Vacation to Los Cabos

Joe and I enjoyed a very lazy vacation away from the kids in early January in Cabo, Mexico (thanks again mom and dad!). We were away for 6 nights, and only left the hotel twice (very unlike us - usually we are on the go more than that). We stayed at The Westin, which is in "The Corridor" between Cabo san Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. This hotel was gorgeous to look at (it was HUGE!), but the food was, at best, average (a big deal to me for those of you who know me well!). This is a view of the hotel from the beach (it is in the structure of an arch to replicate the Cabo san Lucas rock arch formation - pics later).

And a view from the lobby. This gives you an idea of how large this hotel complex is - not for the out of shape or those with disabilities!

Hmmm...do I want to relax on the beach?

Or at one of the infinity pools (there were 3 infinity pools)?

We enjoyed a few hours of art shopping at San Jose del Cabo. This was a quiet, beautiful little town with this historic Mission San Jose del Cabo Anuiti from 1730. I like this picture with the town's Christmas decorations still visible.

The San Jose del Cabo town square. You can see just how quiet this town is due to the lack of people (very unlike Cabo san Lucas)! However, the art shops here were definitely worth the trip.

View from our hotel room. I loved the "swirls" that the water would make against the rocks (we were on the Sea of Cortez side). The rocks were everywhere here, which made it both beautiful and not exactly safe water to swim in unless you were a very good swimmer!

How many crabs can you find? These little guys were everywhere!

We made it to Cabo san Lucas on our last day of vacation. We hired a water taxi to take us the the famed Cabo arch. This is the entryway to the Pacific Ocean (through the small keyhole in the rocks).

A view of the Arch, and other rock formations with it that were just as beautiful. Our tour guide thinks the one on the left looks like Scooby Doo. The Arch is where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean.

Another view of the Arch.

The only decent photo of us together in Cabo!

We felt like we were back in La Jolla with all of the sea lions!

This big guy didn't give us any thought.

We loved all of the pelicans around.

Good-bye Cabo!

Christmas Part 2

On the day after Christmas, we were lucky enough to go to our new niece Lula's baby dedication. Olivia and Ethan had been the only grandchildren on both sides of the family, but with the addition of Lula (Joe's stepbrother Tim and Tim's wife Jen are the lucky parents to this little girl), our kids have been knocked off of this throne! However, both Olivia and Ethan were thrilled to meet Lula for the first time. Here is Olivia playing Peek A Boo with her at the luncheon following the dedication.

Olivia was so proud that she was able to hold Lula by herself! And the matching red dresses was a happy coincidence!

The cousins - Olivia, Lula, and Ethan.

Ethan, being a natural entertainer, was a big hit with Lula, eliciting many giggles from her with his antics.

Then on the Tuesday after Christmas, we had Christmas with Joe's side of the family. Here is Grandpa Brett teaching Ethan the proper technique for playing the trombone.

Olivia was once again a big helper with Lula, assisting her open her numerous Christmas gifts!

Ethan, Grandpa Brett, Grammy, Lula, and Olivia.

The cousins with the uncles - Uncle Tim, cousin Lula, Uncle Matt, Olivia, Uncle Brennan, Ethan, and Uncle Cory. (Joe, Uncle David, and Aunt Meghann were unable to attend this celebration).

Christmas Part 1

We basically had two sets of Christmas celebrations this year - one with my family and one with Joe's family. The celebration with my family began on Christmas Eve morning with sugar cookie decorating. I think that this might be the first year that most of the frosting and toppings made it on the cookies and were not just eaten by the kids!

For Christmas Eve dinner, we had a make your own pizza party. We rolled and stretched the homemade dough, then had a very large buffet of toppings to add to it.

I'm not quite sure what the kids are doing here, but we are waiting for the pizza to finish cooking. Olivia and Ethan decorated the table and were very proud of the results!

Cheers to Christmas!

After dinner we ventured outside in the snow. It was so wonderful to have a white Christmas!

Aunt Rachel (yes, the sweater is a joke) and Uncle Thomas reading to the kids to try and wind them down enough to fall asleep! After tracking NORAD all day they were very excited about the arrival of Santa!

The kids showing off their letters to Santa and the treat they left for him - s'mores!

Santa came! The one toy that Olivia most wanted from Santa was GoGo My Walking Pup. Here she is opening that exact gift from Santa! Whew! He was able to find one!

And the one gift that Ethan most wanted from Santa were the Buzz Lightyear wings.

Olivia and her family gifts turned into a fort. She had so many gifts that one gift became lost in the unwrapping mess and wasn't found until clean up time! A very successful Christmas for her.

Ethan amidst his family gifts.

The big gift that we gave to Olivia this year was her very first real American Girl doll. Up to this point she had only had Bitty Baby dolls. This is the "Like Me" doll and she has aptly named it "Olivia".

Ethan is pretty happy with all of his gifts. Thus far, it seems that the Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash gift has been the favorite (thanks Aunt Rachel and Uncle Thomas!).

Joe and Ethan with the gift that Ethan selected for Joe. Some might remember that last year Ethan picked a Cubs coffee mug for Joe, despite us being crazy Cardinals fans. This year Ethan told Joe "I bought you a mug but I'm not telling you which team I picked". He got it right with the Illini mug! Olivia picked a Cardinals pennant for him.

Olivia and I with her gifts to me - a mom necklace and an angel statue. Ethan selected a snowman snow globe and a bear statue for me.

The "before" picture....

...and "after"! Merry Christmas!