Christmas Chaos

We wrote a special email to the Big Guy letting him know where we'd be....
it worked!

Look at all that loot!
Santa knew we had some very good kids this year!

A first Christmas for these two!

This guy was more of a spectator than a savage gift opener.

Stockings were first....I was still passed out and missed this part of the morning. But finally pulled myself out of bed in time for the gifts.

Then on to the good stuff!

Wow! Santa must have known how much fun we'd had on the new Toy Story ride.

Both my sisters have this amazing way of making Christmas super special. We were sad Lauren couldn't join us because she was in the last days of baby countdown and ineligible to fly. But she made all the kids crayon carriers and a cute coloring book about their Christmas trip to CA.

We drew names and boy did our boys score! Did I say Aunt Meg knows how to spoil them?

Star Wars stuff!

R2D2 Back Pack, Star Wars Cups and Dishes, & Clone Wars Books.

After all the big kids cleared out this guy perked up and got busy.
After much family debate we'd like to introduce the newest FRIEND to our family....
Luke Monkeywalker.
(Sorry Spank, Boba Fett, and Bobo didn't make the cut.)

Chris spent the rest of the day in the kitchen preparing our annual Italian Christmas Feast
while the kids partied in the hot tub and pool.
Amazingly, we cut our meal in half but felt just as full at the end.
Thanks Babe you made an amazing meal!

A Magical Eve

What could be more Magical than Christmas Eve at Disney Land?

Zach, Senneca, and Ethan are prepping for the rides.

It was a good thing because after years of tears Ethan was finally tall enough to
ride his very first roller coaster.....

and he quickly became addicted. He walked off all smiles no tummy turning for him.
However, for me the bystander it was at this point it all started going down hill.
Mid morning the stomach bug hit me and within hours I was in a Taxi escorted by my mother and Graham back to the house.

As you can see the day was full of smiles for everyone else.

It doesn't matter what you do for Christmas just being together is great!

Spending it with Mickey and friends was just a bonus!

The older kids were at the perfect Disney age....and the newborns were no problem at all plus they gave us stroller passes.

I was bummed not to get a complete Christmas Eve family shot.

Back at the house even though the hour was late we couldn't forget the traditional opening of one present...

....NEW CHRISTMAS PJ'S!

Thanks Grandma!

Hangin' At The House

When we weren't park hoppin' over the holidays we were just hangin' at the house.

Air Hockey with Grandpa S.
Graham became quite obsessed with the game.

He would go and cry by the door to the game room until Grandpa would take him out to play.

Every time he scored he would cheer.

Sweet Babies to love on!
6 month old cousin Sean was the same size as 14 month old Graham
Well, his dad is 6'2''ish.

I started the baby trend Oct. of '08 followed by Jack (Jenkins side), Jocelyn (below), then Sean last spring and ending last week when my youngest sister had her baby boy Hunter.

Dang! I guess that means it's my turn again for those of us still in the birthing years.
Ain't nothing in the works is all I can say.

It's funny....they all have about the same amount of hair!
Grandpa just can't get enough of his grandkids....especially the babies!
Probably helps that his hearing isn't what it used to be.

Hot Tub anyone?

When they weren't playing with all the cool indoor games and toys....

the cousins spent a bit of time out here in the heated tub and pool!

It's not Christmas without homemade decorated cookies for Santa!
Aunt Megan who came from Vegas made sure we had all the right gear for the job.
Thanks Megan for bringing all the yummy stuff and making it feel like Christmas.

We did forgo the Gingerbread houses this year...bummer we just ran out of time & energy.

We couldn't have asked for a better Home Away from Home for Christmas. Actually it IS nicer than the military style home we have now.
It sleeps 15+ comfortably, it is nicely remodeled, it was beautifully decorated for Christmas, the kitchen had most of what we needed for making our Christmas traditional goodies, and our annual Italian Feast (scaled down).

You can check it out on So. Cal Vacation Home Rentals.

SeaWorld & SeeFood

After countless movies, days of driving, weeks of traveling, a zillion how much longers....

They finally arrived......
THE BELOVED COUSINS & CHRISTMAS WEEK!

Our first adventure was The Huntington Library & Gardens.
We spent a lovely afternoon strolling, touring, and wrestling our way through
gardens from around the world.

It was all very peaceful for the patrons until our crew came through.

That afternoon we checked into our rented house in Anehiem...minutes from Disney (depending on who led the way;)!

Day 2
Sea World and all that comes with it.....

......Rides....

.......Friends......

...Smiles...

......And the Biggest Dolphin Ever....
(according to Ethan)

Despite the crisp weather the Slocombes rode the water ride
while the Jenkins watched from the bridge above.
I am NOT a fan of walking around wet all day even when it's hot.

