Ladd Photos

The boys having fun with their buddies at the annual Turtleback Harvest Festival.

I was stuck in training at my new job, so I didn’t get to attend the Halloween parade this year at Turtleback. Luckily, Aliciana was on hand to take pictures of all the kids and their teachers dressed up.

Our boys looked cute dressed up as Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, two of their favorite MLB stars.

We went to the zoo to see the new parts of the Africa Rocks section, but it turned out that they didn’t have many more animals on display. I think all the animals were getting acclimated to their new homes. We did manage to see a few honey badgers and some vervet monkeys.

The boys have to keep their skills sharp, even though it is the off-season.

The boys had lots of fun playing with the dogs at our traditional Thanksgiving gathering at the Loera house. Papi and Reina came down from Phoenix and brought their two dogs and a friend’s puppy.

The food was delicious, with both a ham and turkey, and all the traditional sides like my favorite: green bean casserole.

We spent a nice lazy Saturday at Balboa Park. First, we explored a new collection at the Nat. The had all sorts of stuff from their archives on display.

Next, we decided to get some fresh air, so we headed over to the beautiful Japanese Friendship Garden. It was so peaceful among the koi fish and waterfalls.

Santa took the day off preparing for Christmas to visit the Teradata Holiday party for families. The boys had a blast doing crafts, and eating pizza and lots of sweets. I even got to show the boys my desk and give them a tour of the Teradata campus.

We visited the koalas and then wandered around the new Africa Rocks section of the zoo until the sun went down. Once it was dark, we got to enjoy all the Christmas lights and decorations that lit up the park for the holidays, part of their annual “Jungle Bells” celebration.

We went by the Safari Park to see if all the animals were ready for Santa to come visit. The tigers didn’t act very excited, they were just taking naps or just laying around.

The next stop was the goat corral, where we gave them got a nice brushing, so they would look nice for Santa. We finished off our visit by watching the elephants, rhinos, and giraffes roam around.

We started off at the “Embracing Peace” statue by the Midway, and then worked our way down the waterfront to Seaport Village.

It has become a bit of a tradition for us to go to The Old Globe in Balboa Park and see the Dr Seuss Christmas tree. Afterwards, we spent the afternoon at the Fleet Science Center.

The “snow” they had to play with was more like crushed ice, and was packed with kids going crazy. Connor ended up taking an ice ball in the head, so we decided this wasn’t the best place to spend our time. Instead, we did some winter themed crafts, which the boys enjoyed much better.

The boys had the day off of school, so I took a day off as well and we decided to drive up the southern California coast.

After stopping by the Dana Point harbor, we ended up driving north to Crystal Cove State Park, which is just past Laguna Beach. We all had fun exploring the tide pools and throwing around the baseball.

Hammering and painting at the local Home Depot.