Here’s a little limited version of a family tree I’ve been working on. I have yet to get a lot of feedback from family, so I’m sure there will be many changes to come. But here is what I have started working on…

We’re currently down in San Diego visiting my parents and we went out to Buca di Beppo for dinner. We had a really nice day starting with a trip to Balboa Park to the Ruben H. Fleet Science museum where the kids were able to run around in the Kid City. Kid City is a really cool little science-y place just for kids 5 and under. Elias was especially enamored with all the little balls available to him that he could put into this suction tubing maze that would suck up the ball and send it swirling around the rafters. After Kid City we had a really nice picnic lunch out by the fountains, complete with fresh tamales from a park food stand and a mime. Then after the kids had a nice afternoon nap, we headed back to Balboa park to go see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. Ethan absolutely loved that! He’s completely obsessed with dinosaurs. Afterwards we headed downtown to Buca di Beppa to carb out and the person at Buca di Beppa insisted on taking our picture in a very touristy fashion after which I was able to finagle the online code so that we could be the proud owners of this awesome touristy San Diego family picture. Holla!

This is amazing…the video is a little long, but it just keeps getting better and better. I’m in awe…
(Note: It takes a while to load. If the video keeps the spinning wheel in the middle, you can pause it and then press play again and it will disappear.)

Last weekend we took a trip up to Mammoth with my parents. It was our first time and we ended up having a really great time. We were a little concerned at the start because of the huge storm that was supposedly rolling in right at the time that we were driving up. But we decided to brave it and lucky for us the storm decided to come in a little late. It actually ended up being perfect timing because we got up there with no traffic, no bad weather, and then the storm hit that night, just in time for a frozen ice storm trip to the jacuzzi. Unfortunately, I ended up coming down with a bit of altitude sickness. But luckily I felt the worst on Friday which was actually the big storm day. We mostly stayed in, but we were able to get out a little bit a couple of times during breaks in the storm. On Saturday it ended up being the most beautiful fresh powder day ever! We were so excited and Dale and I got to do a little skiing/snowboarding along with my dad. Ethan and Elias both got to try a little bit of skiing for the first time. We actually had so much fun “teaching” them. Elias LOVED it…he was just laughing and squealing the whole time! Ethan loved it too…he kept saying “I’m doing it! I’m doing it!” He was so proud. : )
Overall it was such a fun, nice time. In the evenings we got to hang out with my parents and talk about the meaning of life and all that kind of stuff. On the way down we had a quick unscheduled stop at Convict Lake and we got to see the most beautiful little place that was literally like heaven on earth. Crystal clear lake with the reflection of the snow-capped mountains and fresh air. My dad is all gung-ho about it now. Convict lake or bust he says. We’ll see about that… : )
Anyways, here are a couple of videos and pics from our trip…
Such a sweet little snow bunny! He’s wearing the little snow suit that my dad used to wear when he was a baby! How cool it that? : )

Daddy and son…first skiing trip. : )

An unscheduled stop at Convict Lake. A beautiful little lake surrounded by mountains just down from Mammoth. So breathtaking…

We stopped by Legoland again on the way down to visit my parents this weekend. We just stayed for a few hours, but we had a really nice time. The weather was perfect and the boys had a blast running around. Now that Elias is walking, we’re beginning to have a hard time keeping up with him! Here’s a couple of pics/video…

Here are a few pics from our recent photo session for Elias’ one year pictures. These are just a few that the photographer put on her website and she said we could post them on our blog. So here are a couple. We haven’t seen them all yet, but these ones look pretty cute so far… : )

Here are some pics of Ethan after an unprecedented 3 1/2 hour nap. He must have been getting some really good sleep because he ended up with some awesome nap hair! It’s almost like a piece of art! Hollywood hairstylists be warned…

Baby Elias finally did something today that I thought he could have probably done for a couple of months now…he took his first steps! After turning 11 months, he decided he was ready! We were soooo excited! I saw him kind of take a half step and I was like, “Oh my goodness…he’s about to walk!” So I grabbed the iPhone video and Dale and I started enticing him with a super cool toy and he was off! We got him to do it again afterwards as well, so he’s well on his way to toddling. So exciting and a little bittersweet at the same time. I can’t believe my little baby boy is starting to walk already!
On another note, he also had his one year check-up with his pediatrician today. It’s a little early seeing as he barely turned 11 months, but we’re trying to squeeze in one more visit with Dr. Clark before our insurance changes next year. In any case, he was the picture of health (generally speaking), and weighed in at 21 lbs 6 oz and 32 inches in height. We are told he is 98th percentile for height and 40th percentile for weight. Pretty good I think. Although the doctor is saying he’s getting skinnier (not in an unhealthy way)…but I was just telling Dale the other day how I thought he was really plumping up! But what do I know?
Anyways, Merry Christmas everyone! Will try and post some more pics and videos from Christmas on here soon as well! And Happy New Year!

Ethan was eating his tangerines and felt like singing, so I busted out the iphone video and did a little recording. He was getting a little distracted by actually eating his tangerines, but overall did a stand-up job of a musical performance. So, without further ado, here is 2 1/2 year old Maestro Ethan Wilkinson…

We just got a new vacuum cleaner at the Black Friday sales and little Elias was loving it!