Our Christmas celebrations started the week before Christmas. Phoenix had her gift exchange and potluck at swim on Wednesday the 17th and Rubix had his on Monday the 15th. Axel's class (all 170's kids) were invited to a huge party on the 19th after the last final. They had quite the spread of food and activities to participate in. Axel mostly enjoyed hanging out with his friends for 5 hours outside of school.
Here is one picture I have of some of the kids patiently waiting to see what the next gift would be.
Here is Rubix taking a picture with Coach Victory with all of his medals from Age Group Champs during his holiday party.
We were able to squeeze in dentist appointments Friday afternoon for Phoenix, Rubix and I after their early dismissal and before swim practice. Axel and Keith had their appointments Saturday morning. We were able to come together as a family to celebrate our Christmas Saturday afternoon after everyone was done with swim practices and exercise. We enjoyed a nice steak dinner with sweet potato casserole and green beans before opening up our stockings. Axel decided it would be fun to have a serious photo. It didn't quite work as one child was grinning in each photo I took.
Merry Christmas! Time to open up stockings!
The kids had fun with their stocking stuffers.
Phoenix's gift to her brothers were these cute bouncy balls that she found at Michaels. Rubix's is a pig and Axel's is an axolotl.
Before we opened up our gifts under the Christmas tree we ate our tradition of pumpkin scones and pumpkin "lattes" for dessert (rather than for breakfast). Axel is being silly hill puffing his cheeks up as if they were filled.
Daddy finally received his foldable table that will go in our tent for swim meets. He was very excited!
Axel received a ton of clothes that he really needed. He also received his own travel size luggage and some new ear buds.
Phoenix, being her silly self, was excited to receive a painting kit for nails, along with swim gear, art supplies and other essentials like socks!
Rubix was very cute. He was especially excited to receive the toys he put down on his Amazon wish list. He also loved his new running shoes and new swim gear that he received.
On Sunday morning the 21st we headed down to Palm Springs and were very blessed to arrive just under 7 hours after we departed! The kids were happy to be out of the car. Here is a funny picture of Axel and Rubix grabbing a snack.
The resort had ping pong, Axe throwing and more. We all enjoyed playing table tennis for sometime before calling it a night.
Grandma and Grandpa arrived just about when we did. I took them grocery shopping while Keith took the boys running and Phoenix painted her nails! The Jolleys arrived around 8pm because they came from spending the weekend in Disneyland!
On Monday morning Keith took Phoenix and Rubix swimming while Axel and I lifted. After a bite to eat we headed out for a hike that we thought would be a quick couple of hours but ended up being quite a journey. You can see from the beginning that it was straight up. Rubix was a bit nervous and it took him nearly a mile to "warm up" and trust the terrain. It was a gorgeous 73 degrees and made for perfect weather.
Can you tell Rubix is nervous?!
The view after the initial ascent.
Our journey along the hillside.
A beautiful cut out in the mountain that we all wished we had time to explore.
A little cave/ crevice within one of the many rock formations.
Worried that we are a little lost....
Another beautiful view from the other side of the mountain.
Are we there yet?
Yes, we can see the Art Museum and the way down!!!!
This hike, the North Lykken Trail which ended up being a bit over 5.5 miles took us 2 hours and 42 minutes ! I had to run another mile and a half to get the car and ended up with 7 miles in 2 hours and 55 minutes. We had just enough time to shower and meet the Jolleys at the Palm Springs Art Museum.
We had a great time looking at some very different modern art and hanging out with cousins!
Fun cousin poses!
After the Art Museum we all went out for dinner!
What was even more fun was pool time with cousins after dinner!
On Tuesday we headed to Joshua tree because the forecast looked much better for Tuesday than our initial plan on Christmas day. We were sad to find the weather shifted and it was cold, overcast and rained off and on the entire time we were there. We ended up doing a few small hikes to see some of the typical tourist attractions.
We all did Hidden Valley together which was nice except for the many people who do not know how to hike, especially when it is raining and Rubix was cold enough that we ran back to the car and he decided he was done for the day. To be fair he apparently woke up with a cold the day before and wasn't feeling quite himself.
While Keith stayed in the car, Axel, Phoenix and I hit the other small hikes and sites. These included Cap rock,
skull rock,
heart rock (and arch rock, not pictured).
