Playing tour guide with "Mei" a.k.a. "Mae"

Afternoon in the city:

Mei's first time tasting clam chowder & crab cakes.

Natural Bridges

Our *short* evening in Monterey

 Found two starfish floating around loose in the tide pools.  Goal to see starfish in California - check!

And then a seagull stole the starfish and Mae/Mei chased it down the beach until she fell in...

The culprit, with 2 points of the star still hanging out of its mouth...

The main event over the holidays: Sam's Homecoming

 The Airport Welcome
(Thanks to Ashley for taking all these pictures for us!)

And Sam and Anson got to meet for the first time - yay!

Temple Trip followed by ice-cream at Fenton's

Celebrating with Chibas!

Christmas and New Year's Eve in pictures...

The kids weren't short of attention or love this holiday. :)

New Year's Eve hair cut!

Making & eating Japanese food with my siblings is one of my favorite things to do.  This night:  Gyoza and Spicy Tuna rolls.

This is how we celebrated New Year's Eve.

Actually, THIS is how we celebrated.  Food.  Board games.  Family.