We celebrated some good friend's birthdays early in the month as well. The Bronco made another appearance for Leah's drive by birthday, then Cienna got to do a virtual escape room with friends for Lex's 13th birthday.
All around our neighborhood were tremendous Christmas light displays, so we took plenty of bike rides in our light up selves to see them all.
We missed out on ThanksChristmas with family so we thought we could be there for actual Christmas, but that didn't happen either. We did however get a visit from the Bakx, and went to deliver gifts to the Ferrario's X 3. We were all anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newest Ferrario, Emera. She showed up a little later than expected, but thankfully happy and healthy on 12/29/2020.
We were flooded with gifts from friends and family, but what we loved most was all the Facetime and Zoom calls to see each other in real-time since it couldn't be in person.
The girls made their way to our room in the morning as our tradition, we had a great time with gifts, and a big breakfast. After making our own Pie, we were also given plenty of extra deserts from Auntie Kimmie. We spent most of the day outdoors enjoying each other, the neighborhood, and the trampoline before having a delicious rib dinner.
The following weeks, there was plenty of fort building and making use of all the new creative and crafty gifts that we got from friends and family.
Then the new year was upon us. The girls got a bit creative with baking a New Year's 2021 cake. They wanted a double layer chocolate but didn't have all the ingredients. Ended up with one chocolate layer and one vanilla with lemon pudding filling.....??? insert your own emoji. It was delicious.
We made plans to head to Big Bear for New Years as we often do and were able to thanks to Greg and Jackie for letting us use their cabin! Of course we all wanted to snowboard, but by the time we looked to getting tickets for that weekend they were all sold out. However, the nighttime tickets were not. So, we went snowboarding on New Year's Eve Evening, and loved every minute. We left after gymnastics at 9pm on the 30th to avoid traffic and it was a great, however late drive up. We had a relaxing morning and prepared the cold evening of snowboarding. There were no lines and the snow was perfect. The only unfortunate thing is that Cienna's feet grew a little too much so she was in for a rude awakening when her feet thawed out in the car after taking off her boots on the way home, but other than that it was awesome! Mark and the girls made Mommy stay up till midnight, but it was pretty fun and relaxing after a big day.
The next day we took advantage of all the snow that came that week to make a HUGE snowman in the front of the cabin and headed down the road for some sledding time. The girls got to continue their game of Ratatouille and Porter loved running around the neighborhood in the snow. We also made another fort/maze in the living room. The whole trip felt like it was just us with so little traffic and just a great time.
When we got home, it was time to take down the Christmas decorations and get excited for school and the following weeks. The girls enjoyed their vacation together even making a montage of pictures of amazing poses around our house. They also made more forts. Luckily they are also getting better at folding sheets to put the forts away. They weren't disappointed to go back to online class and see their teachers and get back to learning after Winter Break.
Kaylee had a lot of fun making her first KiWi gift for Christmas and looks forward to the next one, also after all this time she got her first rip and handled it like a champ. Cienna seems to only get hers on her wrist, so we got her new wrist bands, think that'll help : )
The end the month the girls had their first real gymnastics meet. Still at the gym and with only their team, but they got to compete, for real, as optional gymnasts. It was such a fun time and it is incredible that they still get to thrive in so many ways right now! We are all very grateful to have the things that we do!
Mark made a trip to Marina Del Rey to visit Uncle B one last time in his loft. The Giraldez's are moving to Tennessee to start the next chapter in their life. Looking forward to visiting!
I guess lastly (honorable mention) we headed to downtown long beach to walk around The Pike to see the sights and enjoy a beautiful evening together!