We also managed to go to the cholla cactus garden. We had a long hour and a half drive "home" and were glad to get out of the cold rain.
Christmas Eve was projected to be quite the stormy day, but it ended up only raining for a few hours. We went out to breakfast with the Jolleys and Gma and Gpa.
Afterwards mom, Shannon and I were able to hang out and make ornaments while Phoenix did Braylin's nails and Axel worked with Aya on folding origami. Shannon also did a nice little facial for me, which was an unexpected treat for me.
Axel said that Aya had great concentration and was able to make the folds by herself. He was really impressed.
During the height of the storm, the Szolushas went to do an Escape room.
We were able to break out of Marlin's Magic Room by finding his spell book in about 43 minutes. Apparently, this was on the faster side. We worked quite well as a family, with all five of us contributing to the many tasks/puzzles that needed to be solved. This was our third one together and hopefully, something that we can continue to do together as a family.
After an early dinner, we went to a Christmas Eve Service with the Jolleys!
It was a nice service of Christmas Carols with a good message about being Jesus' light and how Jesus is love and he loves us all. A funny side note is that I was feeling a wet puddle and ended up discovering Keith and I were getting wet from a leak in the ceiling directly above us! It was raining outside, but nothing like the weather that was predicted. We only received a half an inch of rain rather than an inch and a half.
Christmas morning the kids slept in and after our pumpkin oatmeal we headed over to the Jolleys to open up gifts! Aya did not want to do youngest to oldest so we did oldest to youngest, which meant Gpa Brian went first!
We had a fun time watching the kids open up their presents. Unfortunately, shortly after we left Shannon came over to tell me one of her cats had passed and that they were leaving immediately. This took us all for a surprise, but it was good for them to go and do what they needed to do to take care of Marli. Braylin and Aya were very upset since Marli has been around their entire lives. Aya was especially upset because Marli sleeps in her bed with her. The Jolleys safely make it home by 9 pm on Christmas night!
It ended up being the most beautiful day on Christmas. No rain at all! The Szolushas and Gpa and Gma went for a walk to the park that was a mile away.
We hung out at the park for sometime while Rubix and Daddy played pickle ball and then we headed back to get ready for Christmas dinner.
I had to take a picture of this sign on the way back for Axel's cross country friends, considering they all adapted the "Wow" from my college days.
We had decided on Mexican themed dinner so we ate tacos and my black bean, butternut squash enchilada skillet. Afterwards we enjoyed our traditional tiramisu for Jesus' birthday. Gma and Gpa headed back to their room around 6pm to get ready for their drive back the next day, when the five of us Szolushas spontaneously decided that we should head back right there and then. We quickly looked at the weather and traffic/ road closures from the flooding that the greater Los Angeles area had and found that it would be better leaving at night and avoiding the Grapevine altogether, rather than waiting for the next day when both traffic and weather were expected to be worse.
Here are the kiddos giving me a thumbs up as we headed out of Palm Springs at 7pm Christmas night.
We were very lucky to avoid the rain, for the most part, besides a bit of sprinkles here and their, as well as traffic. We stopped once after we went through Bakersfield around 10:30pm to fill up on gas and to switch drivers. I was tired and ready to be done driving. After getting Keith a latte we headed home arriving at 2 am safe and sound and only driving through one flooded road for a few feet about 40 minutes from home. We were all excited to be home and in our own beds. We enjoyed sleeping in, getting groceries and back into our normal routine.
Rubix finally finished his Lego faces puzzle (after a month) and we were able to have the Platts over for dinner on Sunday. It was nice seeing Tiffany and her family, since we haven't seen them in over 6 months.
I worked Monday and Tuesday while Keith managed morning swim practices. Axel has had a lot of friend time on the computer and has two gathering over the next couple of days. Apparently, we are hosting both of the gatherings. One is with just a group of four, but the other is with the lunch table crew, so we will see how that goes. Phoenix has her All Star Swim meet in Pacific so the two of us will head up there on Saturday morning. I am officiating, while she is racing.
Yesterday, we were able to enjoy a lovely dinner of sushi and another tiramisu along with our annual family game night. We had a lot of fun, playing Clue for the first time, along with our other traditional games that we typically play. The Szolushas would like to wish you a very Happy New Year of health, joy and peace.
