Thanksgiving

We had a fun time visiting family for Thanksgiving. The kids saw all of their cousins between our families. 

Riding the bus to the rental car

Kyle playing pop-a-shot with Kari. Aaron had a good time with the basketball game too. He asked daily to go to the basement and play ba-ba. 

Aaron with Uncle Eric. Aaron has such an affinity to Eric. He's always been so smiley with Eric and just at ease with him. The smiles just capture it. 

Aaron's massage

I got a massage from Kari to help my neck and the kids wanted a massage too. Emily, Kyle & Aaron all had a massage too. And it was the longest I've seen Aaron sit still. 

At Papa's, Aaron would just go to the basement to play. I found him down there playing some pinball just like he's a big kid. 

Emily reading with Grandma

Aaron and Ethan hugs

Aaron at the kid table with Addy and Trevor

7 of the 10 kids at Grandmas' house doing the gumdrop tree

Ryan, Evan, Kyle & Emily getting clean

Everyone at Grandma's house

The kids having fun at the airport

Kyle tennis tournament

Kyle has been playing a lot of tennis these days. He is playing in some tournaments and having a good time. This particular one, he played quite well and even as the youngest player, he held his own and came out with the win. 

Kyle is in the far court playing against a 9 year old girl. He won 8-1.

Kyle is in the near court I think and is playing a 9 year old boy. Kyle won 8-1.

Kyle posing after his decisive victory. 

This is from another tournament this week (December 8, yes I am back posting) where he played well and came in 2nd by tie break. He actually beat the kid who took 1st and had the same record, but the second level for tiebreak put the other kid ahead. Pretty good nonetheless and especially so considering the kids all had at least 3 years on Kyle. Well done Kyle!

Aaron

Just some cute pictures of Aaron and some with his girlfriend.

Aaron and Alice at the monkeys at the zoo

Aaron and Alice at the library having a snack together

Surfing

Yesterday was such a great surfing day that we had to go back again today. And it was a ton of fun again. This time we went in the morning (school was off today) and had a lot of sunlight and happy kids. While I was out helping one of the kids surf, the other was boogie boarding and playing on the beach with Jeff and Aaron. 

Kyle riding a wave in

Hang ten Aaron!

Jeff's funny tide dance with the kids on the beach.

Kyle and bear

Boys being boys running around the house

Teaching Kyle gymnastics

Emily had her best friend over after school today. We all went over to the park to play and the girls decided to teach Kyle gymnastics. He was a willing learner and had fun trying to do cartwheels and handstands with them. 

Aaron and Rudolph

We've started decorating for the holidays and the kids have been super excited. Aaron found the kid favorite Rudolph. While he may not have very many words, it's pretty clear what he is conveying here. 

Surfin' safari

Today was a great day. It was one that I can only hope the kids will remember for a long time. After Aaron's shorter than normal nap today, we went out to try surfing again. Jeff was apprehensive about taking the kids surfing again - after we did our lesson very successfully, we tried it on our own with the kids with terrible results. Anyhow, it was really warm out and we didn't have anything planned for the afternoon except spending time together. Surfing it was. Jeff insisted that we bring boogie boards to ensure some sort of success and happy kids this time. Last time, the unsuccessful time, we went back to La Jolla Shores since that is the consensus best place to learn to surf and it was terrible surf, loads of kelp and yuck to tread through in the water. The kids were miserable which made us miserable and it just was a rough time. Aaron had a great time playing in the water though in his little wetsuit. 

Anyhow, back to today. We headed out to Coronado beach since it (a) is closer and (b) is cleaner and (c) is a nice beach which we go to more often than other beaches in the area and (d) my friend says her husband takes her daughter (same ages as Kyle & Emily) there to surf. Off we went. I tried a few waves myself first since the kids were playing frisbee with Jeff and Aaron. I was able to barely stand up, but got a little thrill ride. 

Emily's turn was next. Upon approaching the water, Emily was nervous. She sort of reverted back to 2 year old Kyle who was terrified of the ocean (noise and all). But she got out there. I towed her out and she attempted her first wave of the day. She rode it in like a boogie board. After a few more attempts and confidence boosting, she was standing up and loving surfing again!! Yahoo!

Kyle was up next. He too was frightened of the waves and took a minute to acclimate. Despite being in a wetsuit, he said he was cold. It was just nerves so any little thing was getting to him. Anyhow, he slowly but surely got the hang of it again and was standing up and riding the waves, jumping for joy with happiness. He had an audience on the beach who were cheering him on as he rode his waves. It was a pretty awesome moment for him to be successful and have the cheering crowd. 

Jeff took a few turns while I took a turn corralling Aaron who just wanted to get in the water, but kept getting knocked back by the waves. Jeff had some good waves and was able to get to kneel a few waves in. He tried to put Aaron on the board (in the shallow) and ride him in, but Aaron wouldn't have it. The kids both took a few more turns as the sun was setting and two dolphins swam by (I'm not making that up!) and surfed in. They are both thrilled to be able to surf. 

We followed that up with dinner out on Coronado and playing with these UFO sling shot toys on the beach. From what we know, it was the kids' first slingshot experience. Some guy was peddling these toys that are a little helicopter type sling shot that you shoot into the air with a rubber band and the lights on it make it look like a cool little UFO. The kids loved it. Aaron sat there watching them until the music in the background got to him and he just had to dance. 

