Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We had such a busy holiday! Last night we celebrated with our families and this morning we had to ourselves.

Santa came during the night and Ben and Hannah were so excited with what he left for them! As soon as they woke up (6:45am) Ben said "I wonder if Santa came" he peeked his head out of the room and said "He did!!!" because he could see some of the toys. He got up and tiptoed out with his hand on his mouth and eyes wide open. Hannah wanted to be carried out to see. Santa left their toys out this year without wrapping them so they started to play with them immediately. Hannah got a new pink stroller for her baby doll (exactly what she asked for) and Ben got a couple of Bob the Builder machines and a real tool set. He loves it!

After their naps we went to Grandma Rosalie's house for another wild present opening and wrapping paper fight (kinda like a snowball fight but with wrapping paper). The kids like going over there and get wild with the bigger cousins.

(This picture was taken at our hotel in Virginia after the funeral.)

Our trip home...

We enjoyed our trip to Virginia very much. The kids were sick most of the time and they couldn't shake the cough and stuffy noses. They were glad to hear that we were headed home. I think they were getting run down from all the travelling. They did good on their first official trip away from home. We have gone camping but we drive there and the car is familiar. This trip was far from home, the car was unfamiliar (the carseats were theirs-yes, we took everything!), it was cold out and they wanted to sleep in our big bed at home. The were tired of hotels. I am sure they will remember something of the trip...at least the airplane ride!!

The trip continues...

Tues., Dec. 20, 2005
We checked out of the hotel and headed to the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum. Benjamin is really into airplanes and spaceships these days so he LOVED it. He got to 'drive' an airplane and see rocketships, spaceships and helicopters... There were lots of things to see and do there, not enough time for everything because we were in a hurry to get to Williamsburg. Virginia has horrible traffic (like LA) and no one was kidding! It was horrible!! By the time we found the entrance to the carpool lane (HOV lane) Noah woke up and was shrieking so we had to stop for a bit. We had been following my parents and so at this point we split from them. We caught up with them at the hotel later that night after their dinner.
























Wed. Dec. 21, 2005
Colonial Williamsburg. We walked around for a little bit and did some shopping. What an incredible place! This is somewhere we will have to come back to when the kids are older and able to appreciate it more. This trip, however, they were a bit unimpressed with it. We did find some things that they enjoyed though.

Arlington, VA

Mon. Dec. 19, 2005
We went to Arlington National Cemetary for Grandpa's funeral (the reason for the trip) and what an awesome experience. It was a terrific way to say our last good-byes. He was buried with full military honors. Here is the link to his obituary. Here are some pictures of what we saw:

The chapel

Part of the eulogy by my Dad

The platoon awaiting outside after the ceremony

Horse-drawn carriage pulling the casket

Driving to the burial site:

21-gun salute

The Marine Corps band (in red):

Folding the flag



Presenting the flag to Kae

Our trip to Virginia...the first 2 days

Dec. 17, 2005
We went on the airplane to go to Virginia. It was Benjamin's second airplane ride and Hannah and Noah's first time! They had so much fun. We travelled with Marissa, Heather, Ryan (his 1st plane ride too) and Chris. They looked out the window and checked out everything on the plane within their reach. Here they are reading the airplane emergency pamphlet from the seat pocket:

When we got to Phoenix, AZ for our layover the kids ran around and around after we raced to the next terminal to catch the next plane. Our next flight was 4 hours long so they needed to get their energy out. We landed at Reagan National Airport that night and while we were waiting for Corey to find the rental car and pick us up Ben and Marissa went riding on the wheelchairs and Hannah and Noah fell asleep.

Sun, Dec. 18, 2005

We toured Washington DC today. We went by the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam and Korean Memorials and went for a brisk walk around! It was a beautiful day. Here they are near a bare tree on our way to the Lincoln Memorial.

We drove to see if we could see the White House and found 2 parking spots immediately! We got out and walked over and Ben and Marissa went right to work on a snowball fight while we all gazed at the White House! It seems that they were obllivious about the big white building next to them! After that they were freezing (notice Marissa in her t-shirt?!!! and Ben without gloves?!!!) as the sun was going down and it was getting cold quickly! We ran to the car and turned the heat on full blast!! Then we set on a search for hot chocolate but never found it. Instead we discovered that our rental minivan had a flat tire so we headed to the nearest gas station (which was NOT an easy thing to find in DC!!)!

Dentist appt...

Today was Hannah's first trip to the dentist. She has been before but she hasn't been the patient before. She loved it! She sat in the chair and opened her mouth for Kelly (the hygienist), she cleaned her teeth and had a conversation with her. All the while she was watching Blues Clues on the TV monitor on the ceiling, very cool. They handed her a bag of goodies (floss, new brush toothpaste) and an award that we taped to the wall. She had such a great experience today, I hope she remembers it forever!

Here she is!

Here is Ben, watching TV and waiting for Hannah to be done.

Dentist...

Today we went to the dentist. Ben is a pro at being a dental patient. He sits with his headphones on and opens his mouth. Our dentist has headphones for the TV that is on the ceiling! Hannah was a bit scared of the dentist and didn't want to go. Ben went first, Hannah watched and by the time he was done she was very comfortable with it. She got in the seat and opened her mouth. She didn't want the headphones. She didn't watch much TV but she was a very good dental patient! She loved it and is already talking about her next visit in six months!

Potty update...

Ben has been successful for several weeks with the potty!! He has occasional accidents but overall he has done very well!! I am crossing my fingers that there will be an end to the accidents soon. Today he ran to the toilet twice! And this is good because he had an upset tummy...and no accident!! Hooray!

Old Fashioned Christmas...

Well we went on a search for Santa tonight. We went to La Mesa's Old Fashioned Christmas. It has been something we do in December for about 4 years now. The kids love to go, there are so many things for them to do there! Ben and Marissa went on a huge slide that looked like a tsunami, Hannah wanted to do it too but got a little frightened at the last minute. Then we went looking for Santa...but found a puppet show, they watched for a bit and then off to find Santa again. We found another puppet show. When that was over we headed towards the llamas, the kids got to ride them last year and were excited about doing it again this year. Hannah decided that she didn't want to do it, but Ben and Marissa went riding on their llamas. They loved it. Then they found a jumper with a big llama on it, that was fun for a while. We were still looking for Santa when we realized that everyone was packing up for the night. They wanted to tell Santa what they want for Christmas and we had rehearsed the whole thing all day. They were really looking forward to it! We never found Santa, so sad. We'll have to find him somewhere else!

the cable guy...

We have been having such a hard time with our internet and cable system around the house that we finally got a call in to the cable people. The repairman came this morning. Benjamin is just fascinated with repairmen! He went to get his work belt on and put his tools into it (hammer, screwdriver, pliers~all plastic toys). He followed him around and kept asking him questions. He didn't know what a cable is and kept calling it a 'mable', so I took him to the back of the TV and showed him what it was. It cleared it in his head because he looked puzzled when the man went out back and worked under the house, then out front to the cable box, then to the back of the TV and then to work the remote to check out the channels. Then when he brought in a giant box full of cable, Benjamin was so excited he wanted to pull it all out and play. His mind is soaking up all the wonders of his world.