Wicked

Today Kailani and I spent the afternoon together. I took her to see the play Wicked. The play was about the "untold story of the witches of OZ." Kailani had seen the new Return to OZ movie but she had never seen The Wizard of OZ. Over the Thanksgiving break, I got the movie and the kids watched it. It was helpful and explained a lot of things that happened in the play. I thought the play was awesome. Kailani seemed to be a little bored during the middle (it was a 3-hour show). I had to explain some of the parts to her that she was not able to infer on her own based on what was happening. I think she enjoyed the show though. She definitely enjoyed getting all dressed up and heading downtown for the show.

Over the Christmas break, I would love to take her to see the new Annie movie. I may have to go buy the original version for her to watch first:)

Post Black Friday Shopping

Today we headed out to do some more shopping. It's not even the end of November and we are almost finished with our shopping. We had lunch at Stacked, one of our favorite places to eat. The kids both got mint chocolate chip milk shakes for dessert!

Tonight Kailani walked in the annual holiday parade at the Otay Ranch Town Center with her brownie troop.

Black Friday 5K

This morning we did a 5K with our church. The purpose was to resist the urge to shop on Black Friday. We had a nice family walk along the Olympic Training Center and Otay Lake. Kailani and Jason finished the walk in 52 minutes. Zachary and I finished in 1 hour. Pastor Russ took pictures, so when I find out where those are, I'll add those.

We did head out to do a little shopping late Friday evening. We got a few good deals and I was surprised that the mall wasn't that busy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I didn't take a "Happy Thanksgiving" picture of the kids today. It was a lazy day for us and we hung around the house. We made a turkey dinner and ate together. I asked the kids what they are both thankful for...
Zachary: I am thankful for you, Kailani. (melt my heart)
Kailani: I am thankful for my family.
After dinner was all cleaned up, the kids made pumpkin chip muffins. Yummy!

Knott's Merry Farm

Today we headed to Knott's Berry Farm for the Christmas (Knott's Merry Farm) event. They offered free admission for active duty military and one family member. Additional family member tickets were offered at a low cost.
We haven't been to Knott's in a while. There were a few new things. The kids had a great time.

Stockings for Seniors

Tonight the kids put together Christmas stockings for the senior citizens at the Veteran's Home in Chula Vista. We aren't able to go along to drop them off, but we wanted to send something along. The kids enjoyed picking out items to fill the stocking and they enjoyed filling them. They included personal Christmas notes too.

I've been working late nights and since Jason is working nights, I am glad to have my work buddy who sneaks downstairs to keep me company:)

Free Little Library

Today was one of those extra days where we were able to run some errands. All of us are off the whole week, except for Jason. We are definitely going to take advantage of having extra time.
The other day we noticed someone building something at the small park right near our house. We walked over today to check it out and found it to be a lending library. There is one for adult books and one for children's books. You can take a book and leave a book. Of course the kids exchanged one of their books for one from the free library.

I found the following website in a Google search. It looks like the free little library has been around for a little while. We are fortunate to have one in our neighborhood.       http://littlefreelibrary.org/
Tonight one of Kailani's classmates came over to work on a team project. I can't believe she's getting old enough to do things like this! She enjoyed having her friend over and I enjoyed chatting with her mom.

The Grinch and Other Things

Today we took the kids to see The Grinch at the Old Globe Theatre. We took Kailani when she was younger, but this was Zachary's first time. The kids really enjoyed the show.

We had lunch at The Prado in Balboa Park and then did some museum hopping.

We went to the San Diego History Center, where there was a special Dr. Seuss exhibit.

 We went to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum.

We finished the day at the Reuben H Fleet Science Center.

Now that we have the Balboa Park Explorer pass, we can get into all of the museums for the year. It was definitely worth it today!

Shopping

Today we started off the day at Toys R Us. They had a special Lego building activity. The kids built a creation and left it on display with their name and title of the creation.

Then, we spent some time walking around the Las Americas outlets at the border. There was a new section that recently opened so we wanted to check it out.

Kendama Kraze

The kids are so into kendamas right now. They each got one for Easter this year and they play with it all the time. The football players always have one in hand. Zachary learned a lot from them and is actually pretty good at it now.
Today they offered a special activity called kendama kraze up the street at Heritage Park. We walked the kids up and they were in awe of all of the kendamas! They were selling all different kinds and of course they each picked one out. Zachary now has 3 and Kailani has 2. They are collecting them and want many more.

Apparently there are professional kendama players and a few were at the event to show off some skills, teach the kids some tricks, and play games. What a fun event!

This guy is TJ Kolesnik, a world-famous professional. He signed the kids's kendamas. Maybe they'll be worth something some day:)
Here is Zachy practicing for a "unicorn battle."

Tucson!

Saturday morning we started our 6-hour drive to Tucson, Arizona for the Desert Pacific Cheer Competition. Since the girls placed in the local competition, they were invited to participate in the regional competition. It was quite a ride, but we made it there in time to participate in some of the activities that were available that evening.
We all met up at Golf n Stuff. The girls drove cars, drove boats, played mini golf, etc. They had a fun time.
The competition was bright and early on Sunday morning and we went on within the first 2 hours. The girls did awesome and placed 2nd out of 7 teams. Go Broncos!! We are so proud of them.
I ordered the girls ribbon leis from Hawaii and we got them megaphone necklaces too.

 

This year there are 14 girls on the team. Five of the girls have been together since flag. They've been cheering together for 4 years. I can't believe how fast time goes!