4th of July

We celebrated the holiday weekend up in Lake Arrowhead.  We haven't been up to the cabin since Thanksgiving, so it was nice to get back up there.  The only thing was it was so HOT!! It was in the upper 80's all weekend.  Of course, it was cooler than it would have been at home, but still it was hot and we are used to the cooler weather up there.

Trent ready to head up the mountain.

We got up there on Saturday afternoon and pretty quickly made our way to the village.  I was excited to see what the outlets had...mainly what sales were going on at Coach.  I came away with a cute new pair of sunglasses.  Of course, there was a purse I had my eye on, but really did I need another purse...Tim would say no, but I always say yes to the purse.  I exercised restraint and just bought the sunglasses.  We enjoyed the rest of Saturday with relaxing on the patio and enjoying a delicious dinner.
On Sunday, we ventured to Lake Gregory to hopefully cool off in the lake.  Jeff, April and their kids had been to Lake Gregory before so we kind of knew what to expect.  I was a little nervous because we were told there is a lot of seaweed (or lake grass), but you can rent a paddle board and hopefully try to avoid the lake grass.  I wasn't sure how Trent was going to handle the lake grass.  He freaked out in Cancun and Puerto Vallarta with the seaweed, so I was betting that he would freak out again.  Maybe it's that Trent is getting older and more mature (which is a good thing, but I am the one freaking out because he is growing up), but he handled the lake grass perfectly, he just tried to avoid it.  No freaking out by Trent, just by me...I will get to that in a moment. 
So, we get situated at the lake and Trent and I rent a paddle board and make our way to shore and everyone is having a great time in the lake.  As I said before Trent is loving playing around in the lake.  All of the sudden someone spots a dead fish.  Seriously!!!  A dead fish is just floating around.  I see it and start to freak out.  I want to get out of the water ASAP, but we are about 10 feet away from the shore where the lake floor is mushy and gross.  I put my flip flops on and touch the lake floor and my flip flops get stuck in the muck.  I start screaming and Tim is trying to get my flip flops and I am trying to avoid the lake floor.  I am inbetween crying and screaming because seriously I am in brown water, where there is a dead fish, a mushy lake floor and I just want to get on dry land.  I am sure everyone including my immediate family is starring at me, but I don't care.  I want to get out.  I kind of compose myself enough to get to shore and get out.  So there I was the one that freaked out and not Trent.  Lucky me!  I am quite sure I will never live that one down.
The rest of the time at Lake Gregory was enjoyable.  Trent and Madison had a great time playing in the lake and on the paddle board.  I am sure it is something that we will do again when we are in Lake Arrowhead.  Hopefully, next time I won't freak out and hopefully there won't be any dead fish floating around (I don't think that is too much to ask for).  

Hanging out in the lake.

 Having fun!

 Lake Gregory

 Enjoying our time together.

 Doesn't everyone hula hoop at the lake??

After the lake Trent and I were both exhausted and were able to take a nap before the fireworks show.

We were all looking forward to the fireworks show over Lake Arrowhead.  We got to our usual spot and waited for the show to begin.

 Cousins

 Me and my boy!

The fireworks show was one of the best we have seen, especially the finale.

On Monday, Tim and John took Madison and Trent to Strawberry Peak lookout to check things out.  There was no hiking involved, just a simple adventure.  They had fun and it was just the little adventure they needed.  While they were out I enjoyed an hour or so of reading, which was just what I needed.

We headed down the mountain around noon.  We were greeted with super hot weather, but it was nice to be home.  We went over to my parents in the evening and enjoyed their air conditioned house and had a yummy dinner.  It was a great way to end a great weekend.

Christmas

The holidays are over and it all went by too quickly.  We had a great Christmas. I have to say that seeing Christmas through your child's eyes is amazing.  It gives me a whole new prospective and I see how much each tradition we do means to Trent and how it relates to his overall experience. Trent is a creature of habit like myself.  Every morning he would eat his chocolate (don't judge me) from his Advent calendar, cut off a ring on his Christmas chain and then right before we would leave the house each day he would place his magnet on the felt Christmas tree counting down to Christmas.  All was right with the day when we kept with our traditions.
Trent was so excited going to sleep on Christmas Eve, I wasn't sure if he would ever fall asleep.  He woke up Christmas morning just as excited as the night before.  He ran into the living room to see what Santa left him.  He loved all that Santa brought him.  The first gift he went for was the Hedgehog game he wanted.  He was so excited that Santa remembered he wanted it.  He moved onto the DS games, the globe, the Star Wars and Super Hero books, Mad Libs and so much more.  Santa definitely spoiled our boy, he must have been a good boy in the past year.

