Christmas Adventure recap!

Each year since we've lived in California we've done a Christmas adventure in leiu of packages and boxes under the tree.  It's been wonderful to have these memories stored away (they don't break or run out of batteries)!

2006 Colton was 6 weeks old when we drove 6 hrs down to San Diego to spent some time with my brother and his wife.  We spent a day at SeaWorld, before boarding a plane to fly out to Maine.  The unplanned part of our Christmas adventure;  Nana passed away and we had to fly to Maine to be with family.  It was a strange blessing to introduce baby Colton to the family while mourning the loss of our Nana.  After a short trip to Maine, we flew back to San Diego to begin our 6 hour drive home...we'll, before we could even get on the road, we had to change our plans again.  Shaun began passing a kidney stone on Christmas morning, so we spent a few hours in the ER before the long drive with a sick daddy, nursing mama, and 6 week old infant.  It was quite the memorable Christmas as a family of 3.



2007 Colton was 14months old and i was just barely pregnant with Grady when we drove 2 hours north to spend the day in Monterey.  Shortly after getting to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Colton rubbed his finger across something wooden and got a terrible splinter.  We had to seek out the medical staff to get some tweezers to remove the splinter, he was quite upset for a while.  Things did get better and we had a lot of fun exploring the aquarium, afterwards we enjoyed playing at the most amazing Dennis the Mennis Park. 

2008 Now a family of 4, with Colton just turning 2 and Grady only a few months old, we drove down to San Diego again.  We loved the SD zoo and wanted to go back and we wanted to try out SeaWorld.  Hotel sleeping was pretty rough with a toddler and screaming newborn, but we managed to get a few minutes of sleep.  It rained the entire day at the Zoo, but we manged to still have a good time thanks to some handy unbrellas and ponchos!  At SeaWorld, Shaun and I got to touch a dolphin and sting rays, Colton got to ride Sesame street rides and we all enjoyed Shamu's spectacular Christmas show.

 

2009 Grammie Russell flew out to visit us and we spent some time at the Santa Barbara Zoo and SeaWorld. The kids were 1 and 3 and the perfect age for both adventures!  

2010 Drove out to Lake Havasu, Arizona and Gramma and Grampy Franklin flew out to meet us!  We stayed in a 2br condo, spent every day in the pool/hot tub, built gingerbread houses, the men played tennis, we hiked Sara's Crack, and played at the playgrounds.  Somehow Santa found our hotel room and managed to leave a few presents for the kids to open.