First Christmas activity of the season

It's always nice to have a friend that knows the best activities to do.  Angie suggested we go visit Santa and see the tree lighting.  The MacMasters were in!  Angie was a pro since they went last year, so she knew we needed to get there early and head to Santa first before the crowds came.

Olivia made sure that Ryden was safe while crossing the street.

Angie had her hands full and I could see Tessa frantically trying to hold her mom's hand.  I asked her if she wanted to hold mine and with a sweet smile on her face she ran over and grabbed my hand.  We are best friends.

 Trevin can be a gentleman most of the time.  Case in point when he held Tessa's hand because she was scared of Santa.

 You can see the fear in her face.  She agreed to sit on the cupcake as opposed to Santa's lap.  Trevin rushed right up to Santa and jumped on his lap.

 "What do you want for Christmas little boy?"

"Uh Uh Uh...a present"

"What kind of present?"

"Uh Uh Uh...a blue one"

 Last year Ryden wanted nothing to do with Santa.  This year, I think he wanted to impress his girl by being brave.

There was a cool 'Elf of the Shelf' treasure hunt the kids loved.  Each store would hide the elf somewhere and the kids would have to find it to get that store checked off their list.  

 There was also a cookie decorating station.  Ry and Liv took their time...

 Trevin slapped a glob of frosting on and went to town.

We took off before the lighting of the Christmas tree because the crowd was a little to big for my liking.

Dada was waiting when we got home with some hot coco.  Ryden is finally old enough to drink from the glass mug he got from Auntie Katie's wedding a few years ago.  P.S.  Poor gingerbread man...just a head left

We bit the bullet this year and bought an artificial tree.  I have been putting it off because of several factors.  I love the idea of picking out a Christmas tree and I love the smell of the real ones.  Well, we usually just run to Home Depot and grab the first one we see so what's the point of that?  Plus, they have these cool sticks you put on the fake tree that makes them smell better than the real ones I think.

Lights were already on so didn't have to fuss with that.  The boys jumped right in and started hanging ornaments.  Trevin is in a phase where he either wants to wear his bathing suit all the time....or nothing at all.

Concentration...

 This was the favorite spot on the tree...Many ornaments were placed here....

....as you can see

All decorated..

 I was worried it wouldn't look the same...but looks pretty good to me.  Plus, in the long run we will be saving money and saving trees...

We finished the night by watching a Christmas movie while Dada slept.

 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Kidspace

After Papa Don's birthday celebration, we decided to hit up a kids museum in the area before we headed home.  We drove to Kidspace in Pasadena and were pleasantly surprised.  The kids had a great time exploring and climbing.  The wall walking into the place was super cool...and the ceiling made for a good picture..  

 We went outside and played around at the different science stations they had.  The boys blew through most of them..

Throwing magnets at a tall metal thing.

Can you get it to stick?

 Blasting balls through hoops..

 Building a 'roller coaster' out of tubes.

 Can you pull your own body weight?  Ummm nope.

 Which one will go faster?  The one with more or less weights?

 It's all about the balance..

 Ryden LOVED the bike area because they had a little road drawn on the ground.  He obeyed all of the traffic laws and stayed on the path.

Inside, the boys climbed up a 'bug's house'

 Drove a car...

 Climbed up something else too claustrophobic for me..

 And looked for bugs.  What the H is this thing I might ask?

Jason discovered there were painted bugs on the ceiling and he totally committed to this photo.

Back to the bikes we went.  This time, Trevin hitched a ride.

 This little section actually made the illusion that it was raining in California!  Amazing!

 Human spider

 And a photo taken by Ryden to complete the trip...

 

Papa Don turns 80

Jason's Grandpa turned 80 so we all went out to brunch to celebrate.  It was great hanging with the MacMaster clan and meeting some of Papa Don's friends he has had for 40-50 years!  Pam did an awesome job of hosting this amazing party.  

Picture with Papa Don and all the ladies (why do I look like such a giant!?)

