Christmas at the del

Wednesday, the del had their Christmas celebration. Santa was there with his elves and we had a successful sit on his lap along with pictures. Games and refreshments were on the sun deck and Village Elementary kids sang Christmas carols. The ice skating rink was open on the Windsor Lawn and we sat and had hot toddies while we watched. It was a beautiful night.

Lauren was thrilled to have her friend Ellie join us.

Disneyland

At 6:00 a.m. the Friday after Thanksgiving we got up and drove to Anaheim to spend two days at Disneyland and California Adventure. We had a quick trip up there. We were expecting big crowds and it did not disappoint.

We had a magical time and seemed to get the special treatment while we were there. The girls met a knight who invited us to a private meeting of Jasmine.

They were also brought up on stage during our lunch at the French Market to play the tambourine. They loved being on stage.

Such fun it was to see Disneyland through their eyes.

Thanksgiving at the Kempfs

Because Mom came for Halloween we were on our own for Thanksgiving. That is until our good friends Mark and Colleen Kempf and Hugh and Jennifer Winkel invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them. We headed over there around noon turkey and fryer in tow. This is the 3rd or so time that Chad has fried a turkey for Thanksgiving (and he is really good at it). I made green beans and mashed potatoes and gravy and an apple pie. We had a ton of food and it was so much fun to spend it with great friends.

The girls had a blast playing together. They managed to get in a movie of Belle.

Colleen set a beautiful table and they have a huge house to fit us all in. Once the sun set, Mark lit a fire in the pit outside and we had drinks and dessert out back. Thanks to the Winkels and Kempfs for such a memorable Thanksgiving. We are off to Disneyland in the morning so I am off to bed.

That is it for fall soccer

Last Saturday was Lauren's last soccer game of the fall season. We had a party after the game at Coach Marc's house. We had tacos, quesadillas, chips and guacamole and Christy made cupcakes for dessert. Coach Marc handed out trophies to the whole team. Lauren was thrilled with hers.

Palm Desert

After the Silver Strand Half Marathon we drove up to Palm Desert for the night. I booked a room at the JW Marriott. I had heard about this place from a man on a flight from Jacksonville, FL to San Diego. He had been there before and raved about it. I have had it in the back of my mind and finally we had a three-day weekend to check it out. The hotel was beautiful and had a moat that came into the lobby with gondolas. There was a golf course and many swimming pools. I enjoyed sitting in the hot tub relaxing my sore muscles.

There were mountains all around the hotel. That night we had a nice little dinner in town. The next day we woke up to more swimming and the headed home.

I did it!

Sunday, November 11th I ran my first half marathon. Considering I couldn't run a mile a little over a year ago this was quite a feat. After running the 15K (about 9 miles) on July 4th, I thought that I may be able to do the 13.1 in the half marathon. So after about 4 months of training I did it. It felt awesome and I felt really prepared for it. I was a little sore the next day, but nothing a dip in the hot tub couldn't fix (see next post). The race started at the back gate of the base and went down the strand and finished in IB. Chad and the girls walked me up to the start and then walked down a little ways to wave at the start. The then walked home and stayed for a little bit and got in the car and drove down the strand to the 8 mile marker and got out to wave. I can't tell you how much their cheering helped. They managed to see at a couple more spots before they were cheering at the finish line. Lauren ran with me for a little stretch. There are now thoughts of a marathon, but we will have to wait and see.

Barbie time

Lauren's friend Brynn came over for a playdate. She loves riding the Barbie jeep when she is over. They were on their way to the "beach".

Navy beat Notre Dame

What a game that was. We met the Hoffmans and their friend Brady at Seaus, a sports bar in San Diego, to watch the Navy game. That is where the Navy Alumnae Association watches the Navy games. The place was rockin during the overtimes. You could just feel the emotion in the place. My voice was pretty shot after all of our cheering. Finally Navy beat Notre Dame.

Bonfire

Lauren, because she kept her "hug card" from school for 5 days straight (good behavior), choose to have a bonfire for her surprise. We waited until Nana was in town to do this. We had wood, matches, stuff for smores and were ready to go. All of us girls were sitting around crossing our fingers hoping Chad could get the fire going (knowing he is not a boy scout). He had no problem and we didn't even have to use lighter fluid.

We all took our coat hangers and got busy scorching our marshmallows to make smores. Allie was the only one that ate her whole thing. I just liked eating the burnt marshmallows. Lauren liked catching her marshmallows on fire.

Me and My Girls

It is good to have Nana around b/c she can take pictures of us. We had a great visit with her.
Thanks for coming!

Trick or Treat

Here in Coronado they do something called Downtown Goes Ghostly. We had some friends meet over at our house to walk down Orange Ave. and trick or treat at all the businesses. We saw so many of our friends while we were trick-or-treating all dressed very adorable. After that everyone came back for our Halloween tradition of hosting dinner. We had Pina Gouladas, Chicken Killaquilles, Decomposed Salad, and Halloween cookies and brownies. After dinner the Winkels and us went to a few houses right around us for a little nighttime trick-or-treating. It was such a fun day. The girls had to be woken up the next morning for school.

Halloween Performance

The morning of Halloween Lauren's class put on a performance for all the parents. They sang 4 songs and read us a book that they all made about Halloween. They did a great job and you could hear Lauren's voice above everyone else. It wasn't like she was singing loud, she just could really hold a tune. We had a small party after the performance. The class mom's did coffee and muffins for the parents and the kids went outside for their fun snack.

Nana is Here!

Mom came in on Monday for the Halloween celebrations. We picked her up from the airport after Lauren was finished with school. We are having a great visit with her. She is getting to see all of the girls' activities, school and friends. The week is flying by which is always the case.