Festival of Lights Christmas Parade

Last weekend we headed down to the harbor to watch the Festival of Lights Christmas parade. This Christmas parade is on the Pacific Ocean and the floats are boats of all shapes and sizes (including kayaks) that are decked out with lights and decorations.

The parade kicks off when Santa does a flyover by helicopter and then the floats start coming by. Most of them are really bright and some of them included music which we had fun with, dancing and singing along. We had a couple of favorites, the Island of Misfit Toys from Rudolph:

And one that was really jamming, playing "Christmas in the Sand" by Colbie Callait, which just so happens to be the girls' and my favorite Christmas song this year:

It was hard to get good photos that do the floats justice but here are some more frivolous shots:

We had such a fun night and it was so great to go to a Christmas parade where we didn't freeze our tails off the entire time!

Back to School

The girls have been in their new school for 3 weeks now. The first day I (of course) made them pose for tons of pictures (below)!

Taylor seems to really like her new teacher and has made a lot of new friends. She came home from her first day bragging about what a wonderful day she had because everyone wanted to play with her. He has apparently made two new "best" friends and last week she even went on a play date with one who lives within walking distance of our house.

Austyn is doing well with kindergarten too!  She likes her teacher and likes school, and she has also made friends although she is a little more stingy with her affections. Austyn has to be won over first! She has been playing with several kids though and she is finally starting to remember their names when she comes home and tells us about her day.

We went last week to Family Fun Night at the school. They had Santa, crafts, games, and hot chocolate and snacks. The kids both found people they knew to play with and sit beside and it made me so happy to see them fitting in so quickly!!