Beach Day

December 29, 2025

Monday we went to the beach. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. The water was freezing but because the day was so nice we didn’t mind.

It was a normal beach but instead of building a sand castle Alex brought a hot wheels track and cars. It looks like no one got a picture of it, but we basically built a large hill, constructed a castle on top of the hill, and ran the track out the castle gate and down the hill. It actually worked pretty good but the least bit of sand on the track messed up the cars. With all those kids it was impossible to keep the track clean.

We went boogie boarding, threw the frisbee, ate junk food and then went home.

There was another beautiful sunset so mom dragged the kids out onto the deck and took some more pictures. 

Every time the grandkids visit they love to play the piano. This time it was a special treat because Trevor was actually playing some real music and he was helping Zanee make some decent music as well. At one point they called me in and Z and I played a simple little duet that I always played with the kids. It was fun.

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Nine days after Star Wars opened in 1977, Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan Kenobi) wrote in his diary: ‘Am pinning my hopes on Star Wars percentage which could bring me £100K or more if it does Jaws business, as predicted.’ He ended up earning an estimated $95 million for what amounted to 20 minutes of screen time.

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Hotel Del

December 28, 2026

On Sunday Justin and Evan had to head out. Evan has a new car and he has almost completed the requirements to get a drivers license that will let him drive it. All he has left is some driving time with an instructer in the vehicle he will be driving. He wants to complete that before he heads back to Auburn. So they headed back to Chandler and the rest of us headed to Seal Beach (Childrens Beach) and then to Hotel Dell.

I’m kind of torn on Seal Beach. It was constructed so that the children could have a sheltered beach to play on and then it was gifted to the city with that condition but now that the seals decided they like the place they won’t allow anyone to use it. That used to annoy me but then one time Alycia said to me, “but dad, there are a lot of nice beaches for the kids. How many places can we come and watch the seals this close?” She is right and it is especially cool during pupping season. We checked out seal beach and agreed that it was cool and then we headed on to the Hotel Dell.

We got to the Hotel Dell an hour or two before sunset. After checking out the big Christmas tree and the hotel itself we headed to the beach. That is what the grandkids all wanted to see and our timing was perfect for a beautiful sunset.

I think we all decided that it was a good time to take a bunch of pictures. I also decided to take a picture of each of my four kids who were there.

And of course, they always have their sandcastles. They had several this time and they were all pretty good.

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The fastest animal in the world is the Brazilian free tailed bat if you only count speeds made under your own power. The perigren falcon is basically falling. 

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Sea World

December 27, 2025

Saturday we all went to Sea World. With twenty four of us wandering around the park I was surprised at how well we managed to stay together for most of the day.

It was very crowded however and some of the rides were closed. As usual, mom was able to get us all some very cheap tickets.

One of my favorite shows at Sea World is the dolphin show. Unfortunately it is being renovated right now so the show was held at another pool that has no seating. The pool is also much smaller so the show was mostly dolphins jumping and I couldn’t see much anyway. It will be nice once they have the main pool renovated though. I can’t wait to see what it is going to be like.

It wasn’t exactly a warm day so I didn’t want to get wet but I had to go on the Atlantis ride. If a big guy like me sits in the front of these cars you push the nose of the car down and a wave of water washes over you. That is great on a hot summer day but on a day in December I sat in the back with Z. I only got a little bit wet. I could tell that Z was a little disappointed sitting in the back but she was quite glad when she saw how wet she got even sitting in the back.

Mom is a magnet for little kids. They follow her everywhere and they fight over who gets to hold her hand or sit on her lap. It was no different today. Everyone loves Grandma.

At the end of a long day there was still time for cuddling.

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Killer whales and dolphins often team up to hunt. Killer whales are normally very vocal but they go silent and allow the dolphins to use echo location to find the prey and then the whales go in for the kill. Prey that dolphins can't take down by themselves.

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Boxing Day

December 26, 2026

Boxing day was when everyone else who was coming arrived. Justin and his kids got here around 1:00. Kira drove Landon back to his home and then hit some traffic so she got here about an hour after Justin.

Ben and his gang got here around 3:00 and then Alycia finally pulled in around 5:00. They were delayed quite a bit by traffic. The road between Vegas and LA can be crazy.

Since we had plenty of time to get dinner ready, we sat down and ate pretty much as soon as Alycia got here.

Friday was a rather eventful day however. I guess Adelaide was down for a nap but at some point she climbed out of her crib and got into Princess Lisa’s makeup. They found her asleep in the corner of the room with makeup all over the walls and the carpet around her. 

