the holidays-2007 a look back

Hope everyone had a great holiday!!! The past 6 months have been a whirlwind for us and our kitchen is still not 100% complete. Just last week the flooring was finally done. Still have some repairs/adjustments on the cabinets, install the kitchen blinds, the back splash and many small details to finish. It's hard to imagine all that has gone on in the remodel of our downstairs. We still have not unpacked all the stuff for our kitchen or even cooked anything since Christmas dinner but slowly it will all get done. We look forward to many more adventures in 2008. Hoping to travel more and maybe start the remodel of the upstairs. Yes, we are crazy...

Christmas Part 1- At home

We finally got our tree a few days before Christmas. Mom told us if you wait till the last minute, trees are only $5. That was not the case...

As usual we had to use the convertible to haul the tree home since it would not fit in our other car either. Yes, we did freeze. Good thing it was a short ride home. We are getting an SUV so next year we won't have to find pine needles in my car all year long!!!

Marissa and cousin Kai

Our annual Christmas day dinner with the family. It went good considering we stayed up till 4am on Christmas eve trying to get our house ready. Sadly we couldn't get everything done but hopefully next year our house will be finished. Thank you Marissa for taking the photos. It was the only way for us to see our party since we spent most of the time in the kitchen. It was fun and we look forward to next year. Hope everyone enjoyed themselves. We promise it will be better next year!!!

The appetizers

Wow, all those people in our house.

Kai and Grandma Mary

Great to see you Jack. Hope you come back before next Christmas!!!

Banana cream pie, I made...

Christmas part 2- Trip to PA

Day after Christmas we spent the whole day cleaning and packing. Then flew from LAX to Dulles (VA) on the redeye flight and arrived at 6am the next day. Jeff's parents picked us up at the airport and drove us 2 hours to get to their home in York, PA. It was a short trip to visit with the family for Christmas. We forgot to take pictures at Jeff's Mother's get together (sorry) but it was lots of fun and as usual really good food... The best part was that it SNOWED, at least for a short while and didn't last the next day. It was a great trip and look forward to going back again soon...

We never miss a trip to Lattuca's. Jeff loves the Stromboli and we have a new favorite, 3 cheese pizza. Yummy

Stromboli

Grandpa liked this restaurant (near Lancaster, PA in Amish country) a lot and it's nice to go when we can to remember our times together there. It also has the best chicken corn soup. We try to go every time we visit, if we have time.

Chicken corn soup

Tapioca

Jeff's family Christmas gift exchange at his parents house.


Oh so many gifts

Mother and Dad

On 12/29 we had Christmas lunch at Jeff's Grandma's house with the family.

Grandma

Jeff's Dad's side of the family

We did some shopping at King of Prussia Mall and ate these interesting cupcakes. They were called up cakes (upside down cupcakes). They looked really good but tasted just OK. Not like my favorite Sprinkles cupcakes.

Up cake

Happy New Year!!!

We left PA on New Year's eve in hopes of celebrating the New Year at home but our plane had a mechanical problem (they tried real hard to fix it) and after spending 3 hours sitting on the plane with a total of 7 hours at the airport we finally got a hotel at 11:30pm. We ordered room service (champagne and some snacks). Had to wake up at 4am to get on the first flight home. To say the least, it wasn't a very good way to start the New Year. On the way home we stopped at Clyde and Kelly's house to have some Good Luck Mochi soup in hopes that 2008 will be a better year!!!

Christmas part 3- Disneyland

Laura and Kassidee stopped over for a short visit on their way home from Orlando to Hawaii. It was a rainy weekend but we spent 2 fun days together at Disneyland. A great way to spend the last weekend of the holidays...


It was supposed to rain all weekend (the biggest in 5 years) but it just rained a little and it wasn't too cold. Kept the crowds away and most rides were just a 5 minute wait.

Jeff and Kas enjoying a turkey leg

Jeff, Lisa, Kassidee and Laura

at

the castle
Time to go
One last look, Christmas at Disneyland.

Can't wait till next year!!!

christmas opera concert

Kassidee

A main reason for our trip was to attend Kassidee's Opera Christmas concert. We sort of ran out of space on our camera so it's really short. She is on the right side, second from the end in the second row. The concert was great and put us in a Christmas spirit.

our thanksgiving

Our day started with taking Clyde and Kelly to the airport. They are on their way to Japan to pick up the baby they adopted. One suitcase for them and one for the baby. Check out baby Kiyoshi's blog to see their adventure. We can hardly wait till they get home...

Baby's new stroller, waiting for it's first ride!!!

We spent the rest of the day at Disneyland. Just walked around and ate. It was pretty crowded so we didn't even go on any rides. There is always next time...

Very big Christmas tree.

Lots of Christmas decorations to look at.

Our Thanksgiving lunch. It was surprisingly pretty good. We usually get fried chicken at this restaurant but since it was Thanksgiving they served a traditional meal instead.

The turkey the President pardoned, we think. There was no sign yet but last year the turkey also ended up is this same place. The turkey was so big, it could barely walk.

Reindeer . Jeff loves looking at deer. These were big but a little stinky.

A note from Santa.

Taking pictures of ourselves again. Had to take many since most did not turn out very good. There must be an art to self photography. Longer arms maybe???

Bye, Mickey. See you soon!!!

Our simple Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle's house. We had prime rib instead of turkey this year. We are missing the big Thanksgiving dinner we usually have at Clyde and Kelly's house with both family's. We look forward to next year with the addition of their baby... Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!

it's halloween

hope everyone gets lots of treats!!!

4th of july

Hope everyone has a fun and happy 4th of July!!!