MOVING ALONG...

I have got to get these pictures up on my blog so I can return the stupid camera cards to their rightful owners. Mr. Photographer Kai has essentially forgotten about his camera since, without a card, it holds no more than four pictures.

So I forgot to mention that Keo started walking at 10 months but started really going while at my parent's house at Thanksgiving. He's so cute, toddling all over the place. My boys learn to walk and immediately figure out that, "hey, running is way better than walking!" And then it's all over - they're into everything, climbing, falling, charging, going going going...

So Christmas followed Thanksgiving too quickly like every year. Due to a very expensive accident, my caffeine addiction, and the most wonderful gift for a boy EVER, I was able to plan a fantastic vacation for my family over Christmas. When my boys broke my father-in-law's beautiful, huge HDTV, we kind of freaked out and purchased a new one that very night. As "luck" would have it, when you bought thousands of dollars worth of stuff at that particular store, you got a free (and by free I mean "ridiculously insufficient compensation for your unplanned major purchase") three day, two night stay at your choice of hotels in Southern California. Around that same time, the Chevron station that used to be my caffeine dealer, had a little summer giveaway. I won a free night at any La Quinta Inn in the U.S! Nice! On top of that, we had ordered for both of our boys' birthdays this awesome Lego membership that, among other things, meant that we received two free tickets to Legoland, California. (That item has since changed to a free child admission with paid adult admission, so we got the gift at the right time. Score!) With a BOGO Legoland coupon in their magazine, I started to think that we could do a pretty cool vacation for very little money. I ordered free gift cards to a couple of restaurants with my credit card reward points and then it became a game to see just how cheap I could make this trip. We did pretty well! We even managed a free trip to Disney. The whole trip was so much fun and SO warm.

We meant to keep it as a surprise and ended up mentioning the trip in some way or another SEVERAL times. But the boys never put it together which was kind of funny. Turns out they had no idea what Legoland was.

So our first stop was Caltech, where I went to college. HAHAHAHAHA....just kidding, where I worked with international students and learned early on to never ask them about their thesis or dissertation, because I don't speak Geniusese. (Side note: while at Caltech, I met the third fastest Rubik's Cube solver in the world. He taught people how to solve that stupid toy, because, don't you know, it's just an algorithm. He could look at a mixed cube, put it behind his back and solve it in less than 10 seconds. THAT'S the kind of nerd I hope for my sons to turn into.) The campus is beautiful, and really fun for kids. Also, I like to think that by exposing them to all the brain waves floating around that place, maybe they too will someday stun me into silence with the details of their research...

Hangin' with dad.

At the turtle ponds. Keo thought the turtles' mouths looked like a fun place to put his finger. We are mean enough parents to not allow it.

My Kai Kai

On from Pasadena to the "bat caves." Apparently it's where they filmed the Batman with Michael Keaton. After the filming, the studio just donated the land to the City. The kids love the hike up to the caves and we love the energy it takes to get them there...

We spent Christmas Day at Legoland, which in hindsight was not smart. It didn't feel like Christmas, or, I should say, it felt like an incredibly materialistic Christmas. Next time we would go Christmas Eve or the day after. But it was wonderful family time. The kids were absolutely in heaven.

Kai driving on the wrong side of the street - I had a vaguely foreboding feeling about our future insurance rates...

Jo and his hero, Indy.

Keo was happy the whole day, just like every day.

Yes, these things are all made out of little one inch-average legos: