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!