Happy Holidays!

We drove up to Folsom this year to celebrate the holiday weekend with my parents. We ate lots of good food (crab and crepes are always a hit), escaped for a mini date night and went bowling.  We had planned to do a lot more but a huge storm was going through when we were there but we had a great time despite the weather!

With Mimene and Fanfan

Reading with Fanfan

Cuddling with Maya

We ran after Santa while doing some last minute shopping (I think he was back on his way to the North Pole at the time).  Zoe made it very clear that she wanted a "Cinderella princess bike."

So excited to open up presents!

Maddox loves to do everything his sister does

Yes, please.

 Bowling was a hit with everyone. Zoe's a natural, she got a few strikes in there!  Maddox just wanted to run after the ball down the lane.

Our little man cheering us on

 

We drove back home to Santa Babara on Christmas Eve and made it back slightly under 7 hours. The kids were really good despite being stuck in their car seats for so long.

Our tree after Santa's delivery.

 It was a great morning, watching the kids open up their presents and getting excited to see what Santa got them. Well, Zoe was excited.  Maddox just wanted to play with the paper and boxes.

Trying to decide which present to open next...

 

Santa didn't forget Maya!

I don't think Maya moved from this spot for a good 2 hours. She's not spoiled or anything ;)

Obsessed with the box.

Loving her princess barbies!

We went on a bike ride with our new bike trailer...I thought it'd be a lot easier than it actually was.  Looks like someone needs to hit the gym in the new year!

I can't get enough of these two faces.

Zoe tried out her new bike on the street - she loved it! 

My chunky baby in his skinny jeans.

Taking a break on daddy's car.

We had a couple of friends over for dinner and had too much fun sharing ridiculously funny stories.  Waiting for pictures to share...

 We hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!!

Cruisin'

I finally had some time to update the blog with pictures from our trip! 

After thinking long and hard about where to go for our annual family trip, we decided to go on a 7 day Mexican cruise. We picked this for several reasons: the price was right, no flying with 2 little kids and the ship offered day care at "Camp Carnival" for Zoe (or as Zoe calls it, "Camp Cannibal").

Taking off from Long Beach

So excited to go on an adventure!

 We spent the first couple of days at sea where we took our time discovering the ship.

The view from our balcony - looking towards the front of the ship

Looking down. No net to catch us.

Maddox loved all the lights and elevators. We loved the free entertainment.

Siblings enjoying the view

Umbrella drinks make everything better

On the lookout for whales and dolphins. We actually saw a ton of dolphins and Orca whales swimming alongside the ship from our balcony!

Elephant.  I need to figure out how to do this.

Our first port of call was in Cabo San Lucas. We were here for 2 days and spent the first day at a local beach. The kids loved the warm water.

The view from our balcony.

 

Zoe and I went swimming with dolphins the second day in Cabo. It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it to anyone heading down there. We are so lucky to be able to experience things like that.

Mommy-Daughter date - on our way to swim with dolphins!

There was so much to do and so much to eat (!) on the ship.  Here we are taking a dip in the indoor pool before dinner.

The indoor pool, with big screen and slide in the back. The roof opened retracted on warm days.

Playing mini golf on the top deck of the ship. Maddox is taking notes.

Golf should be taken very seriously.

Our next family pro-golfer?

Maddox loved the 24 hour access to ice cream. He wasn't the only one, to be honest :)

Karaoke night and the kids dancing together to the awful music.

Frog towel

Our second port of call was in Puerto Vallarta where we took a shuttle down through old town and ended up spending most of our time chilling on the beach. It was really warm, probably in the 90's, which was perfect for me. :)

$1 beers. Gotta love Mexico!

Again with the chap stick.  It's an obsession.

Showing off his best Magic Mike moves.

Don't worry, that's just iced water ;)

These stacking cups saved us more than once

Snack time!

Pole dancing is exhausting stuff!

Puerto sunset - sad to leave.

Maddox hung out with us the entire time since he was too young to go to Camp Carnival. I'd like to think he had fun with us  :)

I forget what this one was supposed to be.

Overall, it was a very relaxing trip. The kids had SO much fun and were exhausted on the way back to rainy SB.

 

Can't wait for next year's European vacation!