Reality check

After an indulgent Christmas, topped off with two January vacations, Cindy and I decided to sign ourselves up to serve a meal at Tent City, a local homeless camp.Today was also our 22nd Anniversary, so it felt like perfect timing to be thankful for what we have. With some friends and family, we served a warm meal and had dinner with some less fortunate neighbors. Kenzie and Mason have done this several times before, so they are fearless and friendly. It makes us proud of them for opening their eyes and keeping some perspective.

We miss this....

Cheesy group shots

Beach buddies

Surfer dude

Our All-American girl

Bike ride on the boardwalk

Sea World

We did it. I'm surprised that the kids haven't yet figured out we are near Disneyland, but when they do they'll take comfort in the fact that we at least went to Sea World! Weather was gorgeous and crowds were light.

We went to watch the dolphin show and four out of the five of us were smart enough to not sit in the splash zone. However, none of us could resist the water rides and in the end we all were drenched.

Foreign sunset

A guy came up to Cindy during the sunset and asked her where we were from. Evidently local kids don't play in the sand on a Wednesday night in January.

San Diego

For Christmas I got some cheap airfare tickets for the five of us to Long Beach. We had no other details planned but decided to rent a condo right on the boardwalk in San Diego. We arrived yesterday, just in time as the weather turned beautiful...high 70s/80.

Today we did nothing but hang out on the boardwalk, in the sand, and on rusty bikes. It was perfect!

Swimming in snow

We returned from New York early because Seattle was hit with a major snow storm. We landed in the morning and Seatac was closed by the evening. Then we lost power for 2 days! It was quite the adventure, although I must admit that there was something nice about playing monopoly for 3 hours by candlelight...no Xbox, no Wii, no iPhones, just us and the evolving ice storm.

Kenzie was with Grammy and Grampy most of the week until we could get her on Friday afternoon.

As it was melting, the kids had a swim party.

2 seconds

Cindy, Felix and I just got back from a trip to New York. Kenzie stayed with my parents and Mason stayed with June and Bob. We left on Sunday when the first snowflakes were just falling, and came home to four inches on the ground and treacherous roads School has been cancelled and we are waiting for it to melt a bit so we can go get Bentley.

New York was a lot of fun! I had to work but found time to ring the Nasdaq morning bell (and get on 3 TV networks), sneak into a camera shot on Good Morning America, see a show (Memphis) and stay out one night Til 3:30 singing karaoke. A packed but fun trip!

Smack