She was laying in the middle of tubes and bottles of make up. Alex and Lisa did what they could at the time but after everyone was gone Lisa and I spent a good hour or more trying to get it all clean. I think we did an OK job.

While dinner was cooking we took another trip back up to Black Mountain park and fired some more rockets with Ben and Kira’s kids. 

Ben got this amazing shot of Freddie and me shooting a rocket off. Freddies expression is one of pure joy.

After the kids were all in bed, the adults sat down and played the game Alex had prepared for us. I don’t even know how to explain it. Basically, you had to spin a dial and you were assigned various challenges and restrictions. For example, some of the restrictions were that if you spoke, you had to speak in a sing song voice. Every once in a while, a timer went off and you had to go look at yourself in a mirror. It was fun, but I am not very good at that kind of thing so I was definitely the loser.

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J K Rowlings origional title for "Goblet of Fire" was "Doomspell"

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Christmas Day

December 25, 2025

Christmas morning I woke up and found a reindeer in my front room.

We called the kids down and the fun began. With just the six of us, the morning went fast and smoothly. Mom cooked her traditional monkey bread and we ate and enjoyed each others company. As always, we started with the Jesus box and then the gifts.

Lets see if I can remember all my gifts. If I forgot someone I am sorry and please let me know.

Nuts – Kelly, Mom works with Kelly and I just replace her brake shoes for free so she was feeling extra grateful.

Picture of Lisa – Lisa

Tie down straps – Jeff & Tiffany

Slippers – Lisa

Come Follow Me – Brandon & Ally

Fire Blanket – Brandon & Ally

Candle – Brandon & Ally

Grill Temperature Probe – Lisa

Jesus Painting Book – Lisa

Jump Starter – Lisa

Klingon Bird of Prey – Alex

Home made salsa – Ben

Princess Lisa cooked up some amazing ribs for dinner and we had the missionaries over. It was an amzing dinner. While dinner was cooking we ran up to Black Mountain Park and shot off the rocket a few times.

It was supposed to rain all week long but as it turned out the weather was amazing. The kids were in and out of the back yard all week long and the door to the backyard was never shut.

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The apples from the trees that Johnny Appleseed planted were not very edible. They were used to make apple cider. Apple cider was slightly alchoholic, stored well, and was safer to drink than the water of the day.

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Christmas Eve

December 24, 2025

Christmas Eve was much like the first part of the week. That is up until the Pig Out Paloosa began. We all put in our orders and as it turned out, two of the places closed at 3:00 and three of them were open until 5:00. We adjusted the orders so that one trip would catch the 3:00 fast food places and those were orders that would be ok to reheat or that would stay good until 5:00 we would then make a second trip to pick up the food from the 5:00 fast food places.

At around 2:30 Alex and I headed out to Chic-Fil-A and Cotijas but when we got home both of the Lisa’s were hungry and they decided they couldn’t wait until 5:00 so they started eating right away. Alex and I looked at each other and wondered what we were waiting for so we headed out again to get our food. We went to Panda Express, In N Out and a Mexican restaurant calle Mi Ranchitas. It was good but we should have done everything in one run so we could eat together.

After dinner it was time for the annual talent show. It was a bit of a bust since no one was actually prepared. Alex claimed that the game he had planned for tomorrow when everyone was here would count as his talent (it was a fun game) and Queen Lisa claimed that her baking would have to be her talent and Princess Lisa bowed out so the only e real talents performed turned out to be me and James. James showed us all how to fight

and I demonstrated my newly acquired CAD skills.

It was then time to open the Christmas Eve pajamas and then we sent the little ones to bed. The four adults then watched a new movie that recently came out. It was called “Eternity”. It was weird but it was good. I guess it could be called a romantic comedy.

It is always so peaceful on Christmas Eve after everyone else has gone to bed.

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Frost flowers form under very specific conditions and rarely last for more than a few hours

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Tuesday before Christmas

December 23, 2025

Tuesday mom and Lisa continued to cook and get ready for the crowds to arrive and Alex and I helped where we could. That evening Alex, James and I headed out to watch the new Avatar movie. Avatar, Fire & Ash. It was a good movie. James was entranced by the whole movie but by the end of the three hours he was starting to get a bit antsy.

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E-bikes are cutting demand for oil by a million barrels per day — four times as much as all the world’s electric cars, but, inuries have risen ten fold.

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