Christmas Break Outings

More kids = more fun. And since literally the whole gang was here this Christmas vacation, there was a lot of fun being had.

Here is the highlight reel.

Hanging out in Santa Monica at the Promenade.



My favorite part was either this tropical Christmas tree made of potted anthuriums (center, right).



Or when we all squeezed into a tiny Thai food place, or when mom and dad got us all matching matchie shirts from the Quicksilver store.

We also took a day to go to San Pedro and Long Beach. We started in San Pedro, partially because of the fish market. Although, I am sad to report the spicy corn just wasn't cutting it this time. Maybe the spicy corn chef is off on holiday vacation.



Also, I learned that the San Pedro Fish Market is, "Often referred to as the Disneyland of seafood." Wow. Who knew?

Afterwards we headed over to Long Beach to check out some boat venues for my engaged baby sister's wedding this summer.



We felt super VIP. Sometimes it is hard having a father with endless connections.

Another outing that could have easily been a huge chore or disaster, was obtaining a family photo. Once we learned that the whole gang would be in town, my parents capitalized and quickly mobilized to make a family photo happen.

This included many different wardrobe iterations. 11 people = a lot of clothes = pano required.

We decided to take the photos at the Arboretum, and spent most of the day at there. Again, my father's connections!



It was a beautiful and sunny day. We walked around and took a ton of different photos in a variety of locations.

Including climbing up in a tree.

The arboretum is such a beautiful place, I can't wait to see how the photos turn out.

Beautiful people in a beautiful place.

Cassie and Calvin also took some engagement photos while we were out and I bet those turned out great as well. 

Besides all out outings there have been a bunch of comings and goings. In between the endless trips to and from airports, we have had fun just hanging out. A bunch of us put together this puzzle I got Ross. It took us a while and was at times a source of frustration.

But you can't beat the fun of putting together a puzzle and all the fun nicknames we came up with for the characters we didn't know. "Oh this is part of Satan's beard," or, "I think this is a bit of  Chaca Kahn's hair."

Just about when everyone was gone, we ended up starting the seasonal tamale sweatshop to make some delicious, delicious tamales. Maybe my favorite holiday tradition that doesn't always happen.



I love Palmdale!