We got up really early, today, to drive to DIA for our trip to Sunny California for Christmas. Oi vey — 5am. Nikki and I were up quite late last night packing and tidying up the house a wee bit so we’re runnin’ on fumes. Zaiden loved being at the airport — he loves planes. He was great on the plane, too. We sat in the very front with a lady that didn’t mind if he was a little noisy or anything from time to time — which he wasn’t. When we landed, she let him sit in her lap to look at planes out the window (she had the window seat).
Did I type, “Sunny California” earlier? That should have been “Sunny in some parts but not where we are going California.” We heard from Nikki’s mother, Belinda, that there was snow up in Lake Arrowhead (where their “cabin” is) and that automobiles were required to put chains on. So, we upgraded our rental car to a 4wd SUV. We aren’t allowed to put chains on but at least it’s 4wd.
When we got to the “cabin,” it appeared that they did, in fact, get an amount of snow worthy of a little commotion. I guess about 30″. Plus, the snow plow scooped all the snow off to the side of the road which included blocking in some driveways. I’d say their drive way had about 5-5 1/2′ (yes, FEET) of snow in front of it. So, we shoveled the steps down to the front door and we all got nice and settled. We’re all ready for Christmas!
Nikki, Zaiden, and I celebrated Christmas, today. Santa agreed to drop off Zaiden’s gift early — a new tricycle! It has a handle on the back so we can push him around until he can do it himself and we can steer! It’s sweet! Zaiden really likes it … :) Click on the photo to the right to see the fun!
Zaiden’s school, Bright Star, had a holiday show, yesterday and it ended with a special visit from Santa Claus. It was very cute to see Zaiden’s little class shake their jingle bells along to the song. The older kids actually sang a couple of songs. It was very impressive to see the older kids maintain their composure because they knew who was coming when they were finished.
We also decorated the Christmas tree this week. Zaiden really liked it. The only bad thing was he mistook the decorative balls for the tree for balls that you throws. OOPS! One broke and he got to watch daddy sweep up the mess (he loves sweeping, by the way).
So, as usual, click on the photo to the right for some pictures. Enjoy!
I’ve finally taken a few minutes to get some pictures of Zaiden up on the website. If you click on the photo to the right, you can check them out. We took him trick-or-treating this year. We found a street a few blocks west of here where they really do Halloween right — folks go all out with decorations, they’re all sitting on their porch with candy, and some folks are moseying around with a beer or a glass of wine. It was really fun. Zaiden started getting into it, too, when he figured out that if he walked up to a house and looked cute he would get a treat (”treat” is one of his favorite words right now). Enjoy the photos!
Nikki and I have collected a few photos here and there over the last few months. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to publish these photos. I figured … why not now? There are photos of us camping with Paul, mom and dad, the weekend Kerry and Anthony got married, and much more.
As usual, click on the photo to the right to get to the photo album.
So, here we are. Three months past Zaiden’s first birthday and I’m finally getting around to posting some photos of the event. It was a perfect day - Zaiden went down for a nap just before people started to show up so we all got to eat and he napped. When he woke up, he was full of energy and wasn’t overwhelmed by all the people that showed up (mainly because we tried to keep it small). So, without further adieu, feel free to check out some photos of the event by clicking on the photo!
I’ve been trying to avoid mentioning any of this, but I just have to get it off my chest (and on the Internet in an attempt to try to keep people from having the same awful experience we’ve had). The Sedona Summit is the worst resort I’ve ever been to.
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This evening, we all celebrated Zaiden’s first birthday (albeit a little early). The resort had a nice little outdoor grill area. We got some hamburgers and brats and mosied on over. We cooked up a little feast and just had a nice little time on the patio. AJ an Brianna were feeling well enough to join us, too. Most excellent.
We went back to our room a little later to have some birthday cake. Zaiden was very cute and dug right in.
Tomorrow, we’ll be checking out and heading on home.
I have not mentioned, yet, that we have had people dropping like flies. I don’t remember who was sick when, but I do know that AJ, Brianna, and Cortney weren’t feeling well, today, because they didn’t go with us on our hike to Devil’s Arch. This is quite a shame because it was a fun hike with some great views! Brianna and Cortney would have loved the last two legs of the hike because you kinda have to scramble up some “stairs.” I went up the first leg, looked at the second, and decided Zaiden would have to wait to see the arch from the top. I went back down and dropped him off with Belinda (who was not about to climb even the first set of steps). Mike gets vertigo from time to time and didn’t want to do the second set of stairs. It ended up being Rachelle and me, then Nikki and me at the top. Belinda took some great photos (click on the one to the right for more!).
This morning I got up early and took Zaiden to the store where I picked up three boquets: one for each of the three mothers (Nikki, AJ, and their mother, Belinda). I didn’t know what kind of flowers AJ and Belinda like so I got them the “Mother’s Day Boquet” that was pre-made and I got Nikki a nice little boquet, too. Zaiden and I got Mother’s Day cards for all three of them and headed home. He and I signed them and set the cards next to the flowers. We timed it all quite well because nobody was awake until we had the cards set up next to the flowers. Score!
NOTE: The photo to the right is a link to the entire photo album for the week. I don’t have any photographs from today so one from yesterday will have to do.
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