San Diego , USS Midway - December 28, 2010

Every time we go to San Diego, our son insists on visiting the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier that's docked near downtown and has been turned into a museum.  Since our youngest is old enough to actually tour the ship now, we've all gone the last couple times, and the girls have been excited to go and not just indulging their brother.  We decided to get a membership this time since we do tend to make it down at least a couple of times a year and it's a great organization to support.

There are new things to see just about every time we tour the ship, and this time was no different.  They had added a family audio tour, so we let the older kids get the headsets and listen to the recording as we wandered around the ship.  They were fascinated by the information they heard, so it was worth having them wear them.  Our youngest was disappointed that she couldn't listen, too, but she did enjoy climbing around the ship and up and down the ladders.

We had lunch at the cafe onboard, which we hadn't done before, and the food was pretty good.  We finished the day up on the flight deck, where Mike took the big kids up to tour the tower and our little one and I hung out in a helicopter.  She spent her time serving pretend food, flying us to exotic locales, and chatting with other kids who came in.  When I finally convinced her to go outside, she checked out the information on signal flags and wandered around the deck until the others came back out to meet us.

It was a fun day for all of us and we stayed until they closed the ship down for the night.  We then headed back to the house for dinner with Mike's parents and then off to bed.

After Christmas in San Diego

Two days after Christmas, we drove down to San Diego to spend some time with Mike's parents. We did the same thing last year and found out that it's a great time to be there, and we all love our trips to visit Gramma and Grampa, so all five of us were really looking forward to the trip.

The day we left started out foggy, so we didn't have high hopes for the drive. Just before we got on the highway, though, the fog burned off and it turned into a bright, sparkly day. Incredibly, we had no traffic going down - unheard of for driving through Los Angeles! It only took us eight hours and we were happily pulling into Mike's parents' driveway. The kids immediately got the scooters and skateboards and started riding up and down the sidewalk and Mike threw the ball up the street for Zatarain, who was very happy to be out of the car after the long ride. I ran out right away to pick up food for the dog and then we spent the evening watching the Saints beat the Falcons and eating burgers.

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I know it's 4 days after Christmas, but I'm just now finding the time to sit down and do this.  It was a crazy few weeks leading up to the holidays, with sports still going, school activities, and our normal nuttiness on top of the kids' excitement over Christmas.  I do have to say that it seemed less frantic somehow than in years past, though I'm not sure why exactly.

On Christmas Eve, Mike had to finish his shopping, so I had the kids for the day.  We did a couple of errands in the morning and then I had a Pilates class at noon.  Once we got back from the Y, we all cleaned up and got ready for mass.  We had to be there early because our older daughter was singing in the choir, so it did make for a bit of a long afternoon.  The church was packed, as usual, and it was about the looudest mass I've ever been to, but we all survived and then headed home for dinner.

Our friends came over with their two boys that evening, as they have for the past few years.  We did a Dungeness crab extravaganza, with a bunch of cold, cracked crab for an appetizer and steamed, hot crab for dinner.  We also had some wonderful caviar and cheeses before the meal and a ginger spice cake with homemade butterscotch topping for dessert.  Yum!  It was a fun night and once again, we chatted late into the evening.

I still had a mountain of wrapping to do, so I knew it was going to be a LATE night.  I swear every year that I'm going to get it done ahead of time and every year I end up doing it that night.  Best laid plans, I guess.  I finally got it all done and the stockings ready and the gifts under the tree by about 2:30.  We desperately hoped that the kids would take pity on us and sleep in a bit, since they had gotten to bed late as well.

Our youngest woke up at her usual 6:45 on Christmas morning, but I was able to convince her that it was still night since it was dark out yet and she managed to go back to sleep.  Her brother and sister woke up at about 7:45 and proceeded to head downstairs and check out the tree and sort the gifts into piles while they waited for the rest of us to get up. Good thing I got my pictures of the tree the night before!  The little one woke up the second time at about 8:30, so we all got up and got the day started.

We opened the gifts in our stockings first, to take the edge off and give breakfast time to cook.  Mike fixed the traditional breakfast casserole, which he and I love and the kids refuse to eat - too bad for them! They did sit through part of 'A Christmas Story", which Mike and I think is hysterical and we have on most of the day on Christmas.  The kids didn't really get it, but they were willing to watch it if it was the only thing on.  After breakfast, it was on to the presents under the tree.

