Holiday time

We had a few days back home to shake the sand out of our stuff, and then it was time to jump onto our holiday plans.  

Lucie was especially on the ball with her Christmas list.  She started working on it the day after Halloween, and it had a cover:

I'm not sure if my favorite item was #14 or #15:

St. Nicholas left stockings full of goodies on December 6th, instead of stuffing anyone in a sack and taking them to Spain.

In a remarkable coincidence, St. Nicholas Day also happens to be National Take the Last of the Halloween Candy to Work Day.


Tahoe had already received a couple feet of snow by the start of December - so we had a little early season ski trip to the winter wonderland to get us in the holiday spirit.

While we were in Truckee, the kids spent their free time drawing pictures of nutcracker soldiers and rat kings and peppering me with questions about the Nutcracker.  Eventually I took the hint and asked if they wanted to go.  And then asked them, given that it would last about 2 hours, consist of dancing, tickets weren't cheap, and no hole-y sweatpants allowed, if they were sure.

They were.

Although 10 minutes in, Brennan did lean over and stage-whisper, Isn't there any talking?!

We also dragged the kids to the SF Symphony, without telling them it was to watch Home Alone while the symphony performed the score live.  There was a lot of foot dragging, although Lucie was  excited to see the horse-theme Christmas tree.  Highlights of the night included:  Daddy smoothly lying that the movie screen was to display the names of musicians, the sippy cup lids they put on on wine glasses, and the kids' sudden happy gasp when they realized they would get to watch a movie.

I waited too long to buy our tickets for ice skating at Union Square, and not relishing another wait in the stand-by line, decided to give the new ice rink at Civic Center a shot.  It was pretty nice - and way less crowded than Union Square.

Since it was the first clear day in ages, the start of Winter Break, and we were downtown already, I made the impulse call to head up to Nob Hill and just see if we could go up to the Top of the Mark.  There was already a short line for the elevators when we arrived 20 minutes before opening, but the hotel lobby had cookies, warm cider, and plenty of comfy chairs to go flop on and whine about how boring it was to wait in line while your mother does the actual waiting in line.  (I also had to put up with the matriarch of a large family group directly behind us in line bemoaning how long it was taking, because of all the tourists who weren't even dressed up, who were just going to ride up the elevator and take one picture and leave.  Luckily they ran out of time before whatever holiday event they had driven in from Marin for was starting, and left the line before I could tell her where to stick all their matching plaid blazers.)

So we made it!  Despite our scruffy touristy appearance, the host escorted us to a lovely window table, and we enjoyed fancy drinks and a spectacular sunset.  We capped off the night with a quick viewing of the giant gingerbread house in the Fairmont Hotel, and had Daddy meet us for dinner at one our old favorites, the Nob Hill Cafe.

Lucie had only 2 requests for her birthday celebration: dinner at Zazie, and to bake her own cake.  Here's her creation - chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting, and topped with rainbow sprinkles & gummy bears:

Finally, when the kids could barely stand another day waiting, it was Christmas morning and time to tear open all the presents.

Then I cleaned up the wrapping paper, finished my latte, and realized we still had the better part of a day to fill.  So we headed to Academy of Sciences to wish the penguins and the catfish a Merry Christmas.

Sayulita

I tried to put a cheery spin on it, but at the end of last year's Thanksgiving Week Stay-cation, Daddy and I more or less vowed "never again".  We promptly signed up for Alaska Airlines credit cards, for the annual companion fare, anywhere they fly, no black out dates; which equals 4 peak season non-stop flights to Mexico for the price of 2, which equals -  

So nice to see you again, Sayulita!

OK, so my kids may grow up thinking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is street tacos, and every stay in Sayulita involves 50-100% of us getting some sort of GI disease for 24-48 hours, but I still think it's worth it.  Not to mention it got us out of the smoke strangled Bay Area during the last days of the terrible Camp Fire.

We decided to mix things up a little and try renting in a new neighborhood, after 3 stays at the North End - we found a little 2 bedroom house on Gringo Hill called Casa Papelillo:

Gringo Hill is indeed very hilly, and Daddy was only recently cleared to walk without crutches, so we indulged in a golf cart rental for the first time.  Taking cabs probably would have cost about the same, but tooling around in rickety electric cart was a lot more entertaining, especially in the dip in the road near our rental where Daddy would take his foot off the brake and let it whoosh downhill.

I lobbied to name it Rocinante, but the kids wouldn't go for it.  In retrospect, getting attached and naming it would have been foolish, as we had a bad charger, so the rental agency kept bringing us new carts.

In the Questionable Parenting Department, I allowed each to take a turn driving the golf cart on the quiet streets in the less hilly North End, pretend it was getaway car and jump on while it was moving, and ride back home this way:

Of course, it's not a long walk to town, but the walk back is a bit...challenging.

We went to the beach almost every day, to boogie board -

- do a little holiday shopping from the beach vendors -

- and have fun and snacks!

We went on a trail ride with Rancho Mi Chapparita again, with a surprise new addition:

Brennan!

Given my pleasant surprise that he was joining us (and the current exchange rate), I decided to splurge on the 2 hour ride, which took us to Playa Carricitos and Playa Patzcuaro - 

- as well as a lot of jungle trails, winding dirt and cobblestone roads, and even splashing down a stream.

But the best part was galloping on the beach!

Although the truck ride to and from the ranch was just as thrilling, if you ask me.

Casa Papelillo was pretty nice - but the best part by far was the pool:
(Isn't that a lovely filter on the photo?  It's called "pulled from the waist pocket of my exercise pants after walking up a ginormous hill in a tropical climate")

The pool got lots of morning and early afternoon sun, was big enough to play in-

but small enough that the temperature stayed comfortable any time you wanted to get in:

I still couldn't sell anyone on surf lessons, or stand-up paddle boarding with me, and we were a little early for whale-watching season - but Lucie and I did try something new:

a pom-pom making class!

Sure, you can buy all manner of pom-poms from the beach vendors, street vendors, and local shops for about a dollar - but these are special giant pom-poms, made with naturally dyed artisanal Zapotec yarn.  And you know the expression - Give a girl a pom-pom, she'll accessorize for a day - teach a girl to pom-pom, and she'll accessorize everyone.  You're welcome in advance for the pom-pom gift in your future.

Here's the finished product, adding a little flair to Casa Papelillo:

Vacation stats -
School days missed: 2 (+1 day the district closed school due to smoke)
Kids using the vomit bucket: 2
Locals who remembered us:  3 (Julio, Ishmael, and the macaroon guy)
Sunburns: 0
Dinners at Tacos Ivan: 2.5 (we grabbed 2 more tacos from the street stand after paying our bill)
Golf carts from Roy: 3
Days of sunshine: 11
End result: