Christmas in California, Part 10--Good-byes are hard!

New Year's Day---that means the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game.  The Okuleys, the Wissinks, and Matt and Josie braved the crowds in Pasadena to watch the Rose Parade.  I was a bit jealous, because I LOVE the Rose Parade, but I knew that my foot would never handle all the walking and standing that would be required.  So I had to be content with watching it on TV, just like I do every year.  The parade-goers had a great time, and really enjoyed it. (Even Neil, who had been asking, "What's the big deal?  It's just a parade!")

Abby and Neil had a late afternoon flight back to Chicago that day, so Matt took them to LAX directly from Pasadena, with a stop somewhere for lunch.  The Wissinks brought Josie home, after finding a place for lunch as well.  So our group was gradually getting smaller.  We still had the Wissinks with us until Sunday, so here are some pictures of the last couple of days together.

On Saturday morning we went to a "jumping place" where the kids had lots of fun. I know the place has a real name, but I can't remember it, and they just referred to it as the "jumping place."

I know, pretty blurry pictures.  My photography skills are limited--don't really know how to catch those kids in motion.  And I have no idea why Jeremiah doesn't appear in any of these pictures.  Maybe he was just moving too fast.

On our way home we stopped for lunch---eating outdoors of course. I think these two were watching some birds or something.

I just love seeing these two together.

They are such good buddies!!

Puzzle time

Movie and popcorn

The Wissinks still had part of Sunday with us before they had to head to the airport.  Jeremiah and Hope had a chance to enjoy the California weather for a bit before heading back to frigid Michigan. 

All too soon it was time to say good-bye.  It had been a wonderful week, but it went by much too quickly. 

A cousin hug

Our original plan had been to stay in Redlands until Wednesday, the 6th, and then make it back to Wisconsin by the week-end.  We had been watching the weather forecast quite closely--we had been so fortunate with the weather on our trip out, but it didn't look as promising for the trip back. So we had already been thinking that maybe we should leave on Tuesday instead. Bob was watching the Today Show on Monday morning, and Al Roker was talking about 10 inches of snow in Flagstaff, AZ on Tuesday.  So we made a rather quick decision to pack up and head out on Monday and try to get ahead of the snow.  And that turned out to be a very good decision---when we drove through the Flagstaff area on Monday afternoon, it was already snowing.  We drove on to Holbrook to spend the night, and when we got up the next morning we saw on TV that all the schools in Flagstaff were closed.  

I had picked up the cold (or whatever it was that was going around in the family) and I was coughing a lot and feeling pretty miserable by Monday night.  So it was just as well that we had left, and it was only Bob who had to put up with my annoying cough and all my germs. A little note about Holbrook---there is not a lot in that town besides motels and gas stations and fast food places.  I asked the girl who waited on us at Burger King where I could find a Walgreens or other drug store so that I could get some cold meds.  She said, "Well, it think there is a drug store in town, but it's not open this late.  (This was probably about 7 p.m.) But there is a Walgreens in Show Low."  Yeah, I looked the map and it looked like that was about 40 miles away or so.  Fortunately we found a Dollar General Store that had what I needed. The rest of the trip home went well, except for the fact that it kept getting colder and colder. :(

And this concludes the saga of the Wiers family's time in California! 

Christmas in California, Part 9--Knott's Berry Farm

We had decided that Knott's Berry Farm was going to be our one "big" outing for our group, as opposed to Disneyland, Legoland, Sea World, San Diego Zoo or WAP, etc.  So that was our activity for Thursday, Dec. 31.  It was a very busy day there, probably because a lot of people had come for the New Year's Eve Fireworks, etc.  So the parking lots were very full, and we were directed to an auxiliary lot  (more on that later) way behind the landscape department and the stables, which made for quite a long walk just to get to the entrance of the park.  This was very poor planning on my part.  I should have asked to be dropped off at the entrance and saved my foot for walking inside the park.  Oh well, hindsight is always 20-20, right? When my foot was hurting quite soon, we checked into getting a wheel chair, like we had done at Legoland.  But, no luck there---they had none available. So I just did as much walking as I could manage, and also spent a lot of time looking for places to sit. But I did do 2 rides (ferris wheel and the train) and had fun watching the kids enjoy themselves. Oh, and most of us enjoyed funnel cakes, too.  Yum!!

