2010 already

We had a wonderful Christmas break this year. It started out a little rough as there was a snow/ice storm on Christmas eve which kept us from heading to the farm. We missed the kids and the wrapping paper battle, but knew we didn't want to get stuck there since we were leaving for California Christmas morning at 6:20 am! We safely made it to the airport by 4:45(way too early) and had to sit on the plane for about an hour while they de-iced, but after that, we were on our way to sunny Los Angeles. We arrived in L.A. by 9:30 and enjoyed spending the day at Kurt's sister Gail's house with Gwen and her family, too. In the morning, Kurt joined a local bike team and went on a "leisurely" 80 mile ride. He joined the team later in the week for another great ride. Makes us want to live someplace like this! A very bike friendly area. Then we headed to Disneyland. What fun, even though the lines were long! It truly is a magical place even for adults! Bode was just in awe the entire day and Brianna had fun on the rides. Aunt Gail invited one of her friend's daughters to join us, so she and Brianna became quick friends. The next day we went back to one of the Disney hotels for a character breakfast. What fun it was to interact with so many Disney characters. Bode's favorite was Chip 'n Dale and next favorite was Jasmine! Then we headed to Hollywood Blvd. Certainly an interesting part of town! We visited Madame Taussand's wax museum. Brianna had fun being "artistic" with her photos! We went to San Diego the next day to visit the zoo. I loved the pandas and koalas. The drive to San Diego was beautiful with the ocean to our west the whole way. We joined up with my brother, Drew, and his girlfriend, Julie, for dinner, spent the night and went to Seaworld the next day. The Shamu show was my favorite since I always loved killer whales. The whole family enjoyed Seaworld. One of our favorites was the pet show. It was really cute! We spent one more day at Disneyland before heading back to the arctic blast that was awaiting us in Iowa!