E’s jogathon was moved earlier to end of fall semester this year (vs. beginning of second semester last year) in December.

Flashback to last time where he had just knocked out his front teeth and we can’t help but be grateful to run freely and for him to drink water on his own!

Got that feet in the air form there.

We might need to work a little on even pacing. He would surge and then bonk… to a walk. :D But he never stopped moving, yay!

Appreciate a big smile as last jogathon he couldn’t open his mouth.

School buds.

He said he’d be happy with anything more than last year and we ended up with almost double the number of laps.

Meanwhile, Daddy took the train to LA for a meeting and company holiday party. We might’ve tagged along, if not for the Hogathon.

Their team caught a hockey game.

Neat STEM event at a new to us library. They are just about to launch the program officially so all the sets were brand new.

Mommy had a bit of fun, too — making these glasses with a 3-D pen.

First time at this library branch in Point Loma and liked all the cool nautical touches.

Chilling after soccer at a new cafe.

On a daddy/son play date.

Hanging with Mommy at a coffee shop on an early release day.

An elf visit at another library.

Followed by sharing our Christmas list with Santa himself!

Fun holiday activities all around. Hello, Olaf!

He really got a kick out of seeing Cindy Lou and Grinch because their class received a special grant this year to go see The Grinch at the Old Globe Theater.

Where is E?

Local Christmas event.

We’ve been to Coronado quite a few times but never got to stroll along the water.

Christmas Eve dinner — not the best experience here as we waited longer than people who came after us for service and then due to some details lost in translation, the bill was pretty surprising. BUT, decided to maintain a generous holiday spirit and let it go. :)

Woke up to double rainbows on Christmas morn! It was such a nice, simple day — sleeping in (the boys at least!), slowly opening presents and then wearing PJ’s all day. :)

Oh and our Christmas card this year:

A few other fun takes:

Hadn’t seen the Liu’s in awhile so happy to meet for a playdate — shared his Bakugan balls Christmas present.

Made some new year shades… Countdown to 2020!

Everyone flocks to Palm Springs in the winter because the weather is supposed to be perfect, they say. (But then, what’s to compare with SD??? Haha.) Well, of course the few days that we planned to go, rain was in the forecast. :| We were hoping to make a visit to Joshua Tree while out there but decided to save it for another time.

Headed out on a cold, wet Thanksgiving day. Stopped for turkey boba (???), drinks and sweets. :P

Outdoor activities were out so we decided to check out Desert Hills Outlets in Cabazon, CA on the way to PS. Thought if we swung by a few hours before Thanksgiving dinner, it might be okay? It was crawling with Asians (some local, we think, but lots of tourists!), most of them lined up at all the name brand stores. It actually was pretty good people watching. :D We escaped right before it got super crazy as the Black Friday masses made their way in. Shared a Korean Thanksgiving dinner and then checked into our AirBnb.

Coffee, tea and pastries for breakfast the next day.

Forecast still called for some rain so we opted for the Palm Springs Air Museum that was mostly indoors.

A plane was getting ready to take off.

The views outside were lovely.

Rain seemed to be gone for the day so we decided to hike Tahquitz Canyon, which goes to a waterfall.

Trying to catch a hummingbird.

Hello, waterfall.

Daddy’s in the background trying to figure out how to climb up to a certain spot. :P

Afterwards, we strolled around downtown Palm Springs. These “Babies on the Move” are apparently notable quirky works of art here.

Went for dinner at a local cafe, grabbed a few groceries and then relaxed in our very Palm Springs-esque condo.

Mommy went for an early morn run — the mountains are like 180 all around and feel so close. Love the snow-covered ones!

Quintessential mid-century modern PS home amidst a breathtaking backdrop.

We checked out their Saturday farmer’s market before heading to The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens.

E was pretty excited about feeding a giraffe.

He wanted to challenge him to a staring contest.

Who can find the bighorn sheep??? We spot him (and many others) on this hill.

Spelled this duo before finding them.

That beautiful coat!

Almost missed this very well done train city.

This was his fave scene. :D

If ya can’t wrangle ’em, roar like ’em. :D After stopping for dinner in Temecula, it was back home to SD and lots of Christmas decorations already out. :)

… Piano! First recital in the books and this boy seemed fairly unfazed. Youngest one and first to play.

He actually started lessons back in TX and had a chance at playing in a recital but told us he wasn’t ready yet so we didn’t push him then. We weren’t sure if he’d be up to continuing but grateful that he’s sticking with it and we found a suitable teacher here. Good foundation for anything else musical later on. Practice is sometimes a challenge but instills discipline and grasping that nothing comes easy — lots o’ hard work required!

Recital sheet.

These two — bruthas from anotha mutha, haha. Play date @ Legoland kicked off Thanksgiving Break.

Silly Willies!

Neighborhood BFF came over and E showed him this Star Wars pop-up Daddy brought back from S’pore.

Some wrestling went down.

Worked up some hunger!

Daddy upped his sticker game @ KubeCon.

He learned quite a bit and how nice that it was right in town!

Some of the Gaslamp restos opened doors and served up food.

Making friends with our photog’s son. She had to bring him (and little sissie) last minute for our family session so we kinda missed Golden Hour but oh well. It was nice learning about her story — she enlisted and will be shipping out next year as a military photographer.

Final pinks as we hung around and just enjoyed the quiet of our trails after we were done with the photos.

Still hard to believe we have mountains in our “backyard.” :)

Checked out this 24 hour donut place not far from us otw back… The workers asked if we had just got done w/ a photo shoot — we weren’t that matchy! :D

Back on another day for a holiday fair. Love all its different “looks” based on time of day and season.

After soccer @ Kate Sessions… #nofilter!

Dropping off his Operation Christmas Child shoebox @ church… Kicking off a season of giving and gratitude.

Off to a Palm Springs kinda Thanksgiving.