Tim got some fun stuff from REI that he really liked.  Trent was excited for Tim to see what Clif bars he had picked for him.  I was excited to see what jewelry Trent had picked out for me.  He got me a beautiful silver cross, a very pretty, but a bit too bling for me bracelet and a gorgeous pair of fancy earrings.  Trent had picked out the jewelry for me all on his own.  Tim is so good about letting Trent decide what to get me.  There was one piece of jewelry that Tim had to put his foot down and tell Trent to pick out something else for me.  Trent wanted to get me this ring so bad that he was willing to give up going to Disneyland for a year and told Tim he could just work harder so he could get the ring.  Tim told Trent that the ring was too expensive and he wasn't sure if it was quite me. Trent disagreed and was adamant that I would love the ring.  Tim and the salesperson were able to persuade Trent to get me the other pieces of jewelry.  I love finding out what Trent thinks I like, it's so precious.

After opening our presents, we headed off to church.  I was a bit nervous on the way to church because I was going to read a bible verse, Luke, Chapter 2, verses 1-14 in front of the congregation.  It would be the first time that a bible verse would be read by a church member after the text word was read by the minister.  I had read the verse numerous times in my head and when the time came to read it in front of the church members I did a pretty good job, Trent agreed too.  Of course, I could have slowed down a bit more, but all in all it went pretty well.  

From church we headed up to my Grandpa's in Tehachapi.  We were looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my family.  My Uncle and his wife were in from Minnesota, so it would be good to see and spend time with them.  For dinner we were having ham and a turducken, which everyone was looking forward too.  I am not a big fan of ham (Tim says I can't even say the word ham without making some sort of gross look), so I was hoping that I would like the turducken, which I did.

Trent loved playing Santa again and Jake was his helper.  They were so cute handing out gifts.  My parents got Tim and I a single cup coffee maker.  I was so excited to get this gift.  My Mom and I had talked about the coffee maker, but I was reluctant to get it because I wasn't sure we had the counter space.  Well, she thought we did and got it for us.  I am so glad she did.  I was like a kid when I saw it and started to shriek a bit.  I found counter space (as soon as we got home) for the coffee maker and we are enjoying delicious coffee each morning.  

I will say it again, we had a great Christmas.  I love our families and we are so lucky to have all of them.

The beautiful ring Trent wanted to get me.

The goodies Santa left for Trent.

Trent hugging the Hedgehog game.

Reading the note Santa left for him.

Playing his new Batman DS game.

Trying out the dual lightsabers.

A goofy smile, of course.

Pictures before church.

Trent and Jake delivering presents.

Trent opening his keyboard from Grandpa and Grandma.

Playing outside in the cold.

Shooting the bebe gun.

Christmas Eve

Since Tim was born and before that Christmas Eve was celebrated at Tim's grandparents, Henry and Ethel's house; it was a long family tradition.  This year since Ethel had open heart surgery on December 1st and was recovering at Tim's parents house, Christmas Eve would be celebrated there.  It was going to be quite a change.  We usually all gather in Henry and Ethel's living room with the presents overflowing out of the room.  We have to strategically maneuver to a seat and try not step on a present or a person.  It's a bit crowded with 18 or so adults and 7 kids, but we all manage to unwrap gifts and have a good time.  This year at Tim's parents house there would be more room, but would it have the same magic as Henry and Ethel's house?  There is something about their house on the hill in Highland Park that's magical.  Maybe that the decor hasn't changed a bit from when Tim's Mom was a kid or that the house has decades of memories inside.

So, 4:00 p.m. rolled around and we headed a few blocks to Tim's parents house to celebrate Christmas Eve.  As I walked in the door I could see all the presents, they weren't overflowing out of the room like at Henry and Ethel's, but there were a lot of presents to be opened.  People soon started to arrive and the festivities began.  Trent was so excited to play Santa and hand out gifts.  I was so happy to see him get such great joy out of handing someone a present, rather than asking where his presents were.  He handed out so many presents before he opened one for himself.  Such a good boy.  Trent got so many great gifts.  We are so blessed to have such a generous and thoughtful family.  It was a great Christmas Eve and magical in a different way.

A few pictures before heading over to Tim's parents house.

Let the chaos begin.

All smiles!

Trent snuggling up in his new Batman quilt, thanks Grandma Cindy.

Awesome Star Wars toys.

Henry and Ethel opening their gift...a picture of all six of their great grandkids.

Trent loved putting out the cookies and milk for Santa and then some treats for the reindeer.

Silly boy pretending to eat Santa's cookie.