A 24 Hour San Diego Trip!

   A couple weeks ago, Tim received a phone call from his company's HR manager asking if we would like to have an all expense paid trip to San Diego for the company's Christmas party. 
Um.. yes please! 
So after sending some excited boys down to Grandpa and Grandma's house for the weekend, Tim and I hopped onto an airplane and flew down to San Diego. 

About thirty minutes into our trip, Tim was all ready massively annoyed with my photo obsession.

 

We arrived in San Diego and went to check in at our hotel. The hotel lobby had a beautiful waterfall that connected to the outside ponds.

 

The room we received was massive. The kitchenette was stocked with $3.50 bottled water and sub-par coffee. Best of all, the floors were lego free!

 After a refreshing walk to the grocery store to purchase food that wouldn't deplete our savings, we got ready for the Christmas party. My purse (read: Tim's pockets) couldn't hold the camera very well, so I had to be satisfied with one photo of us taken before the Christmas party.

 

 The party was very entertaining. I really enjoyed meeting Tim's IT department co-workers (and their wives). Even losing all of my fake money at the black jack table was fun.  

Mental note to self: Never gamble with real money. You are not good at it!

 The next morning, we decided to see the resort sights before we set off for home.

 We meandered through the walking paths...

 

 

...watched the parrots in the aviary...

 

 

... and then found a Christmas tree on the beach.

 After a quick tour of the TekWorks facilities, we drove to the airport and boarded our plane home to our boys.

 

 It was a fun, albeit, busy weekend.

When Grandparents Come to Visit - To the Falls

   A little over a week ago, my parents came up for a weekend visit. We had one full day with them and our mission was to do our best to wear the old folks out. We started the day at the Bonneville Dam and then stopped off at Multnomah Falls to get rid of any trace of energy. 

When we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed that the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile was there and had to get a picture next to the great American icon.

"Don't worry, Elijah. All of the chemicals in real hot dogs won't get you 

when you are next to a hot dog car."

Once all the photos were taken, we were off to the falls with Beniah in the lead.

"It's so tall!"

Then came the hike up the hill.

Over a creek.

Finally, at the bridge in front of the falls.

Beniah wanted to go to the top of the falls, so Grandpa started walking with him. They got to the first bend in the trail and Beniah was done.

Elijah was in awe of the falls (or just desperately trying not to fall asleep).

One by one, the passengers in the van succumbed to sleep on the thirty minute drive home.

Mission accomplished!