Christmas Trip 2009

Our trip was wonderfully amazing! :-) We are happy to be back home, and we spent Christmas at home, too. But our trip was so great, I literally get choked-up as I reflect on it. I will write in more detail sometime, but the highlights were:

• San Diego's Seaport Village (Totally beautiful and fun at Christmas time!)
• San Diego Harbor Cruise (A neat way to see the city, and they took us on a tour of the Navy ships, which was amazing)
• San Diego Zoo (SO pretty! We went at night and it was magically all lit with Christmas! The animals were fun at night, too. Especially the growling tiger -- a little scary in the dark!)
• Cinderella Carriage ride in downtown San Diego (We sang carols down the streets of San Diego as we traveled like princesses (and princes, too) it was so NEAT!)
• Playing by the ocean (Magic, the ocean is so soothing (though keeping track of little kids in the ocean is not so soothing) it was still beautiful, and I look forward to going again when the kids can keep track of themselves!)
• Disneyland (So FUN! It never disappoints! We were able to get on all the rides we wanted super-fast with little lines (We mastered the fast-passes, too) It was a great day there, it always goes by too quickly!
• More Ocean playing (We spent more time playing in the sand.)
• Post Family Christmas Party (So great to see all the family!)

We had a great time traveling. We had two cars so it was especially fun trying to stay together on California freeways! We did it though, thanks to glorious cell phones (and some fancy driving by Charles!) We traveled with my parents, my sister Beth (Beppy) and her new hubby James. We all had so much fun. We also got to hang-out with my brother's family (John and Mindy) at their house and snuggle their new baby. We got to go to their ward for two weeks, and we got to hear John sing and teach -- glad to be there for that. :-)

At the Post family party I got to see TONS of family that I have not seen in forever, the highlight being my other sister (Kary) and her family -- who were down from Alaska, too. It was neat to have almost all of the cousins together, and Sam and Dan enjoyed meeting their second cousins. It was all so great! Our family got to sing on the spot, as we were forced to the front of the room unprepared. Luckily, we turned to the Hymn book and belted out Away in a Manager, and it was pretty good! There were quite a few unprepared performances, I wish we had been prepared -- we could have done something great! But it was in true "Post" spirit (my mom's side). Her father (Bill Post) was an amazing musician and performer, singing on the radio, back in the day. It was neat to see that the music has trickled down the generations. It made Nan (my mom's mom) SO happy to have us all there, singing together. Sweet times, really sweet times!

It was all so great, really great. I am glad to add the Christmas trip of 2009 to my happy memory bank!

Trip Pictures

Sitting waiting for food at Seaport Village in San Diego, it was right by the ocean -- really beautiful!

William was surprised by the peacock, which walk freely around the San Diego Zoo.

Sammi was donating grandpa's money to help save the Condors in California
The sky ride at the San Diego Zoo. We went at night, and the view was amazing -- a magical moment.
The entrance at the Zoo, it was all decked-out for Christmas
Zoo entrance

Daniel giving grandma loves

Walking along the beach at Seaport Village
The Harbor Cruise in San Diego, you can see some of the Navy ships . . . there were so many, it was very impressive and it made it "real" seeing how massive they are, and hearing about what they can do.
The Cinderella Carriage. I was amazed that one horse could pull all of us! Poor thing! It was so fun and the driver was great!
Nighttime at Seaport

The sun going down at Seaport Village
The hat store . . . Daniel LOVED it there. He especially liked the top-hat.
One of many unique stores full of little lovelies
The beach in San Diego
Daniel was so excited about it!
The weather was so perfect, especially after coming from below zero temps!
The ocean made William a little nervous
We were watching people swimming with the sea lions

Trip Pics

Family picture at sunset at Seaport Village. Dad, Mom, Beppy, James, Daniel, Sammi, Mari, Charles, and William (a nice lady offered to take the picture).

The carriage ride. That is one tough horse! It was SO fun!
We sang and sang through the streets of the city

More beach pictures . . . Charles was in heaven.
This motor-home was some sort of traveling Jewish party? A couple of guys dressed in traditional Jewish clothing yelled out to us, "Are you Jewish?" My dad answered, "No, we are from another tribe!" and off they went . . . . They were pulling a menorah, it was really interesting! My mom ran down to get a picture of them as they circled around. ;-)


This was an awesome tree made of poinsettias. It was beautiful. Another Seaport village beauty.
This is the bird show at the San Diego Zoo. It was really neat, especially at night, in the dark. The birds were great . . . so were the trainers!
Entering "it's a small world". There was this cute teenage boy sitting in front of us, who had some disabilities (it was awesome to see Disney have access for everyone!) His eyes were so bright, and he was smiling so big at everything -- I was trying not to cry as I watched him. That is what Disney is about -- making dreams come true. I could see it in the boys eyes -- magic.
Sammi was so cheesed she could hardly stand it!
Winnie the Pooh was standing right behind us . . . we were just on the wrong side!
The amazing castle at night
"it's a small world" at night -- so amazing!
Grandma and I made our own version of a gingerbread house . . . we thought we would do a castle, instead. (Using graham crackers.) :-) We made it while the boys (Dad and Charles) went off to see the late night showing of Avatar (in 3-D, I-MAX). They said it was awesome.
The playground right off of the beach
Sammi was sharing her monkey-abilities with us
Sunset at the beach
The Post family Christmas Party . . . Daniel with Santa
Sammi is holding my sister Kary's baby, McKinley. The girl next to Sammi (Sammi's second cousin) is holding my brother's new baby, "Scooter".
My mom and her brother Bill.
The "Post" siblings. Uncle Bill, my mom (Sally), Uncle Tom, Uncle Buck. (Uncle John and Uncle Hack have passed away.) Uncle Joey was sick, and Aunt Cindy was in Alaska.
Beppy and James.
Sammi, Stephen, and Daniel. Stephen was SO happy to see Daniel again. (Stephen is Kary's son). Daniel was happy to see Stephen, too!
The Post siblings singing, Silent Night.
Stephen and Dan -- cutey-heads. :-) Cheese!
Sammi was not interested in Santa, but once she heard you had to see him to get a present -- she was off! One of the kids was yelling, "He's a fake!" He got an evil-glare from his grandma (My Aunt Heidi) and he zipped-it.
Almost all of the second cousins (some were missing, including William, who would not sit still!) Actually, I think there were quite a few missing. It was cute though . . .
Grandpa (my dad) and McKinley (Kary's cute baby).
The star of the show . . . Nan! We all exist because of her . . . I believe her cup was running over! :-) She was so happy. (That is Scooter, John and Mindy's cute snuggle-bug).
Can you tell we are sisters? Can you tell there are over 10 years between us? I was SO happy to get to see Kary!
Almost all of the cousins . . . There are a bunch of us! A bunch of fun people! (Though I don't know many of them really well -- we were in Alaska, and most of them live in Utah -- I did get to know some of them when we were young . . . and, of course, I hear all about them, too.) ;-)
Mari, Mom, Nan, Kary, Beppy, Sammi, and McKinley

It was fun to be with family and to see my "people". I sure love them!