book club, kind of.

i started reading the most enchanting book this weekend, and had to share.  if you haven't picked up a copy of this little treasure yet, you are missing out.  and, if you blog...lets start a "sort of book club", meaning we can chat back and forth about this post world war II setting, literary masterpiece.  let me know if you are interested.

Friends, Family and Festivities

We spent the weekend cramming in as many family, friends and festivities as we could possibly fit into one 48 hour period....Friday night we met up with Darin's brother's family (Brian and Kristy),  we exchanged gifts, and Kai loved the blanket Kristy made him as well as the sign language books and cute little cup.  Briana and Garrett were pretty fond of their new keyboard that lights up when you play it. Garrett told Darin: "Thanks for getting me the piano, I've been wanting one my whole life...I just never knew where to find one" (keep in mind he is 4).  It was so cute!

After the gift exchange, we headed out to see the lights...Kai loved hanging out with Brianna and Garett!

The kids spent the night, and had tons of fun cooking pancakes and waffles for breakfast.

In the afternoon, we joined Darin's Mom's side of the family for a holiday party...this was Kai's first introduction to Santa Claus.

That night we had dinner with friends, and they came back to our house for hot chocolate and cookies.  Leila and Kai watched holiday movies and then exchanged gifts.  Leila gave Kai some really cool keys, toys and finger foods.  Kai gave Leila a "Baby Obama" T-shirt, Leila loves to say Omama, Omama, every time she see's pictures of the president, and Kai's parents are big Obama fans, so we wanted to support her infatuation.

Lastly we had a great Sunday resting and eating delicious food...these are my favorite guys in their holiday sweaters.

DSIcation

Some of you may be wondering "What is a DSIcation?"  Well, I will tell you, DSI (Data Systems International) is the company Darin works for, and he often travels for work...well, this past weekend they agreed to send me and Kai with him to San Diego/Riverside, so we turned it into a mini vacation.  We were in San Diego for a couple of days and then headed up to Riverside.  My main goals for this 4 day trip were to EAT a lot of good food, spend time at the beach, sleep in and go shopping.  I admit I get a little carried away thinking I could spend time at the beach, sleep in and shop with an 8 month old...but I sure did EAT a lot! (1 out of 4 is pretty good) Check out all the fun we had...

After an authentic Mexican lunch in OLD TOWN San Diego, we headed down to the pier and spent some time walking the boardwalk checking out the boats, pelicans, and seals.

Kai's favorite shop was a cute little bookstore, where a man was playing Jazz music with a saxophone and an oboe (he had a laptop with a digital band playing in the background)...Kai watched him for an hour and a half, and would have stayed all night if we didn't tear him away to go eat dinner.

However, he was still a pretty happy dude.

Coronada Island was our first destination Sunday morning...we spent the whole morning wandering around this 120 year old hotel admiring the old building, watching sail boats right off the beach, eating ice cream, and watching the kids iceskate on the rink behind the hotel.

 

The Hotel Decorations and outdoor courtyard were beautiful!

Kai enjoyed the Hotel, but mostly the sink...every day, for as long as I would let him.

The highlight of my trip was meeting up with Greg, a great friend I haven't seen in 10 years...we spent the whole night eating delicious food, reminiscing about old times, and catching up.  It was soooooo great to see him!

What a great trip...DSI can send us on vacation any time!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Darin and I have never wanted a Christmas tree, in fact, we usually travel every Christmas, so we haven't ever decorated for the holidays at all.  Everyone said that would change as soon as we had kids.  Well, we have a kid, and it hasn't changed . So, I'm wondering if they literally meant kids (emphasis on the S).  I guess we'll see.
However, Kai is a huge fan of trees, and so we decided to take him to "Festival of the Trees", so that he could get his fill of Christmas decorations.  He had a great time...

We went with his friend Leila, she kept trying to sneak under the super secure barricade (as pictured above) between the aisle and the trees. 

We had a great time checking out literally hundereds of decorated trees, gingerbread houses, quilts, and other Holiday decorations, but Kai's favorite part was watching all of the other little kids running around, he could watch kids for hours and be perfectly content.  Maybe we should just buy him a daycare for Christmas...Hmmm