Well, here goes with the massive report on our trip to visit our families. I know most people don't care too much about this but we have some grandparents and family members all over who really do want to see these pictures, so here we go! We spent three weeks away this year--we were planning on making it a shorter trip, but it was much cheaper to fly earlier in December and later in January, and we figured it's our LAST Christmas when we're going to be able to take so much time off to visit both of our families, so we took advantage of it. We went to California first and hung out with the Murphys, and then were in Utah with the Leiningers for New Year's and after. It was SO, so, so much fun to see Dane interacting with all of his fan club (in both places). That boy has NO idea how lucky he is to have unlimited aunts and uncles wanting to play with him all day, and four very devoted grandparents who were dying to see him. Every night we'd climb into bed and just say how happy Dane was all day, how much he loved his grandmas and grandpas, how much it makes us want to live close so he could see them all the time. But we'll just settle for really awesome trips whenever we can make it out there!
It was fun enough to just hang out at home with everyone, and have them play with Dane, but we also went out to do things. We went to the Irvine Regional Park and went on the little train ride there, we went on a carousel ride at the Great Park in Irvine, we saw lots of Christmas lights (Dane's favorite!), we rented a little boat and rode out in the Newport Harbor on Christmas Eve, we went to a bunch of playgrounds (Irvine has playgrounds on every single corner, no joke) and fed some ducks. And of course we had all of our Christmas activities (but I'll post those pictures in another post). And here are a few pictures of all of the fun we had!
I am so mad at our camera for making this picture blurry. See how cute it is, even though it is blurry? Dane LOVED his uncle Cole.
Dane the train conductor, hahaha.
He warmed up to all four of his grandparents so fast (which was so great after last summer when he had total stranger danger and didn't want them very much at all). Even just two days after we got there he would just walk up to them and hold their hands and hug them.
Dane LOVED the carousel--he was so amazed when his horse started going up and down.
Crazy Christmas light houses!
Here we are on our boat ride in Newport Harbor--the harbor was totally empty the whole time and we had an awesome time relaxing on the water. Dane tolerated it by being stuffed full of snacks the entire time.
Again, Dane LOVED his uncle Cole.
Captain Dane, driving the boat! He loved being up there.
And you can't go into Newport without getting Balboa bars... at least we Murphys can't!
We went to feed these ducks at Heritage Park in Irvine (where I used to feed the ducks as a kid) and there were so many that immediately started swarming us before we'd even pulled out the bread, that we just ran away without actually feeding them. Dane really liked the ducks though--he kept pointing and saying "ka ka!" (quack quack for those of you who don't speak Dane).
One thing Dane LOVED about visiting both of our families was our dogs. He was so excited to pet Murphy (and Jet in Ogden) and would happily just sit at the door watching Murphy through the window. He never felt totally comfortable around Murphy though--he moved a little too fast and that made Dane pretty nervous.
He needed Grandpa Murphy to keep him safe from the scary dog.
So cute--helping Grandma make cookies in the kitchen.
Dane and his grandma!
1 comment:
Seeing all these pictures makes me miss Dane so much! And you and Tommy, haha. :) Zach misses his little buddy. I loved seeing how much Dane looks like Dallin did when he was the same age, too!
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