Christmas Lights

We had an early Christmas celebration with Alison's family so that we wouldn't have to travel with extra gifts.




After dinner then went to go look at Christmas lights. There's one neighborhood that has been committed to having the best Christmas lights since 1985. One family started it and then eventually it was written into the HOA that if you lived there, you have to be willing to participate.

The whole neighborhood is like the movie Christmas Vacation. People had popcorn, hot chocolate, cookies, bonfires in the middle of their driveways.

Each house had a different theme - Polar Express, Winnie the Poo, The Bernstein Bears, Spiderman, and so on.




We passed people being taken on tours around the neighborhood by horse-drawn carriages and limos.

We even saw this sweet ride.

There were carolers, various bands or singers playing Christmas music, one house was even teaching music lessons out on a projector for everyone.

Some houses were playing Christmas movies in their driveways.


It was a lot of fun and quite a sight to see. I wouldn't want to pay that electric bill though!

Christmas at Seaworld

We made sure to hit Seaworld one more time this year. Christmas time is our favorite season to go.

At one point we sat down to eat a couple sandwiches and it started snowing on us! Not real snow of course..



We had a lot of fun riding everything multiple times because there weren't many lines.


And our favorite part of Seaworld at Christmas time - their Nativity show! Which gets even better every year.

After the show we decided we should ride one more roller coaster before we had to bike home. We ended up riding it five times in a row without getting off because there was no one in line. It was such a fun day!

Cowles Mountain Summit

Since we didn't get a chance to go to Sequoia, we decided to find somewhere local to take a hike. Cowles Mountain Summit was towards the top of the list of hikes in our area. When I was looking into it, it looked like it was under 3 miles round trip and was rated moderate which sounded doable to us. Although it's also the tallest mountain in San Diego, so we knew it wouldn't be super easy.

I was a little confused when we got there and saw the sign that says 'Difficult'.

The hike was beautiful and it was the perfect day. Sunny but cool out. We saw beautiful trees along the way.

In the bottom left of the picture below is part of the trail we popped out of. We started feeling like we had been going for quite a while (at least a mile) when we got to a sign that said the peak was still 1.5 miles ahead (all upward). 

We looked at our map and realized we had parked down at a different trail entrance, which was twice as long. Apparently we weren't on the moderate trail, hence the 'Difficult' sign earlier. We weren't going to turn back then.

From here on out (below) it went from consistent steady incline, to steep and very difficult. It may not look that bad, but it was not a walk in the park!

Another stop for some water and to take in the views along the way.

Finally we made it!

Below pointed out all the major landmarks that we could see from Tijuana to San Clemente Island.

It was worth the views!



On the way back down you can probably see a little better how steep it was. We had to pretty much sidestep half the way to avoid slipping. Everyone we passed heading up as we were heading down breathlessly panted "How much farther??" We were glad we were not them anymore.

I joked as we were heading down "Wouldn't it be awful if we went down the wrong trail and had to go back UP again?"

We got almost the entire way down when I realized I wasn't recognizing the trail. Eric and I stopped to look at our map, and a nice passerby stopped to help. They kindly told us we missed our turn. We would have to go halfway back up to catch our turn off, then twice as long back down from that point.

After laughing to keep from crying, we eventually made it. Which is how a 2.9 mile hike turned into a brutal 6+ mile hike. We got back to the car content that we didn't need to experience Cowles Mountain Summit again. Worth it, but once was enough.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we stayed local since Benny's work schedule didn't really allow us a ton of time to travel anywhere. We had plans to go to Sequoia National Park on Friday to camp for a night or two, but had to cancel due to poor air quality because of all the fires.

We started Wednesday night by prepping a few things in the kitchen and pulling out all of our Christmas decorations.


Thanksgiving morning we decorated some more, Eric took the lead in the kitchen, watched some of the Macy's day parade, and FaceTimed with most of our family! It is so nice to be able to see our family even if we can't be there in person.


In the late morning once most of the food was prepped, we packed up our turkey, the sides, some games, and we headed over to our old roommate Caleb's house.


And then we set up shop over in his kitchen to finish cooking!



We played lots of games while the food was cooking. Especially this Spade Invaders game my brother got us for Christmas last year - we don't often have a third player!



I also got to sit back and watch football while the guys manned the kitchen :)


Dinner is ready!

Everything turned out fantastic and it was so nice getting to spend it with Caleb. Unbeknownst to us at the time, he got a job just days later in Lubbock, Texas and would be moving again!

After we were full on turkey, we lounged around, napped, and watched the rest of the football game. Later that night Eric and I decided to see what black Friday was all about, since I've never really participated before.

There were no crowds, but also no great deals. It was still fun to get out and see the festive decorations and Christmas music playing, but I can't say I have any plans of going again in the future. We walked the length of the mall, didn't buy anything, and headed home to make a fort in the living room and watch a movie.

It was a great Thanksgiving. As much as we missed our family this year, we have so much to be thankful for. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!