Another Christmas

We went to San Francisco for the last game of the season, and it was a great one! They won the final game just for us... hahaha... Well they did win, just maybe not for us. We expected a rainy yucky day and it ended up being beautiful so it was a very nice trip. We also got to see the family for a short time before the game. We all met at Lyons for breakfast before the game. Erick and Anna and "baby to be" and Tina,Dino and Catherine, and Gabrielle and his girlfriend. It was so nice to see everyone! Then off to the game, but we left with many gifts in tow. Nikolas thought Santa came again! Erick and Anna got Nikolas all the noisy toys he could find!! but that is ok, because they are expecting a baby and they can be sure there will be much payback!! be prepared! Uncle Erick also thought it would be funny to get Nikolas a Fire Truck since we wont! haha... again PAYBACK!

Niners get ready to score! What a great game!

Merry Christmas

What a long day, we woke up at 8am not to bad! I dont think Nikolas was quite ready to get up but he was so anxious to see if Santa ate the cookie he left for him, for those of you that I work with it was a "Beth" cookie that I left for Santa so it was definitely eaten.... hehe... Yummo

We didnt do much, we got up Nikolas opened an endless amount of presents and then he played and played and played. Derek did the same, and Derek is still playing with the video games that he got. I was lacking in the photo department as I handed the camara to someone else, and I guess she didnt take to many. But Dean got it all on video so at least we have that.

I will share the photos of Nikolas and his most favorite gift of all! And the jersey well that was my favorite gift for him thanks to Catherine. Go Niners!

Chef boy R Capelletti

Well, we made some cookies for Christmas to be mailed out to some family that we wont get to see on Christmas. So here is Nikolas very proud that he got to help. We are potty training so between going to the bathroom every 15 minutes. Here are some pictures of Nikolas rolling the dough and using the cookie cutters and puttting them on the cookie sheet. Then when we were done, he even iced them.

We also made the shortbread cookies with the Ghiradelli chocolates in the middle he loved to do that part, and brownies all he wanted to do with those was test them to make sure they were ok to send out!... So much fun, although we should have done this before the housekeeper came!

I can pedal myself

Nikolas has had the Spiderman cycle for along time, but he finally has figured out how to pedal on his own. He always tried inside my house on the wooden floors but I think they were way to slippery. So we took him outside and he was a pro at it.... To bad we live on a hill, once he gets on a roll then you have to stop him. But that is what Derek is for, he is young he can chase him.

Santa hmmmm

Ok, well here is what Nikolas thought of Santa. He was excited to go and was all ready to talk to him until we got there. Then we couldnt do anything to get him to sit there. At least it wasnt a long line. We were able to get one picture of them alone, with much bribes! but I didnt have time to scan it, that is the picture they made me pay for haha... these are the ones I snuck in as we were trying to convince him!

San Diego - Shopping and Chargers!

