Charlotte and Max joined us for a little Christmas shopping on Lake Street here in lovely Pasadena, California. Charlotte met (and posed with) a cute papier-mȃché fox while shopping at Anthropologie.
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| 15 December 2012 |
After their Macy's shopping spree, Max and Charlotte sat with us at a new Italian restaurant for a nice post-shopping lunch.
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| 15 December 2012 |
Having turned two, Max and Charlotte now require their own plane tickets. Buying four plane tickets instead of two changed the economics around our holiday travel. Whereas we have flown to Chico, California, in the past in order to avoid the difficulties of a long, 8-hour (at a minimum) drive, we elected this time to go by car to spend Christmas (and New Year's it would turn out) in Chico with Grandma Judy, Tio Johnny and his family. And to make things a little easier on Charlotte and Max, we took two days to do it. Below Max can be seen posing next to the enormous fountain -- water features are always a draw for our children -- at the Hotel Mission de Oro in Gustine, California, which marked the halfway point on our journey and is where we spent the night.
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| 23 December 2012 |
There was a lot of sleeping on the car ride to Chico ...
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| 23 December 2012 |
... but there was probably more time spent watching Curious George!
Charlotte really digs opening presents!
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| 25 December 2012 |
Max and Cousin Natalie check out one of Max and Charlotte's more intriguing Christmas presents: a Shop and Learn Cash Register. It turned out to be quite popular.
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| 25 December 2012 |
I'm not sure whether I find the picture of pensive Charlotte (left) or happy Charlotte (right) to be cuter. Fortunately, I don't have to choose!
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| 25 December 2012 |
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| 25 December 2012 |
I'm still pretty amazed that I not only got Charlotte to sit and pose for me, but that some of the pictures actually turned out decently. (Dress by Grandma Cheryl.)
Max didn't want to wear his nice Christmas clothes, but he looked cute standing with his Mommy nonetheless. (I wouldn't have expected any different.)
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| 25 December 2012 |
We were all very excited that Grandma Cheryl and Auntie Lauren joined us up in cheery Chico!
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| 25 December 2012 |
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| 25 December 2012 |
As I said, the Shop and Learn Cash Register was pretty popular!
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| 25 December 2012 |
We had a great Christmas! Charlotte had a lot of fun opening presents. And Max had so much fun playing with each toy he got that he could barely be bothered to open the next gift. Indeed, Charlotte had to finish the job for him. (I got some pretty cool gifts, too.) And, of course, the very best part was spending time with family, from both Jenn's and my side!
But, wait (for the next post) ... there's more!!!
--- Shawn (for Jenn and Charlotte and Max and Lucy and Rufus)
