Merry Christmas

Christmas with Nathan was fun this year. We enjoyed Christmas Eve at Brian's parents house. The night included lots of yummy snacks, fondue dinner, plenty o'drinks and of course opening presents. Nathan enjoyed opening his gifts, but was a bit overwhelmed by the process, but still enjoyed it. On Christmas morning we opened gifts/stockings from Santa and then lounged around gorging on bacon, fruit and Krispy Creme doughnuts and watching Grease. After a nap and a dip in the jacuzzi, we headed up to Brian's aunt and uncle's house in Poway for more food and gifts. Today, Grandma Lois, Grandpa Larry and Annemarie are coming for the weekend. We are glad to see the sun shining and hope to enjoy a beautiful sunny weekend. Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped to make this an enjoyable Christmas for us.

Holiday Fun

We are gearing up for Christmas 2008. To prepare we have had a pretty busy weekend of parties, meeting Santa in several different locations, seeing Christmas lights with friends and breakfasts with Shamu and Santa at Seaworld (which doubled as a birthday brunch for Julie).

Refreshing

This school year has been by far the most stressful and disgruntling that I have faced. Couple that with the continued hate that we have seen in our state this year and my outlook on humanity has been lessened. However, yesterday on the last day of school before a three-week break, my faith in humanity was restored. Do you know who it was who restored that faith? A group of fifth graders. Our district has moved toward including children with disabilities into general education environments, as the law states that we do. Some teachers have been skeptical about this and some have been more open. Two teachers this year have stepped up the plate and run with it, while most have run the other direction. Fear of what we don't know, often breeds hate. Well, we have a student with severe Cerebral Palsy who is bound to a wheel chair and has been out for 6 weeks having surgery. Her mother decided to bring her to the Christmas party at the end of the day. Well, I happened to be in the classroom when she came. Every single one of those students was surprised, happy and genuine when she wheeled into the room. It was the most endearing thing I have seen all year. So while adults around continue to spread fear and judgement, we can step back and learn sincerity and caring from a group of 10 and 11 year olds.

Beach Camping in December

We spent last weekend camping at San Elijo state beach. It was a warm sunny weekend. Brian surfed a couple of times a day and we mostly just hung out with friends and family. Nathan met a new friend Ella and the two shared their first kiss. So cute. We attempted to take our Christmas card photo, but Nathan was having none of it. I guess we overlooked the fact that the poor kid was starving...oops. Other than our botched photo shoot and Milo contracting a nasty case of the runs, we had a great weekend. Where else but Southern California can you wear shorts on the beach in December?

Thanksgiving Road Trip

We are back from our Thanksgiving roadtrip to Santa Barbara, San Simeon, Willow Creek and Fresno. Our trip started with a short visit with some of Brian's college friends in Santa Barbara. We took Nathan to some tide pools just below where Brian lived in college. We saw some starfish, mussels and a good size octapus. The next day we drove up the coast to Jalama, where Brian surfed and Nathan and I hung out at the campground playground until the rain started. We grabbed a quick lunch and headed up to San Simeon where we checked into our hotel, walked on the beach, ate dinner in Cambri and then went to bed. In the morning we drove up to see the Elephant Seals, which Nathan loved then we drove further up the coast towards Big Sur and walked around Willow Creek. We drove back down to San Simeon so Brian could surf befor heading East to Fresno. In Fresno, we had dinner with all of my mom's sisters who were there from Bakersfield, Minnesota, Iowa and Tennesee. On Thanksgiving Day, Grandma kicked us out of the house so we went to Woodward Park, where Nathan and his cousin's from Iowa, Wyatt and Caleb burned off some energy at the playground and we walked around the Japanese Gardens before going back to grandma and grandpa's for a yummy meal with even more family (my brother, sister in law and their kids). On Friday, grandma, Annemarie, Nathan, Brian and I went to the Fresno Zoo, while grandpa took Kyle, Lori and the boys to Yosemite and Aunt Bonnie, Aunt Susie and Uncle Jim went to gamble at the casino. On Saturday before we left, we spent some time with another of my mother's brother's and sister in law who came down from Oregon. All in all a fun trip, but we still wonder why Nathan does not sleep in Fresno???

Daley Ranch

We headed up to Daley Ranch just outside of Escondido today to do some hiking. Weather was great, though we did encounter short bursts of rain. It finally felt like fall. Milo kept up great and appears to be an outdoor Pug. Nathan enjoyed it for a bit, but get tired and uncomfortable toward the end (looking at him falling asleep in the backpack made my neck hurt).