Deans friends from work are Chargers fans, and Dean is not but he doesnt hate the Chargers. So we decide to go to San Diego, and make a weekend of it. Dean and his friends would go to Charger game and us girls would shop. Sounds good to me. So in the picture on the far left is Deans Seargent Jason and his wife Maria, and then next to them is Scott and his wife and I cant remember her name that is bad, and then Deans partner Jose "louie" and his wife Tina. We met everyone down in Old Town on Saturday, and then Scott he is a former Marine he booked the hotel he said it was nice and got us a deal? hmmm.. I was not so excited about that, I am very picky about where I stay, but I kept an open mind. So after Old Town, we go to Hotel Circle and head to the Town and Country Resort.. Hmmm that sounds nice. Resort? The place was huge that must make it an resort. We pay and get checked in we decide to go to the room and meet back downstairs at 1700 to head out for dinner. We get to the room, and they are blue with flowers and wallpaper and smelled like old people. And this made sense, because all I saw at this place was old people. As you will see below there was a picture of a girl in a blue dress and apparently this picture was in all rooms. It is kinda freaky, looks very real and the eyes follow you. So at 1500 we decide to go down the pub at our "resort" and get some appetizers since Dean and I were starving, and Louie and Tina come with us. During our walk there, Tina was freaked out about the picture, so when we sat down in the pub we asked the waitress about it. The waitress goes on and on about this girl in the blue dress and how customers always write reviews and say to get rid of the freaky pictures. The waitress goes on to say how she has even seen the girl in the blue dress, but she has no idea who it is and any story behind it. Very strange but Tina is even more freaked out now. So I tried to take a picture of the girl and as you will see below it wouldnt come out. I took the picture 5 times, and this one was the best. Then the next picture is of Tinas husband Louie or Jose I call him Rocha because that is his last name. And there you have the white dot! Makes me wonder if the girl in the blue dress was maybe with us? Was the white dot on his jacket really a ghost spirit with us? The picture was taken on the Trolley leaving the hotel heading for Gaslamp for dinner. We made it downtown for dinner, we stopped at Dicks last resort for a drink that place is pretty cool, and then onto Lou and Barneys this is a steak house kinda like Mortons. Dinner was great then we walked around downtown for a bit and headed back to the hotel. The next day, the boys headed out to the game and the girls headed across from our hotel to the Fashion Valley Mall, I have to say this is the best mall I have ever been to. It has everystore you could think of, Gucci, Louis Vuiiton, Coach, Express, Lucky, etc... Kinda like a South Coast Plaza but it was an outside mall so it was casual. Very cool, would love to go back. When the guys were done with the game we walked back and met them at the trolley. The guys were all laughing as we were walking back. I guess they made bets as to who's wife would have bought the most!!! And im sure all my friends would have bet right along with them that it would be me.... But it wasnt... haha.. Dean and Jason both chose me to win, and Jasons wife Maria to come in second. But instead Maria won, and I came in last! Yes, it just wasnt my day.... We all had very different tastes so it was very hard to get my shopping mojo to work. I spent less than $50.00 very sad.. but Dean was very happy... And so this ended my weekend, we walked to our cars and we left. But I left my hubby there. Dean had a class this week in San Diego so he stayed and Jose and Tina brought me home. But we had so much fun, what a great group of friends he has. We laughed all weekend long..

Deans friends from work and the wives.

Doesnt he look "evil" and notice the white spot on his jacket right where his hand is? We once did a ghost tour in San Diego and the tour guide showed us alot of pictures of what he thought were ghosts and all that showed up was white spots just like this. This will make more sense why I am pointing this out when you read the story to go along with this picture. "Louie"

The girl in the blue dress from the hotel

Here is picture of hotel, it looks not as bad in this photo from their website.

Turkey Day

Well, I didnt do so well in the picture category. I had the camara out, but since I had turkey issues I didnt get to take very many photos.

I got up at 930 on Thanksgiving, I had a 26 lb turkey that I needed to get in the oven. I had Dean brine it the night prior, so this was gonna be easy. All I need to do is follow all the easy instructions I got off the internet. Most sites said to cook for 15 min per pound. That seemed like way to much, so I had my mind set on 5 1/2 hours and I bought and used one of the turkey thermometers, the temp should be 170 and it was done so I came down every 30 minutes and basted it just as I was told. At 4 hours into the cooking time, I came down to baste and the needle says "170" ok well this is impossible. It is a 26 lb turkey (huge) how could this be right. So I moved the dumb thing around, and placed it everywhere I could in this turkey to see if maybe it was wrong. Well it wasnt, it read 170... so now what? I called my mother in law, who is a great cook. She also has family who is the busalacci ? think I spelled that wrong but they own 7 restaurants in downtown San Diego ( Gas Lamp and Little Italy) so she checked and called me back and said if it says 170 then done. So I shut the oven off, but left the turkey in the oven ( big mistake) while I was trying to hurry and start making all the sides. This short amount of time it took to make the sides, ruined my turkey. The turkey was soooo dry, this was horrible. My only saving thing was the "peruvian sauce" I made to go with the potatoes (this was deans only request) Well, this sauce is sooo yummy, and yes it hides the fact that the turkey was dry. So it saved the day. And fortunately for me, everyone at the dinner loves that sauce! so yay ... So since this wasnt the best morning, this is what made me not take so many pictures. Nikolas didnt have a nap, so he was in full force craziness, but he and all of us had a great time. Deans brother Erick came down with his girlfriend and they played with Nikolas all day. Nikolas had not seen Erick for a very long time, and he really really liked him alot. Deans Mom and stepdad also joined us, and that was it. So it was very nice and low key.

Anna, uncle Ericks girlfriend and of course Nikolas

Nikolas with uncle Erick