This was also one of those times when I did not take many pictures, partly because sometimes it was hard to get through the crowds of people to get a good view of the kids on the rides.  Also, because of my foot, I was often sitting too far away. So here are the few that I got, and I think some of them are pretty dark.  :(

As far as I could tell, Hope's main ride was in the stroller.  I think she was a little too young for most of the rides.

Enjoying a Wedeking's cookie--

like mother, like daughter

Unfortunately, Evan was still a bit under the weather, so he spent a lot of time in the stroller, as well.  But he did perk up from time to time and got to enjoy some of the rides.  But I didn't happen to catch any of those rides in pictures.

Looking rather peaked, but all cozy
with his blanket.

We stayed at the park until about dinner time, and we had considered eating at the chicken restaurant right there---until we found out how long the wait would be.  Instead we drove to a Portillo's nearby and ate there instead.  All except for Cheryl and Evan---Evan was pretty worn out, and so they just headed back to Redlands. When we were leaving the area, we were just a couple blocks from getting on the freeway, when we had a flat tire on the Escape. I'm pretty sure that we can thank our "auxiliary" parking lot at Knott's for that. AAA came to the rescue pretty quickly and got us on our way again.

Just a note here about the general health of our group that week:  Jeremiah and Hope had both been sick with bad colds, etc. the week before they came. Rachel started coming down with a bad cold, etc. on Christmas Eve.  Josie had the stomach flu the day before everyone started arriving. Evan and Cheryl both had colds and coughs while we were all together.  Neil got up one morning with a stiff neck, and dealt with that for a few days. If I remember correctly there were 3 visits to Urgent Care--Rachel, Evan (who had strep, I think) and Cheryl. We were relieved that no one else caught the stomach flu, because it would have been miserable to have that run through the whole family!!  Bob and I didn't catch any of this until just before we left California.  So we sort of coughed our way across the country on our way home.  I was glad that we were driving and not sitting on a plane. 

I think that one more post will finish off this saga! 

Christmas in California, Part 8--Hanging out at home

We had lots of good times just hanging out at Matt and Cheryl's house together.  The kids really enjoyed their time playing together.  There was lots of  "playing school" going on, with Miss Josie as the teacher most of the time.  And her two students, Jeremiah and Evan, were not always the most obedient.  Occasionally they even needed to have notes sent home!  There was lots of outdoor time, too, which was really a treat for the two Michigan kids!

These pictures were taken over the course of the week, but I think a lot of them were taken on Thursday, which was Ben's last day there.  He made one last trip to In 'n Out Burger to pick up his lunch, which he even shared with Hope.

Uncle Ben and Hope--Buddies!

Matt and the boys decided to harvest the fruit from the lemon trees on Thursday. Jeremiah was quite impressed with the whole process of picking the lemons, and then juicing them.  And  they even made some lemonade!

That's a lot of lemons!

The juicing crew

Working hard!

Father and son doing some dishes
 

This little girl LOVED playing outside!

Playing frisbee with Uncle Ben

Evan getting some love from his uncle and aunt

One more pic of these two

We had a great dinner Thursday night---we had steak grilled by Adam and some really yummy roasted potatoes.  After dinner we had a fire in the back yard and made s'mores.  This picture is probably too dark, but I'll give it a try.

That's Neil and Abby, barely visible

Story time with Uncle Ben, "Dragons love

Tacos" of course. 

Then it was time to say good-bye to Ben--he had a red-eye flight back to Chicago that night.  It was said to see our time all together coming to a close.

Next post:  Knotts Berry Farm

Christmas in California, Part 7--Escondido!

After our Christmas morning activities on Tuesday, we started to discuss plans for the rest of the day.  One person in the family really wanted to go to Escondido in order to get some favorite Wedeking's cookies.  Others felt that would be a pretty long drive, JUST to get cookies, even though they are very yummy!  So Matt came up with a couple of other things we could do in the Escondido area, so we set off.

Our first stop was Wedeking's Bakery, and we were pleased to see that they still have pretty much all the same delicious treats that we remembered.  So we all enjoyed some baked treats, and reminisced about the good old days when a Wedeking's visit was the usual reward for surviving things like dental appointments, shots, etc. etc. I also bought a couple of their coffee cakes for the next day's breakfast. (Grandma fail---no pictures of this stop.)

