Catch Up

I've fallen behind on the BlogWagon again. Last weekend (or was it the weekend before?), I took pictures of the kids dressed in their Holiday best as we got ready to head out to the Silver Oak Christmas party. The next day I downloaded the pictures to the computer. That was when I discovered that I still had pictures from carving pumpkins on the camera! I guess life as been a little crazy!


Always a ham
Look at those curls!
She did not want to touch the "guts"
But did want to pose for a picture
He did not want to be outdone
Daddy helped Henry

Sitting on the pumpkins from Grampa

In November Cooper sang at church with the preschool.


Thanksgiving at Grammie's
There were 18 of us this year!

Having fun at the park on a sunny day in the beginning of December.
It was a little chilly
He loves the swings
Always reading

Pictures from Santa Cruz

The opinons about Santa Cruz were unanimous. The best part of the trip was "playing with our cousins" or "spending time with the family". The 2nd best part was "going to the beach"! We had a great time in Santa Cruz and hope we can go back in a year or two.

Santa Cruz Beach House!

We are in Santa Cruz! The whole family!

This year Jason and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary and my parents will celebrate their 45th! Earlier in the year my mom and I were talking about how to celebrate and we thought a family vacation was in order. In previous years we've had wonderful trips to Hawaii, but that just wasn't in the cards this year. Finances are tight with the addition of Henry and the recent remodel, and time is short with so many people trying to coordinate schedules. We knew we wanted to be close to the ocean, so we looked at places we could go in California. Mendocino was crossed off the list since it was too far for John and the boys to travel. Point Reyes was considered but we finally decided on Santa Cruz. It is only about 30 minutes from Los Gatos so we hoped that John and the boys could at least sneak away for a few days to meet us. It worked out that we found a house to rent that is big enough for everyone and within walking distance to the beach AND the Boardwalk!

For the last few months we've looked forward to the big day! The kids (and I) love spending time with the twins and we looked forward to all being together just as much as we looked forward to being at the ocean. We've talked about what we could do and decided on the beach, the boardwalk and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Yesterday, after Meet Your Teacher Day, we loaded up the car and headed down the coast. After a quick stop at In-N-Out for lunch, we headed down to Santa Cruz. Our GPS tried to send us on a wild goose chase, but for the most part we out smarted it and arrived in town after only a slight detour. We found the street and Grampa was standing out front. We made quick work of unloading the car and then found Mays and Dallas with Grammie in the 3rd floor loft. Up there we found Pillow Pets!

The afternoon and evening were spent playing with our cousins and taking a quick trip to the beach. The beach is only a short walk away and it is beautiful! Unfortunately we can't really see the sunset from the house, but we might find somewhere to see it tonight.

Gimme Five Bottling - 2011

On Saturday, our family gathered for our 4th annual Gimme Five bottling party. This time was a little different because there are now six grandchildren. We changed the name from Gimme Five to Gimme Five-GOT SIX!
The weather was a little cold and dreary but the mood was fun and festive.

As we were waiting for the festivities to begin, the kids explored the forklift, the hillside and the barrels.


Each year getting the gravity feed from the barrel to the filler is our #1 challenge. In years past we even had to resort to alternative measures to get the wine flowing.

Henry has never had his picture taken on the PINA rock. I guess he didn't want it taken today.


We try to have every person do each job. Mays was very intent on getting the foils just right.

Grace has been a perfecting her labeling technique for four years. She is now a Master.

Cooper is still working on his technique.

Dallas got in on the labeling action also.


While everyone was working Henry snuck into the chips and got himself a snack.

Grammie with Dallas and Grace

Cooper and Emma worked together to get the corks in the bottles.
The GOT SIX gang on the new PVM tractor.

The kids on the PINA rock.

Grammie and Grampa with all six grandkids.

John, Tracy, Mays and Dallas Pina

Grace, Jason, Emma, Cooper, Trish and Henry Donoho

The whole gang!