Winter Break - 2015/2016 - Part I

This was the first Christmas that we spent away from home since we moved to Florida.

I love the tradition that we have at home. It's just the four of us around our Christmas tree in the early mornings.

But we were SO excited to be going to California this year!

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The whole ordeal starts when we pack. The kids would bring everything inside their luggages if they could.

We left on Dec 17 from Tampa. The kids missed two days of school. I don't know if they were happier to go to San Diego or to miss two days of class!

We landed in SD at 9:00pm and were greeted by grandma and grandpa. We were all missing each other so much!

We stayed up until 1:30am catching up. In Florida time 4:30am!

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First day we spent with family. We haven't seen grandma and grandpa for the last three years. The kids were so happy to be around them!

Our first outing was to Mission Bay. When we lived in SD we used to go there to play soccer, for the playground and for nice, long strolls.

The weather was cold and crispy. So so nice. It's a nice treat when you live in FL in summer almost all year long.

I really wished I had taken more pictures during our stay at my in-laws. But I guess we were too busy visiting with each other and it felt so good.

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One morning we went to hike on Mountain Woodson Trail - The potato Chip Rock

It was our first time hiking that mountain!

The whole hike took us around three hours. It's about 7 miles back and forth. I just realized that we didn't start the hike from Poway Lake when I was typing this post. Instead we started at the Ramona side. I guess we missed a whole lot of scenery.

Nonetheless it was a very interesting trail.

Kalei is afraid of heights. He was not very excited about the idea of hiking. He was walking as far as he possibly could from the edges of the trail. We had to hold hands the whole way up. I totally loved that he was asking me to put my arms around him and asking to hold his hands tight.

Ruffin took over with Kalei for me so I could take pictures. Gabe and I got ahead and when we caught up with them, Ruffin said that Kalei was making him go slowly.

I held Kalei's hands tight again, loving that he was so vulnerable and cuddly, and started up hill again. When we realized dad was way behind all of us! It turns out it wasn't Kalei who was slowing him down!

At the summit of the mountain there is this unique shaped rock - Potato Chip Rock. People wait in a long line to walk to the tip of it and take pictures.

Here are Daddy and Gabe waiting for their turn.

That's how far they got on the rock. It was so so so cold and windy and it was a little scary to walk all the way to the tip of it like those two guys from the picture above did.

Kalei was terrified to be at the summit. He didn't move and stood as far as he could from the edge. He was freezing too. Poor munchikin.

Then we started our way down. It was way easier and quicker. Kalei felt more comfortable and even let go and explore on his own. I can tell he felt proud of himself for accomplishing this. I was happy for him!

All the way back.

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We drove around La Jolla cove. Always so beautiful. Even with a grey sky on a winter day.

They played soccer for three days on a winter camp at Pt Loma.

La Jolla Cove's famous sea lions.

We met the Kanters twice during this trip. As usual it was wonderful. They always go above and beyond. We love them so much!

On Christmas Eve, we went hiking at Torrey Pines.

The weather was gorgeous.

We spent some time with the Adler family as well. We met at Torrey Pines and went to their house later for Christmas night. It was very nice to chat with Gilda.