Thanksgiving in Kansas City

This year for Thanksgiving we headed south and spent the day with the Connors in Kansas City. It was fun. 

Aunt Mary bought a big table cloth that we all took turns helping to color in.
The weather was nice, so we went for a walk 
Before dessert the kids tried their hand at launching and catching whipped cream.
Dinner was so good that we forgot to take pictures. Dessert was pretty amazing, too.

Easter in Yemassee

We started the day off with our traditional Easter basket hunt. Our kids leave their Easter baskets out on the table the night before Easter and the Easter bunny hides them.

Even in the RV, it still took Andrew over 30 minutes to find his basket.

After finding Easter baskets, we head outside to find the eggs that the Easter bunny has also hidden.

This year we went for a walk around the lakes near our campground. It was a cool 65 degrees for our walk, but when I looked at the weather in Des Moines it was 24.

All ready for church!

We went to Saint James the Greater, a small Catholic church about 15 minutes from our campground. It was great.

After church they had a small Easter celebration with hot dogs and treats.

Valentine’s Day

We have a long-standing tradition in our family: we always go to Panera on Valentine’s Day. It started either right before or after Andrew was born and we don’t usually miss.

Well, there is no Panera in Las Cruces, so we went to La Posta de Mesilla. Mesilla is an historic part of las Cruces that dates back to the Wild West. The restaurant is famous for its history and its food. 

Christmas in San Diego

Christmas in San Diego was a lot like Christmas back home. The kids were up early and we started the day by going through the stockings that Santa filled for the kids. After stockings we had our traditional breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. Then it was back to the tree to open the rest of the presents. Normally at this point we spend a few hours playing with our new toys and then head to the Reagens’ for Nate’s Birthday, but this year we had to settle for a 15-minute skype session late in the afternoon. That was definitely the strangest thing about being on the road.

Christmas Eve in San Diego

Holidays on the road are interesting. We haven’t found another family to hang out with in San Diego, so we pretty much do our own thing the whole time. 

For Christmas Eve that meant finding something to do in the afternoon, to take advantage of being in San Diego, and then the usual church and Christmas lights at night. 

We went to an organ concert in Balboa Park, that ended with a Christmas sing-along on stage.

The kids loved playing with bubbles from a street performer.

We went to church in Chula Vista, in a community that is still building their permanent church.

After church we found a place to drive around and see the Christmas lights. They take it very seriously, with a special street sign and traffic flow.

Christmas Eve

 

Robolights!

Susan had the good idea of looking up some holiday lights in Palm Springs, so we could cap off our day of decorating. She found Robolights, which was awesome. Words cannot describe the scale of this place, which was at a private residence just a few blocks from downtown Palm Springs.