December 28th-30th 2013

Every year the Dimicks come to town after Christmas to bring in the New Year.  My kids love having all of their cousins in town and it is non-stop, exhausting, fun.  Somehow we always luck out with pretty great weather, so the beach is a must on the to-do list.  

On Day 1 Marc escorted the whole crew of 20 (we were missing 1) to Baja Fish Tacos for lunch and then down to Victoria Beach.  The sun was warm, the water was freezing, and the kids had the greatest day.

Our kids are all scared of dogs, but somehow their cousin dog, Hurley, is a welcomed furry friend.

One of the advantages to being the youngest of the cousins is you always have someone that wants to pick you up…that can also be a disadvantage.

Kimber & Sawyer

Such a dork, I almost always have my camera strapped to me.

Love my bud and his chomper grin.

Marc and our oldest nieces (Matisse & Aubrie) climbed to the top of this ginormous rock.

Harper and Cahill were pretending to run away from sharks.

For the most part these two are really good little playmates.

Harper, Delaney, Kimber, Sawyer. Emilia, Heidi & Courtnee

Our last family photo of 2013

Love all of their faces :)

On Day 2 the troop hiked around in El Morro Canyon and then filled their bellies with food from Bear Flag.  We didn't think that was enough fun for one day so we then headed down to Doheny State Beach to ride the surrey bikes.  Everyone had fun on the bikes minus the crew who accidentally hit another biker (no one was seriously injured, at least as far as we know) but I am pretty sure Decker had the maximum amount of fun possible and he couldn't stop smiling.

Aunt Mauri & Decks

Our kids are champion "hikers".  For the most part they don't complain and march right up the hills like they ain't no thang.

The view of the Pacific from up here is fantastic.

Photo courtesy of Harper Ray...

Kimber, Delany & Harps.  Sawyer was here with us too but she charged up the hill with some of the older girls and I never really saw her (there were other adults with them though).

Surrey rides are so fun.  Decker didn't realize how much fun he was going to have at first...

But it turned out to be one of the best days of his life ;)

I wish I could have captured all of his smiles while we were on the bike, he was loving it.

Oh hey, there is my cute Sawyer.  

I wanted to get a shot of Grandma & Grandpa with all the grandkids.  Every. Single. Time. there is one kid that misses the photo.  This time we were missing Cahill.

Grandpa, Decker, Matisse, Cambria, Courtnee, Emilia, Jolie, Heidi, Sawyer, Kimber, Aubrie, Grandma, Harper, Delaney

By the end of the day our kids were tuckered out, especially this little trooper.  Baths and bedtime were next on the agenda.

On Day 3 (our 7 year anniversary, woot woot!) the kids played at Grandma & Grandpa's and swam with the cousins all day long.  Unfortunately I had a crappy day spending time at the doctor's office (miscarriage day - seriously the last time I will mention it here on the blog) but I did feel incredibly fortunate to have so many helping and loving hands around to watch after my kids when I wasn't capable of doing so. 

Aunt Jacki & Decks

Marc and I did manage to go out to dinner on our anniversary - I sure love that guy to the moon.

December 26th & 27th

After Christmas passed it was nice to have some quality down time to recuperate from the holiday and to gear up for a Dimick end of the year reunion.  

The day after Christmas I enjoyed a quiet morning at home with the kids and then we spent the afternoon at the beach with Marc once he got home from work. 

Sawyer said she didn't want to play with Harper, but I left the room for 5 seconds and when I came back they were both having fun playing with Harper's Barbie RV.  Of course Harps was wearing a robe…without anything underneath…and without closing it up…she likes to keep things interesting ;)

I didn't take my big camera with me to the beach and I was totally regretting it when we got there and the lighting was bomb.  Sometimes the iPhone just doesn't capture light the way I wish it would/could.

On the 27th we met up with Katina and her girls for an early afternoon on Balboa Island.  We walked around, played on the "beach"  (not sure those little docking areas even qualify as beach) and grabbed a quick bite to eat.  The kids were good which made for an easy outing for me (always a plus).  After we got to the beach I realized I had forgotten to put the memory card in my camera, but Katina caught some cute moments on film for me.  

Decker always beats up on his little cousin Grady, but he is aways so sweet with Kate (who is just about the same age as Grady)…it must be some natural instinct to beat up on the boys and to be nice to the girls?

And I swear we didn't tell them to pose like this…

Driving home we rolled the windows down…the kids always get such a kick out of it (especially Decker).

Christmas 2013

This was our first Christmas celebrating Christmas Day with just our little family.  I didn't really know what to expect but I really liked how low key the day was and just hanging at home with our family.  The kids didn't wake up particularly early and I felt like it literally took the entire morning just to get through stockings and Santa gifts before we started in on family presents.  I think the favorite gift for all of the kids was Decker's teepee.  I really thought the air hockey table we got the girls was going to be a hit, but Harper looked directly at the air hockey game and said "Oh I guess Santa forgot to bring me my air hockey" - I think she got confused on what air hockey was while making her Christmas list.  

I never manage to get a picture of the kids coming down the stairs Christmas morning (probably because I am usually carrying a baby) but Marc snapped this photo with his iPhone.  Santa had to put all of his presents in the family room instead of in the living room because there just wasn't enough room under the tree - quite the problem to have.

We tried to keep the holiday focus on family and not on presents, but lets be honest, our kids were definitely thinking a lot about their new toys.  I even set out a photo on our dining table just so that it would be a reminder on what was most important…

And I am pretty excited about this camera.

We spent the day opening presents, playing with presents, talking to family, making breakfast and a big dinner, and then we had the brilliant idea to go to the beach with the rest of Orange County to catch the sunset :)  I think going to the beach with the family was probably my most favorite part of the day - and I am pretty sure my kids don't even realize how lucky we are to live in a place with such great weather.

This girl is always making faces...

Why do little kids have to grow up?  Hard to imagine that some day our kids might be with other people/family members on Christmas…so I am trying my best to soak it up as much as I can now.