Finally getting up the motivation to go through them all!
Gregory and I went out to CA a week before Dan, so we went on many adventures to entertain ourselves and enjoy the nice weather! He loved feeding the fish at the Japanese Gardens, feeding ducks at El Dorado Park, and seeing all the animals and riding the rides at the Santa Ana Zoo. We actually repeated a couple of these fun free things once Daddy joined us.
We got a chance to spend time with all the Aunties and Uncle Benny, hanging out, making music, and checking out the town...
When Dan came, we went to an amazing new children's museum called Pretend City. It was pretty awesome!
Christmas Eve was really fun at Aunt Vicky's house with all the favorite traditions. Gregory was really into it this year! We tried to help him turn his focus from getting presents to giving presents by having him help with package management and distribution! He really did love his gifts, though, and wanted to stop and play with each thing so we had to remind him to finish opening the rest first! He is still in love with all the new fun things he got - our family does such a great job spoiling, eh, I mean, shopping for him! As always, we concluded the evening with our caroling boat ride. I included a couple of videos so you can experience it a little, its really very dark without the camera flash, the lights outside are awesome, and this year Gregory really got into the singing too...the kid has a good ear and is a quick study on lyrics too. He still breaks out in a round of Jingle Bells every now and then!
Christmas morning was another round at Grandma Mary and Grandpa Nick's house, of course with stockings and more presents, and a fabulous breakfast!
And for Grandma Mary's birthday we all went to Disneyland. Gregory remembered a lot from when we went in June, and we got the chance to do some things we didn't do then, like riding It's a Small World and meeting some of the characters. Many small kids are afraid but Gregory went right up and got hugs from all his favorites, especially Mickey. I was amazed! He wore his First Trip to Disneyland shirt, even though it was his second time, and he also got his first set of embroidered Mickey ears... I couldn't believe how choked up I got when he got so excited to see Sleeping Beauty's Castle light up at dusk...I maintain its because of my hormones... We did brave the Pirates ride, which he thought was ok but kinda scary, and the Haunted Mansion, which was definitely too scary! We'll skip that one next time for sure. Seems like I can't find a lot of pictures I remember taking, but maybe they were on someone else's camera?? Anyway, we had a fabulous time and it was so fun to share it with Dan this time! We are already talking about when we will get to go again. If at all possible, I think this might become another Christmastime tradition!
Here are some videos from Disneyland too, though I can't actually embed them because they are on Auntie Audrey's page...go watch, though, they are fun! http://www.youtube.com/user/mstruthchaser#p/u
We had to say our goodbyes a little earlier than usual this year, because we had to get back to the midwest to go to Fargo for a very special New Year's event, the baptism of Gilbert, the son of Patrick and Keri, who are Gregory's godparents. Dan and I were honored to be Gilbert's godparents, so I guess that makes them godbrothers! Grandpa Mike actually officiated the ceremony, and he and Grandma Coralie brought even more presents! Patrick, Keri and Gilbert stayed overnight with us on their way home to Chicago, but we wish they could have stayed longer! Gilbert is the sweetest little guy! It was a wonderful way to wrap up the holidays!
It has actually been over a month since the holidays were over and I have gotten out the camera a little bit since then...but this post has fried my brain, so the rest will have to wait!
4 hours ago