20-months

Nathan is now 20-months old. What does that mean? Well, in just 4 short months, we will be parents of a 2-year old. Seriously once you pass that newborn adjustment phase, time goes into lightning speed. So what is it like to be 20-months old? Well life according to Nathan goes something like this: question everything, exert independence, be stubborn, apologize for mistakes, enjoy life. Nathan has taken to exerting his independence whenever possible. He loves to try to climb into the car, fasten the straps on the carseat, climb into his highchair, undress and the list goes on. While he is not exactly successful at each task, he does not want help unless asked. Translation: you must be VERY patient, as any of the above tasks can take several minutes before help is requested. Nathan has started showing more interest in his potty, often asking to go sit on it, but as of yet he has not gone. He can tell you when he is going number 2, but still no connection between using the potty. Still, the prospect of him being potty trained is becoming more of a reality.

Reflections

As I have been preparing for another year of running deployment groups for children who's parents are deployed (obvious) and I am faced with the another holiday season where children are without one of their parents, whether they be in Iraq or on a mission elsewhere, I have started to reflect on how we shape our own lives with the choices we make. Just this morning, as Nathan and I were walking in Balboa park with our friend Cheryl and Nathanial, I started to think about those kids again who will be faced with the holiday season without one parent. The thought that Nathan would spend any length of time without one of us is something I couldn't even bear to think about. I was talking with one of the mom's at my school whose husband recently left for an entire year. That is one whole year of his three children's life that he will only know through emails, pictures, videos and phone calls. I realize what an important job our military has, and I am in no way disrepecting what they do, but it makes me sad to think that anyone would have to miss even one day of watching their child grow up.

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet

Happy Halloween everyone. The past two weekends have been busy for our little rhino.
Last weekend we did our annual Halloween trip to Warner Springs where this years theme was Warnerstock (Woodstock). Nathan had an awesome trip playing golf, riding Beans the ponie or "Beans Horsie" as he called him and trick or treating with the big kids. Mommy and daddy enjoyed a night out, while grandpa baby-sat, as well. Tonight we went to Julie and Art's so that Nathan could trick or treat with his cousins, Kaitlin and Jared. He really enjoyed it for the first thirty minutes or so and then started to crash on us, but really how much can one toddler take? All in all, it was a fun Halloween season for all of us...now onto Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Couple of Mexico Trips

We went to Mexico twice this month since the weather is so perfect this time of the year. Great trips and we're getting Nathan in to the swing of things... as far as the Davies life goes! He has taken to wakesurfing with Daddy, he loves riding his "Quab" and we put him in Jared's wakeboard to get him a start on that as well. Never too early as far as I am concerned.

Pumpkin Patch

We met up with some of Nathan's buddies from swim class for a trip to Oma's Pumpkin Patch in Lakeside. It is located on the Van Ommering Farm. There was plenty for the kids to do including; hay maze, sand pile with trucks and tractors, playgrounds, , hay ride, petting zoo and a big hill of cotton seeds to slide down. Nathan seemed to enjoy the hay ride and hay maze the most. He really got into running through the maze and mommy had to follow not one but five times. We witnessed two live calf births on the hay ride which was kind of exciting, though some of the little ones didn't think so. We ended our trip with a stop at the pumpkins and Nathan picked his out. He is now off at Seaworld with Grandma, Grandpa and his cousins. The life of a 19-month old!

The Singer

Nathan's been putting some solid work on his music career. He plays guitar every morning and loves to sing. Look for these songs on the radio soon:

Rock a Bye Baby:


And the fast punk version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

Fam Trip to Colorado

We took a short little weekend trip to the mountains in CO since I was already there for work. It made it that much easier to make it happen. Nathan traveled like a champ both on the flight there and back. Met up with The Zarlengo and Kennell families for a great weekend of drinking, relaxing and fishing. We stayed in a beautiful cabin, saw some sites, and had great food at the neighboring town of Nederland. Nathan and Vince (Andy and Tracey's son) played with trains and tractors all weekend, while Jackson (Todd and Christa's son) hung out watching them. Jackson is the most mellow baby we have ever seen. I (Brian) love Colorado and could easily live there if it had an ocean. Great times with great company. I hope we can do it again sometime.