Christmas Holiday - Bonus Edition!

We stayed down in Nipomo between the holidays, and some of our good friends joined us to ring in the New Year.

 

They boys were occupied with the first annual Nipomo Dirt Rally Grand Prix (1/10).

Ella dropped the scarf to start the race. 

And helped when adverse road conditions (and/or driving) impeded the vehicles.

  

The wives loved it when the trucks took off on the jumps.

 

The outcome of the race was so close, the impartial judge had to check the instant replay.

 

At the end of the day, the drivers reflected on the race and the metaphors it provided for the New Year ahead.

 

Christmas Holiday - Part 2

As  you can imagine, the kids did a lot of cute stuff over the holidays that was way too much to put in one post, so here is "Part 2" of the Christmas Holiday Extravaganza in Nipomo.

Santa brought the girls new fangled wheeled-transportation devices.  Sarah loved her Big Wheel™, but her legs were unable to connect with the titular feature.

As many of you know, Meg and I love everything retro, so we found a great vintage bike for Ella.

I am kidding of course.  We knew Ella would want something a little more pink.

And they're off!

As mentioned in the last post, Ella and Sarah enjoyed hanging out with Uncle Scott and Aunt Heidi...

 ...and their dog Roxy.

  In fact, everyone did.

Scott and Heidi had a good time too, which included an inaugural trip down the zip line...

...and a hop on the rope swing.

Papa enjoyed having the girls around too.

 

So did Grammie.

 

Ella spent some quality time in her garden.

And Sarah was checking in on her stock portfolio (apparently, it's up).

I think it's fair to say that a good time was had by all.

Christmas Holiday - Part 1

It's been about a month since Christmas, so I figured it was time to post some photos from our time in Nipomo.  We were very fortunate this year to have the full family together for Christmas.  We spent the holiday in Nipomo at Meg's parents' beautiful six-acre escape, and we were joined by my parents, my brother Scott and his wife Heidi, and Meg's brother Ian and his wife Maya. This is the first time we'd all been in the same room together in nearly 10 years.

Speaking of which, here we all are in the same room together.

 

Ella and Sarah opened some gifts with Grandpa and FaFa on Christmas Eve.

In order to get a glimpse of Santa, Ella was going to try and hide on the couch. (Hint, she's in the middle.)

But instead, Ella and Sarah put their bribes out for Santa and Rudolph before going to bed.

Ella and Sarah were also excited about Uncle Scott and Aunt Heidi's new puppy Roxy.

Roxy got lots of attention that weekend from the whole family.

So did the girls.

Sarah was very excited about the new Moroccan outfits that Uncle Ian and Aunt Maya got for girls during their recent travels.

Sarah had to go model it for Aunt Maya and Aunt Heidi.

Ella was pretty excited about Christmas too.

She helped Grammy make the traditional Buche de Noel.

The girls also spent some quality time outside.

Stay tuned for part 2 for some more photos from our holiday in Nipomo. 

Megan's Birthday!

On Friday, we celebrated Megan's 30-something birthday.

In honor of the special day, the girls had made some necklaces for Megan with jewelry master Sheridan. Meg and Sarah are modeling these avant-garde pieces in the photo below.

The Birthday weekend festivities also included a round of Beatles Rockband at AJ and Sheridan's. Fans of "DreamForce" will notice a couple of original members in the photo below.

Vocals, drums, guitar - Meg was a natural.

Demonstrating their understanding of the art of surprise, the girls threw Meg an impromptu surprise party the day after her birthday (Grammie and Papa helped).  We came home from a 9:45am sold-out show of Avatar on IMAX to Ella yelling "surprise" as we opened the door to a room full of balloons and streamers. It doesn't get much better than that.

 

Happy Birthday to the best wife ever.

Ice Skating at Union Square

Everyone had the day off yesterday, so we decided to head up to Union Square to see all the holiday festivities. The first stop was Macy's decorated windows.  Notice the two kitties in the background.

Next, it was off to check out the outdoor ice skating rink.  After two birthday parties at ice skating rinks this past year, Ella was excited about getting back on the ice.

Always the daredevil, Ella skated despite the risk.

I'm not sure whether it was the ice, the skates or the Christmas spirit, but Ella did amazingly well on the ice - skating on her own without holding on.

 

Sarah cheered her on from the sidelines.

Next it was time to check out the Union Square Christmas Tree.

As fortune would have it, cousins Laura and Jared were at Union Square too, and we had lunch with them and their kids Dax (not pictured) and Cielo (pictured).

Now it's off to Nipomo for Christmas with both sides of the family for the first time in many years.  We can't wait!

Sarah Auditions for "Twilight: The Early Years"

It was a busy day today. Sarah just got back from her audition to star in "Twilight: The Early Years," a prequel to the popular vampire series.

In this scene, she is beginning to feel remorse for the victim she tracked down with her special vampire binoculars.

Of course, these images could also be explained by a cookie decorating party Megan hosted for kids in her playgroup.

Ella Delivers Heralded "Special Night" Performance in Kindergarten Rendition of "Must Be Santa"

Ella & Elana - Exclusive Rehearsal Photo

After endless rehearsals and preparation, Ella and her fellow kindergartners performed "Must Be Santa" for a captive audience (the doors were closed) of fellow classmates at North Shoreview Montessori.

Ella was part of a quartet whose responsibility lied with creating an enhanced visual richness to the line "Special Night" of the holiday classic, "Must Be Santa."

Without further ado, here is the famed performance.



For all of you theatre aficionados, here is some rehearsal footage that will be included with the forthcoming DVD.