December

It seems that the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas fly by faster than any other weeks of the year! We had a great December, jam-packed with all kinds of fun and complete with a wonderful trip to Mexico to celebrate my 40th birthday.

December started with a super fun sleepover with the fishes. Nels and Harrison headed down to Denver with a big group of Dads and Sons to spend the night with the fish. It was a great night spent with friends - some old and some new. They slept right by the shark tank - yikes! Nels said he woke up a couple of times in the night and was looking straight into a sharks eyes - I think I would have nightmares! :) They toured the aquarium and did some fun activities and in the morning breakfast was served in the restaurant. I don't think they got much sleep - but they sure had a lot of fun. It was a wonderful experience for dads and boys alike.

Every year we have a Gingerbread house decorting party and this year was no exception. So, we invited a few families over for our annual Gingerbread house decorating event. Each family brought some candy and other items to use in the decorating. I think the prep work is almost as much fun as the decorating, because you get to shop for unique candies and items to decorate with. I love to see what everybody brings and then get super creative with the items. This year we bought house kits - usually I bake the pieces for the houses - but Nels shorted out my mixer and I hadn't yet replaced it. The kits were cool, they came complete with a sleigh and reindeer. This was the first year that all the kids were involved in the decorating, usually there are a couple who help decorate and the rest run off to play - but this year - they all stayed to decorate and then played - It was really exciting! The houses turned out great and as our friends left, I felt such a swelling in my heart to have such wonderful people in my life! I am truly blessed!

Nels and Harrison participated in the Scout Family ski days at Copper Mountain resort. This was an amazing deal - $25/person for a lift ticket, breakfast and lunch.... can't be beat! Harrison had been skiing once before and didn't really love it. He was excited to go & try again. He did a really good job and had a great time. The snow was coming down all day - which made for some really great skiing!



coming down the bunny hill




That's Harrion in the red - skiing like a pro!




Oops - almost made it all the way down...



We celebrated an early Christmas with Family, as we were leaving for Mexico on the 23rd. Nana made tacos to kick off our Mexico vacation and Nels' parents and Grandma joined us for a great night of eating and opening gifts. The boys got a lot of stuff to get them ready for Mexico - new bathing suits and snorkel gear. They also each got a spy watch and some other fun stuff.

Harrison in his spy disguise

December ended with a great trip to Mexico to celebrate my 40th birthday! Can't really say where those 40 years have gone - but I have no regrets!! We arrived in Mexico the evening of the 23rd after a rather un-eventful day of traveling. We were greeted at the front desk with a glass of champagne and virgin pina coloda's for the boys! That night, we enjoyed dinner at the buffet and explored the huge property. The boys were anxious to go in the ocean, but of course it was dark, so we simply walked along the beach. On Christmas Eve, we hit the beach early and then the kids waterpark pool - I think it had a total of 5 or 6 slides coming off all sides. For Christmas Eve, the resort offered a Gala dinner at the buffet. Again, we were greeted with glasses of Champagne and there were incredible ice sculptures in the lobby, complete with Santa and his reindeer. All the staff was dressed up and we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner - it even included chocolate fondue, which is our family tradition on Christmas Eve. We woke up Christmas morning to find Santa had found us in Mexico, filled the boys' stockings and left them each a Cup-ponk game. Harrison was thrilled - he had been a little worried that Santa would not know where he was... We spent most of Christmas day at the kids waterpark, basking in the sun! On my birthday we took a trip to Tulum to see the ruins - the boys both have studied the Mayan civilization at school and it was a neat experience to see the ruins first hand. After we returned to the resort, we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and by the pool. The boys met a friend on the first day at the waterpark and we spent some time with him and his family, watching the shows and playing Bocce ball, they are from Canada and we had a good time getting to know them. We spent a great deal of time on the beach, in the ocean and by the pool. On our last night we experienced a show call Michael Jackson's best - it was incredible! This man named Lev Garcia dressed like Michael and sang a bunch of his songs - he was accompanied by some awesome dancers. It was a really neat show. We had a wonderful time in Mexico!



Feliz Navidad carved from ice (in the backgournd)




Santa and his reindeer carved out of ice





Christmas morning




Tulum




Water tricycles





On our last day, the boys dug in the sand until they reached water - here they are standing in the hole

New Years Eve was spent at home. We made turkey and all the fixings for dinner and played a game. At 10PM we watched the ball drop in NY and toasted with champagne - then hit the sack. Between jet lag and the cold we picked up in Mexico, we were all a little beat.

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 brings you all the things you wish for.

Lisa