Unfortunately that wasn't the end of the water rides. Reggie, Senneca, Chris, and Zach did one last innocent boat ride that turned into a drench ride with very unhappy kiddos at the end of the day.....the hot chocolate did not even help warm them up.

See that smiling face, don't kid yourself, under that joyful expression is a nasty stomach flu just bidding its time.

At first our dinner at Chick-Filet got the bad wrap but in the end it was a nasty virus that began at midnight to sabotage our Christmas.

......more to come!

Cruisin' To Mexico

We decided to fill one of our 6 weeks in the states on a cruise to....
the Mexican Riviera formerly known as The Love Boat Cruise.

CABIN ANTICS
We had SERIOUSLY been in our cabin for 15 minutes when I heard.......
Beep beep beep boop
"Mom do you know how to open the safe?"
Why...... I ask....
"Because Jack's inside."

I had just hung up with our cabin boy as he called to let us know not to hesitate to ask for anything. So I immediately called him back asking if anyone knows how to crack open a safe.

The first thing the supervisor asks when coming in was, "So, do you remember the combination?" I guess he misunderstood thinking we couldn't read the clearly printed instructions on the front of the safe. I said there is not combo just 20 randomly pushed numbers. I left him to it and miraculously we got Jack back. We then quickly set our own code on an empty safe just in case.

Adjoining rooms means adjoining balconies...

We enjoyed a bit of time out there. Especially as the coast was on our side most of the way down.

The boys had places to be and things to do.
Graham had to do a bit of self entertaining.

OUT AND ABOUT
As first time cruisers we really didn't know what to expect.

Would the boys enjoy it?
Would we overeat?
Would Zach & I be sick the entire time?

The answers
YES
A few times
and thankfully No!

We really really REALLY enjoyed our Saphire Princess Experience.

One downside was we did not pack for the formal nights.
I didn't want to pack formal dresses around on a 6 week vacation. Also we weren't sure if we would even be able to go with the three boys. Come to find out the kids club was AMAZING and we hardly saw the boys. They were so booked with activities that changed hourly they just had enough time to eat and have a quick dip in the pool before they were off on their next adventure....sometimes as late as 10pm. We often found Ethan passed out when we went to pick them up. He doesn't last much past 7:30pm....the staff was nice enough not to interrupt our evening.

You can't be sailing the seas without a Pirate Party Arrrghhhh!

Or a Trazadone Patch for some of us. It worked! I had a painfully dry mouth and completely blurred vision just like the warnings said.....but I didn't get seasick. Just a little icky the last day as the seas were especially rough. My vision was so bad I couldn't read anything or see what I had put on my plate at mealtime.

While Thing 1 and Thing 2 were busy
these guys and I.....

enjoyed art auctions, pina coladas, comedians, working out, the spa, and walking on deck.

In PortChris and I had a plan to trade off days doing shore excursions alone but.....his got canceled.
Porta VillartaWe hailed a cab for the Ghetto Park, I mean Water Park. It was off season so we pretty much had the park to ourselves and a bazillion bees. By the time we got back to the ship we didn't really have time to go anywhere else so we opted to check out the stalls of Mexican Junk at the port entrance. One of the vendors put a Luchador mask on Ethan and he was off. Chris was holding Graham so it was my job to sprint after him. It was like a scene from a bad movie. He was weaving in and out of people, through stalls, between leg, with Zach in hot pursuit saying, "Stop that Kid he's stealing!" Spectators of all nationalities yelled various remarks about him and the crazy women after him as he leap down the stairs and finally fell.....into an empty fountain. For a split second we had contemplated buying him a mask but when we saw the result of the "Mask Powers" we instead returned the mask and left as fast as we could.

Mazatlan
Was a better day. We set out on a highlights tour of the city which included a view of the light house not a view from the light house, a cathedral,....
a cliff diver (pretty cool), ate hot quesadillas and tortilla soup while a caballero played the guitar and serenaded us......

and then these guys...

The Papatlayn Flyers
They were by far the best thing we did. You can only see this show through private guides or ship tours. They demonstrated amazing feats their people have done for centuries. As well as regional dancers and el vaquero (Mexican Cowboy) who was amazing with a lasso.
Cabo San Lucas

There was not enough time in this port. If we ever vacation in Mexico again we would love to spend several days here. I spent the day zip lining, rappelling, river crossing, and rock climbing.....all by my lonesome and a small group of about 15 strangers in the Sierra Mountains. It is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do and Chris made it happen. I pushed myself to try new things, enjoyed my non mommy time, and had a STELLAR day but you can't take cameras on the tour:(

Chris left Zach on the boat (Z's choice) and took Ethan and Graham on a glass bottom boat tour. The bay is so shallow we had to take a tender into port unfortunately that took extra time out of our already too short of a day.

Then we were Los Angeles bound again ready to start the Slocombe Family Christmas Festivities.