It’s not too often that we get two full days with the whole family. Doing fun things. Sleeping in late. Going on adventures. And having nerf gun fights in the late afternoon. This weekend, we did it all!

On Saturday we took the train, a favorire staple for our family, to Encinitas. We had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants- D Street- then headed for a walk on the beach. We have two hours to eat and explore the cute, beach city of Encinitas!

On Sunday we headed down to La Jolla and explored The Birch Aquarium. We saw fish, octopus, eel, sea horse, sharks, fish, crabs, rays, sea slugs, lobster, fish, and a TON of things I have forgotten to mention! The Birch Aquarium is a fun place to visit on both rainy and sunny days. There are things to explore inside and things to make and do outside. Scotty doesn’t usually come with us, but today we got lucky! And one of my favorite things to do on Aquarium days- go to Islands for lunch!! We do this EVERY time we go to the aquarium! I love me some Islands! Also, it’s kind of a fitting place to go eat after exploring ocean life, right?

I didn’t take any pictures on Saturday on our train expedition, but I forced everyone to take a few today at the aquarium!

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On Monday Kayden had her tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes put in her ear. Last year she was hit with strep throat so many times, it was getting a little bit ridiculous. We thought maybe it was because it was her first full time experience at school, and that she was just getting the cooties that all kids get when they first start school. And then we noticed that her tonsils are HUGE even when they are not infected. That, with the frequent ear infections, it was determined that they all must go!

Surgery day went smoothly! She woke up excited, she even got dressed before coming in our room to say good morning. She knew that endless popsicles, ice cream, yogurt, gummies, gum, and the like were in her immediate future. She didn’t, fortunately, know that most of those treats would be rather difficult to consume due to pain. Nonetheless, she handled the day perfectly! She loved her ‘scrubs’ and hair net. She loved meeting all the nice nurses. And she loved the bubble gum flavored oxygen she got to send her into la-la land. Kayden, you are far braver than I was! You were a good patient. You had a great attitude. And you never cried or got scared- unlike your mother!!

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For the past two years we have gone to Catalina in January, just after the holidays. Luckily for us this year, Kayden had an extra week of- Project Week. Knowing we’d be out of town, we did her project the week before we were supposed to do it! The project actually coincided with Catalina, actually! She created a town as an original occupant. It was fun!

This year we did SO MANY COOL things!! We explored, we toured, we went under water, we ate ice cream, we saw movies, we got way too competitive at the local arcade, we sat with the captain, and we had just an amazing time together!!

Here are some of our highlights!

Day 1: Explore the island

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Day 2: Tour the island in a golf cart. 3 hours of zooming up and down the mountain, hiking, checking out the botanical garden/memorial for Wrigley, climbing, posing, laughing… we did it all!

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We also took an under water tour. This time of year it is pretty empty on the island as most people are headed back to work/school. We knew it was quiet, but we did NOT know we’d be getting our very own tour. There was no one else on the boat and we got some pretty cool views with a personalized tour!

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Day 3: We took a ‘behind the scenes tour’ of the Casino. We’ve never actually been to the Casino, but I guess I always kind of just knew that it wasn’t an actual casino. I thought maybe at one time it was, but that maybe now it was some sort of museum of sorts. Turns out the word ‘casino’ means a place of gathering for Italians. So it was never in fact a casino! It’s always been a place for parties/dancing and performances. So many iconic people graced the stages of the casino. I didn’t recognize most of the names, but I did recognize one- Marilyn Monroe!! So cool to stand on the same stage that she did once in time!

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Such a fun, fun trip!! I hope we make it an annual tradition. We love island time!! We did as we pleased, when we pleased, how we pleased, and all had so much fun… together!!

We had a GREAT December!! We had a ton of family time (just the 4 of us!) and of course a ton of family-family time!!

Here are the highlights:

Sea World!! We got passes for Christmas, woot-woot!!

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Christmas celebrations! We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Mihelich side and Christmas Day with the Hatcher side. We did see EVERYONE on Christmas Day, however! The girls were overloaded with presents, but they handled the day of whirlwind gift giving like champs!!

 
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Kayden and Eli had a gift exchange and Christmas performance to send us off into the holiday break. They both did great!!

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All in all, we had a fantastic Christmas Season!!

And here are some highlights from November!

As always, we had lots of trips to the park. Not pictured is Kloey’s soccer. She just started a soccer camp and she loves it. She’s actually pretty good at it. I only say actually, because she’d never even played with a soccer ball until camp started. She can dribble the ball and shoot the goal.

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We frequented the Wild Animal Park and Birch Aquarium too. There honestly is so much to do in San Diego. Our girls are spoiled!!

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Kayden had her first field trip to the Museum of Making Music. I even got the chaperone!!

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We decorated for Christmas. Since it’s only a month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we put up decorations ASAP!

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Oh yeah, Thanksgiving?! Guess I didn’t take any pictures…. We spent the day with the Mihelich side. Fun time as always!

November was a great month, with lots of activities and fun times with family.

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