It was truly a fantastic afternoon with the whole family. I do not have any pictures except for some grainy dark video on Jeff's phone of the kids playing with the slingshots on the beach and Aaron dancing (there was some private function on the beach with a band playing California music - Beach Boys and the like). Despite the lack of pictures, I wanted to document this for the kids. And there you have it. A great day for our family. 

Snugly Aaron

Emily was feeling tired after school so she laid down on the couch. Aaron noticed Em looking all comfy and needing some snuggles so he went after Em.

My Dad's day

Today marked the 12th anniversary of my dad's passing. While the kids were in school, I took Aaron up to Cabrillo for a nice scenic hike that my dad would have loved. And in the evening, Aaron went with me to a little wine bar to toast to my dad with a glass of Malbec and fruit snacks for Aaron. And we played some Bunny Hop. For dinner, we had his specialty of red macaroni and cherry milkshakes. I sure miss him. 

Halloween candy

For Halloween, we have a rule / tradition / routine / call it what you want that you get to keep your age plus one pieces of candy. So this year, Emily & Kyle got to choose 8 pieces of candy to keep and eat whenever they want (within reason). It is now December when I'm posting this and they both still have several pieces left. The rest of the candy gets tossed, donated and used in science experiments. Emily and I had a great time doing different experiments with the candy that show how the oils separate and how the colors behave and how you can float the edible inks. 

Aaron's chair

This is Emily's doll's chair from Grandma Sondra. Aaron has claimed it as his own. In his defence, it is just his size. And he typically sits there with a book, any book. Today's book of choice was Kyle's school writing journal. That is about the only time he will sit still for a story. 

Golf

Jeff took the kids out golfing this afternoon. I tweaked my neck and am having a hard time getting around so he thought it would be fun to take the kids out golfing so I could relax and not lift (I even called my neighbor to pick Aaron up and put him in his crib for his nap while Jeff was out - it was that bad. And if you know me, I have a hard time asking for help even when it's necessary). So they are out having a great time golfing together. And Aaron is working his inner Tiger. 

Tennis

Kyle had team tennis this morning so Jeff took him there and got to see his fun match. He was playing doubles today. They ended up winning 8-3. 

Surfing

For some time, we have wanted to take Kyle & Emily surfing. Well this month, a lot of businesses have a kids free special. So we took the kids up for their first surfing lesson. When we first told the kids about it, they were hesitant. They didn't want to go in the ocean, they were afraid of swimming in the ocean, they were afraid of falling off the surfboard, they were afraid it would be cold and any other reason you could think of to be afraid. Honestly, we were a bit apprehensive too. They are great swimmers. In a pool. They would have wetsuits, but Kyle gets antsy with tight things like that. It was going to be cold water. And we chose this day because it was going to be the warmest in the next 5 days before the month ends (and we could get a sitter for Aaron), but the heat never materialized and we were in a constant state of fog around here. We warned them that surfing is hard and they likely wouldn't stand up. 

Well that all went out the door. We got there, got the wetsuits on without issue. We went through the prep and lessons with the teachers on the beach. The kids got in the water no problem despite it being 65 or 67 degrees out, water fairly cold. Thankfully we had 2 instructors so they could tow both Kyle & Emily out to the waves. And you know what? Both Kyle and Emily were awesome riding the waves. Emily stood up her first time like she had been surfing since she could walk. Kyle got up as well and was thrilled. At one point, Kyle wiped out and Jeff and I both looked at each other thinking we were done. Kyle pops up and exclaims, "that was awesome!!" So for the next hour, we all rode the waves and had a fabulously successful time surfing. The kids couldn't get enough of it. I wish we had a water camera with us to take pictures, but alas, we didn't and the store was out of them for sale. The kids have been itching to get back on the surf board since they had to get off of it. I venture to say we will be taking them surfing again. And soon. It was awesome. 

It was such a great day. It reminded me of our great day last year in June when we had Emily's dance recital, a nice tea party at the tea place in town and then picked up some of our favorite cake here in San Diego. Then that night I got a kidney stone. Thankfully, this gloriously fun day was not punctuated with an ER visit. Just many, many "can we go surfing again" pleas. And that answer will be yes!! 

Halloween

Here's a sneak peek of our Halloween costumes... 

Kyle & Emily with their fellow classmate at school and Hogwarts

Dumbledore and Hedwig

Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hermione, Harry & Hedwig

Kids reading

Kyle & Emily have been devouring the Harry Potter series. They are currently both on book 5. The other night, we sent them upstairs to get into bed. When Jeff and I went up to tuck them in, this is what we found - both kids in Emily's bed just reading away. You may comment that Emily's not reading Harry Potter in this picture. Being the great reader that she is, she often reads multiple books at a time and so this was a school library book that she wanted to finish so she could turn it in. 

Aaron drives

Somehow I went out of the house without Aaron while he stayed home with Jeff. Upon returning, they were playing outside in the alleyway. When Aaron saw me pulling up, he ran over to the van to sweetly greet me. I opened the door and he climbed right in. So naturally, he got to drive the van into the garage with me and he couldn't have been happier.  

Costumes

It's nearly Halloween so the kids are getting into it! Jeff brought Aaron some monster feet home from Philly. Kyle dug out his monkey costume. Emily borrowed her friend's Indian dress. Simon dressed up as a dragon. And they all goofed around in their costumes excited about Halloween!