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Starring Trenton.
Because this is what it is like to watch him dance ;)

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"Dear Santa...

 He's hard at work composing his letter to Santa.

This year, he went through the countless newspaper ads to come up with ideas for what he wants for Christmas. He's asking Santa for a DS, even though he knows that we told him he wasn't getting one until he turns 7. Just about everything jumps off the page as "something I want to get".
We keep reiterating that he will probably not get everything that he puts on his list... Santa can only fit so much in his sleigh, you know?

Here's hoping for some good Cyber Monday deals...

Thanksgiving, 2012

This has been a very reflective Thanksgiving, for all of us.

Thankful to have a job to go to, thankful to have a home unaffected by the recent storms, thankful to have family and friends to be with often, who love us.

 These were our attempts at maybe taking a Christmas card picture. While we were in nice clothes ;)
We'll see, but something inside me says that this year is the one to definitely have a beach-shot of the boys...

 And would you look at that bird!
We shared a Thanksgiving meal with Jim's family this year. It included delicious turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans & corn, stuffing, and various cranberry sauce side dishes. And pies!

 Great Grandma Wilson, watching the birds from out the back window. She's approaching 90 years old, and still enjoys getting together with her family to eat a big meal.

 Here are the guys, watching football. There was an excessive amount of football televised on this day ;)
Ahhh, and we all ate to our hearts' content:

Thank you for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, Mom!

Now let's go shopping!!!

Adios, San Diego

 Funny thing is that, way off in the distance there, past the bridge, you can see Tijuana, Mexico. So the entire trip, I'm expecting to hear awesome Latin beats, eat killer Mexican food, etc. And there was virtually none of that. I don't know if it was because most folks must be bilingual or what. Other odd thing: there just wasn't a whole lot of people around. Jim says that this is because we were in the business section of SD, and that lots of folks live in the 'burbs. This may be the case, but everywhere we went (even on the weekend), it felt like a dead city. Very much the opposite of NYC-- most buildings were new (or new-looking), no dirt or graffiti, and little diversity.

 Ahh, but you offered me quality November sunshine, and for this I am grateful.
That's me on the balcony. 20 floors up, man. I could NOT look down without getting  sick, but I could look out. Mad props to the Marriott for upgrading our room, free of charge, because of our early arrival. The balcony was wonderful.

And here's a pic from out the window of the plane. Jim was happy because they had Direct TV and he could watch all the Sunday football games live, in the air. Pretty cool. Our flight path took us over NV, CO, IL, OH, PA... and then home.

 To see these little dudes!
Check out the tent/fort that they built at Grandma Lacina's house:

 They seem to have missed us terribly, but still had a great time with their grandparents and uncle.
Below, a little video of my little men singing to Rhianna. You go, guys.

Day 3 San Diego

Good morning, San Deigo!
By this point, we've figured out that when the forecasters say that "it will be cloudy", what they really mean is that "it will be cloudy until about 10AM, and then you'll get the sunshine that you always get". Sweet deal.
In order to have the energy to enjoy this beautiful day, we started of with breakfast at 222 Cafe. This place was AWESOME.
Check out breakfast:

 Yes, folks, that's a pumpkin waffle (made with buttermilk and pumpkin) and a peanut butter and banana french toast. Freakin' delicious.

 I had already convinced Jimbo that we needed to come back the next day (we did, and I got the strawberry pancakes ;)

 The hotel was right next to the convention center (where ComiCon is hosted each year, and where Jim's conference was being held). Across the street was a train/trolley stop. And this little machine that just about cracked us up each time we pressed the button. Had to take a video for the kids.


On the bay-side, there was a beautiful jogging path. We took a walk out to enjoy the view.

 Here I am inspecting a leaf to see if it is practical to bring it home for the kids. (It was not. I ended up finding some bark instead.)
But we did take this picture of the turtles in the hotel stream:

 We were dying to get out to the beach and check out the Pacific for ourselves. We've been to the water's edge in Hawaii and Alaska... but this was a first for me in CA. The hotel had its own water taxi that gave you a 7 minute ride across the bay.

 Nice view of our hotel (two towers in the middle).

 Once on Coronado, we walked about 16 blocks down the main strip: Orange Ave. I am not sure if we saw orange trees. But we did see so many neat ones that we had to stop and photograph them. Some are below:

  

Upon getting to the beach, we were happy to see that there were working restrooms, soft sand, and ample space to spread out. Of course, the section we ended up on soon became crowded... and the water was ice cold... and get this-- we were the ONLY people there with bathing suits on. I do not understand, really. It was at least 70 degrees in the sun, and a Saturday afternoon... but there were really only a handful of people on the beach. 

 Oh, and this thing:

 Just when we thought things couldn't get any stranger... Jim says it might be some kind of seaweed. Any guesses? Some kind of Pacific kelp?

 Took the picture below to illustrate the amazing bridge that was built to connect Coronado with the mainland. The US Navy maintains a base nearby, and houses the battleship that "dumped Bin Laden's body in the ocean".

 That night, we went out for dinner at a little fish place, that ended up having pretty good food but not great service or ambiance. But it was in the cool "Gas Lamp District" part of town. With lots of shops. That were open late.
Check out this police officer. When I first saw him there, talking to that guy (who was clearly high and snacking on peanuts), I thought it looked neat with his hand up on that window. The class was already cracked, of course, but it looked like he was punching it and making it so. Anyway, as I snapped the picture (with the sloooowest camera ever....) he moved! So I actually explained to him what I was doing and asked if he could re-position himself so that I could shoot it again. So both guys are kinda smiling in this shot. Probably think I'm a crazy tourist.

 We peeked in here for some gellato, but ended up getting $3 beers at a hookah bar down the block. I have decided I do not like the smell of hookah bars, and that when I am on the West Coast, I have an inability to stay awake past 8PM. I made for a cheap date ;)

We returned to the hotel and enjoyed some time by the fire pit.

Still warm-ish, even at night.

Day 2 San Diego

 Woke up to some beautiful cloudiness... at 5:00AM! We both couldn't fall back asleep, so we took advantage of the fantastic fitness center facilities that the hotel had. I even got to work with a personal trainer, essentially, as no one else showed up to take the class she was leading. That was nice :)

And then a nice walk downtown to Elixer for crepes and espresso:

That's a beauty right there.

I had gotten one with turkey, cheese, and spinach (crazy contents for a crepe, but it still worked). Even though Jim requested his strawberry banana one without the hazelnut spread, they still made it with Nutella... so guess who had to eat TWO crepes? 

 Yeah, I did it ;)

 And then I did THIS:
Yes, folks, there was SUNSHINE! By 10AM the clouds had dissipated and we were left with glorious tanning weather! This was also the day that Jim had to do official conference business. So I took advantage of the free WiFi and plopped myself down on a chair all afternoon, listening to Pandora, and chilling out, Cali-style. It was niiiiice.

 Ah ha! Dinner! We took a cab ride to the edge of Balboa Park. This huge park is the home of some pretty awesome, huge, distinctive trees. And the zoo, I think.
We were in the area to eat dinner at Cucina Urbana. The local bartender, a really cool dude, made some fabulous white Sangria, as well as this other pumpkin cocktail for Jim.

We both agreed that it was better than the Grant one.

 Dinner was split: pasta dish with lamb sauce (rich) and veal with mushrooms (ignoring the fact that it was veal, this dish was DELICIOUS).

And then we rolled ourselves home. Stuffed, yet again. Definitely the best dining experience of the trip.