The kids were all very happy with their gifts.  The highlights: an iPod Touch for our son, an American Girl horse for our older daughter, and a unicorn Pillow Pet for our younger daughter (her main present didn't arrive in time, so I told her she'd get it after our trip).  Mike gave me two iPad covers from the leather company we fell in love with last year, Saddleback Leather, plus a new camera since I killed the old one about a month ago.  I gave him a very large briefcase from Saddleback that will hold all of his work stuff and then some. 

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out at home.  The weather was awful - rainy and windy - so there was no desire to go outside.  We all stayed in our pajamas for most of the day.  The girls and I made chocolate chip cookies, which I'd been promising them we'd do, but I just had hadn't found the time to make them.  We did a dinner of leftovers and got everyone to bed at a reasonable time.

It was a lovely Christmas and went by all too fast, as usual.  I always hate when Christmas is over because it's my favorite time of the year and I absolutely love the whole build-up to the day.  It helps that we're now on vacation in San Diego and enjoying spending time with Mike's parents.  We did it last year for the first time and had a great time, so we decided to make it a tradition.

From our crazy family to yours, a belated Merry Christmas and a very happy new year!  May you all have a wonderful 2011!

Creamy Parsnip Soup

This is a recipe from Martha's Everyday Food, so thank you (again) Martha Stewart!  It's really tasty, very easy, and only takes about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. butter
1 lb. prepared leeks, sliced (2 cups)
1 lb. parsnips, trimmed, peeled, and cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
2 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium baking potato (about 1/2 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced sodium chicken broth (or homemade stock is even better)
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Leek garnish (see below)

Directions:

1. Heat butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add leaks (reserving 1/2 cup for garnish). Cook, stirring, 5 minutes.
2. Add parsnips, apples, potato, broth, and 4 cups water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until vegetabels are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth (or use an immersion blender).  Return it to pot; stir in cream.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with leek garnish.
4. To make leek garnish, in a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high.  Add reserved 1/2 cup leeks; cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Halloween!

We had a very nice Halloween.  Our son had two projects to work on over the weekend, so he spent most of Saturday and a good part of Sunday getting those done.  His baseball game (the last one of the fall season) was cancelled because the other team wasn't able to get enough kids together to play.  Hopefully they'll be able to reschedule it, but it did make the day easier overall.  Our older daughter went home with a friend after mass, so they had a fun time carving pumpkins and playing together.  Our little one spent a long time playing outside since it was an absolutely gorgeous day.  A few of the neighbor kids came out, too, so they all ran around in the driveway and in and out of each other's houses for a long time.

After picking our daughter up, I fed the kids and they got into their costumes.  The Saints and Giants were both playing, so Mike stayed home to keep the candy bowl filled (he put it out on the porch instead of answering the door) and I took the kids and the dog out trick-or-treating.  Our neighborhood was a madhouse (as usual), but the kids had a good time and brought home tons of candy.  The girls stayed up long enough to hand out the last of the candy and then they all went to bed.

They claimed it was the best Halloween ever - although they do tend to say that every year.

Pictures from our little one's Halloween party at school:

Our Little Girl Is Seven!

Opening gifts the night we got back.

So excited it's finally her birthday!

A few pictures from our daughter's birthday.  We didn't do parties for her or her brother this year, but we had a lovely celebration as a family.  Sometimes quiet is really nice!

Matching PJs for her and her American Girl doll

The doll desk she'd been really hoping to get.

  

Family Reunion - Sunday

Our older daughter's birthday was today!  She was very excited to FINALLY be turning seven, but was a little disappointed that she'd be spending the day on a plane.  She knew that she'd be able to open her presents when we got home, though, so that seemed to make things better.

We had to be out of the house by 10:00, so most of the morning was devoted to packing.  Mike's sister made a breakfast casserole the day before, so we all had a very tasty breakfast before leaving.  We took a few last pictures outside and then everyone headed out in their various directions.  We went right to the airport to catch our flight to Atlanta.  The flight was oversold by a lot and we tried to get bumped since they were offering $600 per person in travel vouchers, but they weren't able to get all of us to San Francisco on other flights.  I did offer to send the kids on their own, but the woman at the desk declined - I wonder why?

The flights were fine and the kids did really well even though we didn't have the individual TV screens this time.  We found out that the first officer on the flight was also celebrating his birthday that day, so he made sure to wish our daughter his best as we were getting off of the plane. 

We grabbed a quick dinner and then let our kiddo open her gifts.  There were a couple that had been delivered to Mike's office while we were gone (the one she'd really been hoping for), so she got to open those the next day.

It was a fantastic vacation.  None of us were ready to leave, which is always a good sign!  We are already talking about where to go and what to do for our next reunion, in two years.