Winter Surfing

We've had a bit of a cold spell here recently. I'm not sure how cold the water is, I guess it's not super cold yet, but still it's cold enough to not be extremely pleasant. I keep waiting for Eden to be "over it", but she is not. She is still really enjoying surfing, asking to go almost every day. It's pretty special to witness. Before we left for Kauai she went through this phase where she wanted to do it all on her own. She wouldn't let Jon touch her (to push her in, etc) saying she wanted to be a real surfer and catch the waves all by herself. It had actually begun to be a bit counter productive for her. Because she could never get into waves super early on her own so she wasn't actually learning or getting to do as much on the waves. At some point I finally took her aside and kindly asked her to 'throw dad a bone'. Explaining to her that it sort of hurts his feelings that she doesn't need him anymore. Since then she has slowly let him back in. Now she lets him push her into waves and she is getting into some of them early and turning her board to go down the line. 

E & Z on a wave together.

In this pic Zion aimed for Eden and tried to hitch a ride with her.

How beautiful is this sea glass?! 

Pic courtesy of Zion. This is from a day that I took Eden while Jon was at work. It was hard with Zi and didn't work out the best. In addition Eden kept saying that she wished her dad was there and how much better he is at helping her surf. I know she is absolutely right and it was a frustrating situation for her, but I was a little bummed because I was doing my best. Also I was super proud of myself for even getting her out there. 

Train to the Zoo

We took the train to the zoo a couple weeks ago on a rainy Tuesday. Jon had driven down to SD to surf earlier that morning and picked us up at the Old Town train stop. Zion was captivated for the entire ride. I was wondering how the kids would do having just recently been cooped up on the plane but seriously it was better than disneyland for Zi. Such a dream come true! Each time the train had to stop and switch tracks or let another train go by he was thrilled. Eden on the other hand was a little restless. Not quite as into the whole train wonder as Zi was. We also had a great time at the Zoo. It was rainy and cold but the kids did not seem to care one bit. They have still seen so little rain in their young lives that it is this mystical magical thing every time it happens - warranting dancing and twirling and soaking wet clothes each and every time.

Christmas Tree

We got a sweet little Christmas Tree this year. It was just the right size for Eden to decorate almost entirely on her own. It was nice not to have the annual Christmas party this year. Even with the rush of returning from Kauai well into the month of December I still felt we were able to savor each little bit of Christmas which felt like such a luxury in comparison to years past.