Our next stop was Bates Nut Farm, which was a favorite place for outings when the kids were little.  We have had many picnics there, spent time feeding the animals, picked out pumpkins in the fall, and of course always enjoyed the store.  The outdoor area really has not changed very much.  There were still lots of animals to feed.  Things in the store had changed a bit---it had been enlarged a bit and some new things had been added.  (Like a fudge counter!)  They still had a lot of the same nuts, candies, and other treats that we remembered.  But we did miss the containers that they used to have for sampling.

Jeremiah got the "flat hand" technique down pretty well.

Josie got a bird's eye view of the place.

She got into the feeding, too.

Hope did lots of running around.

Wissink family shot

I don't think this was planned, but Ben and 

Neil were sort of dressed like twins that day. 

One of the kiddos was missing from these pictures---Evan was not feeling very well that day, and I think he was sleeping in the car when these pictures were taken. Poor Evan! :(

The next stop was Stone Brewery.  This place was new since we had lived there. At least we were not aware of it, if it was there. In addition to the brewery and restaurant, they have some beautiful outdoor areas.  While some of the group did some sampling, others enjoyed the garden areas.  Oh, and I think Evan and Cheryl spent that whole time in the car, as well, as Evan was sleeping. Poor Evan and poor Cheryl! :(  And this time the lack of pictures was a tech failure.  My phone died, so no pictures.  It was a beautiful spot, though. 

We topped off the day with dinner at a great Mexican restaurant, Cenote Grill. I had seen this place mentioned by some of my Escondido friends on Facebook, so we decided to give it a try.  And it was actually very close to our San Marcos house, right in the little strip mall by the 7-11 that we used to walk to.  Memories!

I think I'm down to about 2 or 3 more Christmas posts to go.  Next one will just be some pictures of our time hanging out at Matt and Cheryl's house.

Christmas in California, Part 6--Wiers Christmas Morning

Tuesday was the day that we celebrated our family Christmas morning traditions.  For many years I have been making butterhorns for breakfast on Christmas morning.

These things generally disappear pretty 

quickly, and there are rarely any leftovers.

Evan was making sure he got his!

Stockings are also a Christmas morning tradition.  This year I only filled stockings for the grandkids.  The adult kids usually get stockings, too, with things like gift cards, gum, pens, dental floss (a favorite!).  But this year I left their stockings at home, and they each got a few gift cards. But the kiddos got the usual stocking stuffers.

Hope even got something that was

too big to fit in her stocking. 

One of the things that I put in all the kids' stockings was something I'd call "magic socks."  I found them at the Learning Shop, and they were these things that you unwrap and submerge in water and.......Surprise!!  They turn into a pair of socks!! They came in different bright colors and they each had a different animal on them. 

Waiting.....

and  watching....

and more people watching!

And would you believe--I never took any pictures of them wearing their awesome magic socks!!  They were a big hit, though!

Speaking of socks,  over the past few years we have had another sock tradition.  In the fall I try to get to the big Wigwam Sock sale in Sheboygan, and I buy a bunch of socks of all types.  And then on Christmas morning we sort of have a "sock scramble" and everyone gets to pick out a few pairs of socks.  BUT....due to the whole foot surgery thing, I wasn't really up to facing the crowds and all the standing in line that are part of the Wigwam Sock Sale experience.  So, no Wigwam socks this year.  But hopefully they'll be back next year!!

So that was our Christmas morning.  The rest of that day will be covered in the next post---stay tuned!

Christmas in California, Part 5--Wiers Christmas Eve

Monday, Dec. 28, was the first day that we were all together, so that evening was our Christmas Eve celebration.  For us that means a meal of various appetizers and then the opening of presents.  Lots of excitement, lots of wrapping paper, lots of boxes, lots of  FUN!!

Characters from "Inside Out" from Uncle Ben

Waiting patiently

Hope and "Melmo"

Some wild music!

The kids always get pajamas from Grandma for Christmas.  This year I was able to get the boys identical ones.  Because of the size differences, I couldn't find exactly the same ones for the girls, but I found some that had the same colors and the very same polar bear on them---close enough. :)

The boys

The girls

All four---they fill our hearts and lives
with so much joy!!

Next post:  Wiers Christmas morning traditions!