New Year, New Adventures

I was missing my camera for much of the month, so everything we have is from Aaron's iPhone--very handy, not always my favorite photo quality (not that my photos are so professional by comparison or anything, haha!).

 

 

Universal Studios, Hollywood!

Never pass up a chance for a photo with SpongeBob!

The real, actual DeLorean from Back to the Future

Shrek and Donkey were hilarious, cracking jokes with us the whole time

Aaron wouldn't let me get a photo when we got there, so this on the way out--we had such a great day at Universal!

Then this girl turned 8!

And this guy turned 10! Did I phone it in a bit on the birthday cakes this year? Possibly. But did you see how much awesome stuff we did in December? For reference, Sera's is a panda cake (sort of), and Emerson's is a lazy man's rendition of the Hogwarts cake I made for Asher's tenth birthday way back when.

Father-Daughter dance at school

 

And I even managed to have Emerson's Harry Potter birthday party before the end of January! That's his Aragog piñata and the pretzels we used to make chocolate dipped wands.

Are those spider webs hanging from the chandeliers in the Great Hall? Why yes, they are.

 





And here are the celebrants post-cake, pre-movie

And sadly, that's all I've got. Thank goodness I got my camera back by the end of February, because it's much harder to keep up on things without it!

Oh wait! Just for fun, there are also these, as found posted on Sera's door:

Love that girl! She's going to rule the world one day!



The Best Christmas Present

We definitely loved getting a trip instead of more stuff this holiday season!

 

Hearst Castle--such an amazing place and story

Elephant seals along the Pacific Coast Highway

So crazy to be wearing coats again!

That's Alcatraz behind us, though that's about the closest we got (not entirely true, we did see it up pretty close from the Sausalito Ferry, even if we didn't get to go on the island itself)

I hate when we see people we know and love and I fail to catch a photo! This is the best I have of our evening with Chris and Hedy's family (actually, Aaron caught a couple of funny videos too)--so fun to have people to hang with who enjoy basketball as much as Asher does!

 

Fountain in Ghiradelli Square

Overlooking the Golden Gate bridge while waiting for the trolley

San Francisco trolleys are the best!

These guys loved swinging out over the side--I can't believe they still let people do that!

Fish and chips on Fisherman's Wharf

Sausalito Ferry

Sausalito Island

I didn't take a single picture of New Year's Eve! Which is just as well, it was kind of a wash anyway--everyone was wiped out, and I'm pretty sure half of us were sound asleep in our hotel room by the time the clock chimed anyway.

 

Happy New Year!

Emerson's Birthday Interview, Age 10

What is your favorite color?

 -Blue

What is your favorite food?

 -Blueberries

What is your favorite thing to wear?

 -Blue jeans (with holes in the knees)

What is your favorite thing to do?

 -Doodle (with my blue pen)

If you could buy anything in the whole world you wanted, what would it be?

 -A mansion with a slide, a firepole, and an elevator, and a blue hover-car

What are you good at?

 -Doodling, building, origami, making pop-up cards

What job would you like when you grow up?

 -An engineer or a news reporter

Where are you going to live when you grow up?

 -A lot of different places--I'll have like seven different houses

What games do you like to play?

 -Games on the trampoline and in my hammock with Sera

What was your favorite thing about being 9?

 -Going all the cool places in California--Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, San Francisco, Sea World

What is your favorite thing about being 10?

 -Getting to be in fourth grade with Ms. Lora's class

Sera's Birthday Interview, Age 8

What is your favorite color?
 -Turquoise and magenta
What is your favorite food?
 -Waffles and pancakes
What is your favorite thing to wear?
 -My doughnut shirt and my jean shorts with pictures on the bottom
What is your favorite thing to do?
 -Play outside with neighborhood friends or on the trampoline, and read in my hammock
If you could buy anything in the whole world you wanted, what would it be?
 -A dog and a baby (adopt one)
What are you good at?
 -Jumping on the trampoline and drawing
What job would you like when you grow up?
 -Doctor
Where are you going to live when you grow up?
 -Indiana
What games do you like to play?
 -Clue, Monopoly and Life
What was your favorite thing about being 7?
 -Going to Knott's Berry Farm and Sea World
What is your favorite thing about being 8?
 - Looking forward to being baptized