Ryden loves his (2nd?) cousin Madison.  He drew several pictures for her in the short time we were at the restaurant.  Most of them said "I love Madison".  So that's why he kept asking me how to spell her name.

Before we all left, I had to get a picture with the four generations all together.  Papa Don with his great grandsons, grandson, and son.

Such a great time celebrating!  Happy Birthday Don!

Cara gets married!

My friend Cara was getting married in Seattle and we were so happy to be attending.  I was one of the bridesmaids and Ryden was the ring bearer.  Since no kids were allowed at the wedding (except for the flower girl and ring bearer of course), Trevin got to stay home with Grandma....he did not mind this at all.  We were all packed and ready to fly...Ryden was stoked to be flying again.  Even more stoked to ride on the suitcase through the terminal.

When we landed, we had a few hours to kill before our hotel room was ready so we hit up the Space Needle.

Ry was super excited to ride up in the elevator.

 Once we got to the top, it was beautiful!  Ryden was content for about 5 minutes...

 ...then he had seen enough and kept telling us he wanted to go.

 We managed to walk around a few more times, get one group photo, and then headed back to the elevator.  That was money well spent.

 I made the boys pose by this tree because they leaves were looking so 'fallish'.  I love anything that looks like fall.

 Someone suggested that we go check out the huge water show that was set to music.  The boys walked down closer to the dome thing while I stayed back to take pictures.

 At first the show was quite calm.  Just a few spouts of water here and there...

 Ry kept walking closer and closer.  All of a sudden, the music blasted and the water shot up full blast.  Ryden headed for the hills.

He was content watching it from afar.  When it was all done he yelled ''Again, Again!!''  It was a pretty spectacular show.

 Our room was finally ready, so we headed back to relax before heading to the rehearsal dinner.

 The first time Ryden and Aurora (the bride's daughter) saw each other, they ran up and just stared shyly one another for a few seconds.  Then, I kid you not, Ry said ''Dada, can I have your phone.  I want to take a selfie with Aurora''.

These two stole the show!  They acted like it was their wedding.  Aurora even mentioned that she was going to marry Ryden when she got older.  

 Then it was time to go to dinner.  Ryden got a hold of the camera and took a few shots...

 The shyness faded away and these two were the best of friends...attached at the hip.  PS...Ry insisted on wearing that hat even though it wasn't Alaska cold outside.

 Ring bearer and flower girl ready to do their job!

The kids left with the babysitter and we headed for some adult fun with my new best friends.  My picture taking was not up to par that night...

The next day it was show time!  All the girls headed to Cara's room to get ready.

The bride multi-tasking

 For one of our bridesmaids gifts, Cara got us these adorable gold sparkle hangers.  So we had to pose the closet with the dresses and shoes...

 ..and of course, all of us had to snap as many pictures as possible.

 The mother of the bride.

 She really is so stunning....such a pretty bride and she isn't even in her dress yet!

While all of us girls were getting pampered, Jason was cruisin' around town with the kiddos.  He had such a blast with both of them.  He took them to the aquarium, a carousel, and a ferris wheel.  Jason didn't want to bring Aurora back to get ready because they were having so much fun.

 I love that these two are still such great friends even when they don't get to see each other as much as I would like...

 Mr. Mom.  Jason taught Aurora to call him Uncle Awesome

 So I somehow managed to lose my camera in the getting ready room (my friend found it in her purse after we were on our way home), so I didn't get many pictures at the wedding.  Here is one of the wedding party.. I am in LOVE with Cara's dress! 

The MacMasters minus one...

 Father/Daughter dance

 The lucky groom...Jeff

Yep...that is all the pictures I got.  FAIL!  The next day, we met up with our Carlsbad homies who moved to Seattle.  We went bowling before we had to get on the plane to go home.  Sam and Ryden have know each other since they were one.

 It was so good catching up with the Silvermans.  

 When we were leaving, the boys walked out hand in hand...

Super fun fun trip!  But so sad I didn't document the wedding more....it was absolutely breath taking!