my mom's, and so much more. Jake also got clothes, movies, and Papa's original G.I. Joe doll. Next we were onto Nancee's house were the toy explosion continued. Clothes, train sets, action figures, and more for Jake. Maddie got clothes, purses, art supplies, polly pockets, and a microwave oven. Needless to say the day was filled with fun and the kids made out VERY well.

Pre-Christmas fun

So, a couple of days before Christmas, we took the kids to the Americana in Glendale to see Santa. It was absolutely gorgeous! They had a huge tree all done up, carolers on the trolley, Santa's house, and even falling snow (pretend of course) at 8 pm. The kids had a blast. I've included some pictures of them with Santa and at home before we left. I got a chance to video them dancing while we were waiting to see Santa. So cute. I hope you enjoy my first blog post. More to come once we download Christmas pics.