Christmas Adventures

This year there were only two things that we were missing. 1-Nativity set and 2-Angel tree topper. Peter's mom bought us a nativity set while we were in Utah and we kept it when we got home so we could set it up. Then all we needed was an angel. We went to Canterbury Gardens in Escondido which is a totally Christmas exploded inside the shop type of place. They had a Santa tree and an everything purple tree, angel tree, star tree, green tree, red tree, basically you name it they had a tree with everything. We looked at the angel tree and really didn't like anything that we saw, so sadly we left empty handed. Then Peter did a search on the Internet and found this, showed it to me and we decided it was perfect. So no, we don't need an angel we have Tigger and that is so much better. :)
Before Christmas Peter got this urge to try a couple of fun recipes. We made peanut brittle and English toffee (pictured below). Both went very fast! We made a second batch of brittle and have yet to make more toffee, but it is on the list. We also made a ton of peppermint fudge.

For Christmas Peter and I gave each other a Wii! Peter convinced me that we needed one. Now after playing Mario Brothers I agree it was a good purchase. It's also a ton more fun to have multiple people playing...we need to get another remote. Some of our other gifts include a Bugzooka pictured here.

This thing was so fun to play with. Basically what you do is push the bottom part in, aim the top at a bug and then push a button and it sucks in the bug into the top part. The bug becomes stuck inside the top and then you can either let it go outside or you can put it in the freezer to kill it and then throw it out. Last night I found a spider and Peter got to try out the Bugzooka...it worked! He chose to put it in the freezer as quite frankly neither one of us wanted the spider back in our house, and nobody wanted to be that close to a live spider. This thing is really cool, but even with a 2 foot reach pole, once the spider was inside, it still seemed like it was really close, so of course Peter was jumping around and doing a spider dance. :) I was just glad it wasn't me.
In the above picture you can see the live spider at the bottom of the metal part. Sorry we had the smokey film on. It also came with a clear tube for observing the live creature...like seriously who would want to watch a live spider? Crazy people!
Last night we had Chris, Mary and the girls over for Pizza. The girls each made their own mini pizza. They had fun.
Not to worry, the pizzas for the adults (not pictured) were more elaborate and tasty.

Other fun gifts include:
Peter-A yodeling pickle, dress pants, the most annoying sponge bob puzzle (only 100 pieces, but seriously gave you a headache), pajamas, A Bug's Life-blu ray, apple slicer/corer in one and a video game.
Mandy- Two video games, pajamas, Topsy Turvy plant holder, puzzle, build a bear gift certificate, Pooh/Eeyore/Piglet/Tigger antenna balls, a book and a desktop calendar.
Together we got the Bugzooka, a book about how to avoid bug stings and a bottle of sting eeze in case we get stung by a bug. We also got a jelly bean dispenser too.

We had a great time hanging out with family and friends...it's sad that our vacation time is quickly coming to an end. 2 weeks seem to have flown by. (1 week for Peter...he's so bummed.)

The Getty Museum

This morning Peter and I drove David and Laurel to the Los Angeles Airport (LAX). On the slightly over 2 hour drive I slept (that's what you're supposed to do on a car ride), David fell asleep at one point and Laurel kept Peter company. We arrived at LAX around 10:15 for a 1:15 international flight. Laurel was panicked that we would be late on the way up...we made it in plenty of time even with a quick stop to Walmart on the way so David could pick up deoderant and shaving cream. While at Walmart there was police crime scene tape around some poles and several police officers in the same area. Laurel and Peter were speculating what was going on. The famous axe murderer was one possibility. We drove around in circles waiting and realized that it was a recruiting area, they had a table and everything set up. It gave us a good laugh.

After we dropped David and Laurel off at the airport we decided to head to the Getty Museum for a couple of hours. It was a spur of the moment decision. On our way to the Museum Peter asks, "Did you bring the camera?" "Nope." I didn't know I was supposed to bring the camera to drop people off at the airport...I'll remember that next time. :)

We were at the museum until about 2:30. In the medieval manuscript room, I learned how to draw a castle in three easy steps. They had tables, papers and crayons set up to use and step by step instructions to draw castles, boats, borders and something else. While we were in that room a ton of little children came in and started grabbing for everything, so we decided to head out to the next gallery.

We visited van Gogh's Irises, saw the illuminated manuscripts collection from the 800's-1500's, saw how sculptures were made, looked at the most interesting works of wood possible and much more. Peter's favorite words, "This one is really famous." He said it so often and at basically every painting he recognized. I was like, "Really, no way."

We saw lots and lots of paintings and we saw them all in chronological order. Another Peter funny-He enjoyed pointing out that most of the museum was made out of travertine and he kept asking if we should put travertine in a bathroom of ours. I kid you not he said it a ton of times. They even sold little chunks of it in the gift shop and he wanted to take it home.

We also liked the tram. It's like a ride and a show. I really enjoyed walking around the garden and looking at the different fountains. Now Peter wants to go to the Getty Villa in Malibu. Better bring the camera for that trip. :)

Christmas Cooking

So last week we started our holiday culinary adventures. We made pumpkin bread and several batches of sugar cookies. This week we've moved on to something more sought after by friends, family and co-workers.

You know it's Christmas when you take these

And you mix butter, sour cream and sugar together to get this. Then you wait until it gets to the soft ball stage on the thermometer....which feels like forever!

Then you take it off the heat and add marshmallow cream, crushed peppermints, peppermint extract and white chocolate chips and work it all together as fast as you can and then pour into a dish. This is a double batch....TaDa Peppermint Fudge!

It looks a little funny, but it sure does taste good and it's addictive. We will be making numerous batches.