[Countdown to Christmas] Boat Parades and Santa Sightings.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

This past weekend was a Christmas filled weekend! The fun started on Friday night when we had plans to meet some friends for a local boat parade. We normally go to the Newport Beach Boat Parade and have for the last three years, but this year I decided we should try something new and go to the Dana Point Boat Parade. I asked some friends if they were free and we started to plan our evening.

My amazing friend Vickie (the one who put on that wonderful Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot) works for the Dana Point Chamber of Commerce so I knew she would know the best place to see the boat parade. She said she would do a little investigating and then get back to me about where we should meet. Little did I expect the text that I got : "I have a friend who is going to let us use his boat to see the boat parade". I'm sorry, what? I'm going to be ON A BOAT seeing the boat parade. YES PLEASE.



So while we were just sitting in the harbor and watching the boat parade go by, it was quite possibly the BEST boat parade experience EVER.

...except that one time that I turned my back for 0.0000001 seconds and Mason almost fell over board. NO JOKE. He decided he would climb up onto the side of the boat where there was a ledge and then look over. Thankfully my friends Lauren and Vickie were there and pulled him to safety or I would have been taking a nice swim in the water to get him back.
Seriously give me a heart attack, why don't you, kid!
#momoftheyearaward


Saturday we made some fun crafts to surprise some friends with.


And Sunday morning we attempted Santa visit #2.
Let's just say we are 0 for 2 on Santa visits thus far.

Sunday morning my sister-in-laws and I met at Fashion Island to take our yearly cousin Santa picture. And this year? It went about as well as last year. We got there just before it opened and had to wait in an hour long line to see Santa. (I mean, the man is popular!)

In order to wrangle 5 kids for an hour, we did a little walking around while we left my brother-in-law to hold our place in line (thanks Stephen!). We walked over to the huge tree that they have to take some pictures.


Look at poor Addie's face. She did SUCH a good job holding on to Mason, but he just kept squirming so much. This picture was taken about 3 seconds before he almost fell off the present (and the present was high off the ground - like 3 or 4 feet). Thankfully Addie is an amazing big cousin and held on tight and I was able to grab him before he totally slid himself off. She was so worried! It was the sweetest.

After the tree, we ventured over to this thing - I'm still not sure what it is - a snow globe?

Now I don't know if you have ever tried, but it is dang near impossible to get 5 kids to stand still to take a picture together. Kayla and Addie did a great job, Emma held Lilah, and Mason... ran around and around and around and we had to snap fast to even get him anywhere near the picture.

The kid's got energy.


By this time Stephen was nearing the front, so we headed back to stand in line. Mason was near done and I had to give him my phone to entertain him until we were finally inside.

And he was doing ok until...

he saw Santa.

And then he wanted to RUN. In fact he did. I had to chase him outside and bring him back in. The poor kid was so scared/hated him so much and started crying instantly. I should have taken him out of the picture like a good mom, but instead I tried to bribe him with my phone to sit still for just 2 seconds while we got a cousin picture. Mommy fail and what we got was a crying, screaming Mason holding onto my phone and trying to crawl out of the photo. 

Oh well. At least he's in it?


I probably traumatized the poor kid. Hopefully he forgets before next year when we attempt it again :)

And just for fun, here is last year and this year's Santa visits.

2013 // 2014


And if you don't think I am horrible for attempting Santa photo #2, just wait until tomorrow when I attempted (and failed) at #3!

(and in case you missed it, Santa fail #1 happened at the LA Zoo Lights last week!)


***

Linking up with Beth.


Our Pretty Little Girls

14 comments:

  1. You sound like me with multiple attempts!! I can't believe you got to watch the boat parade from a boat!! We have one this weekend and will be watching from land...whomp, whomp. Haha! I guess I shouldn't complain because I actually get to see the ocean every day!! :)

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  2. How fun that you went to a boat parade! That's one of the things I miss about Seattle, seeing all the house boats decorated and then watching the big boat parade!

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  3. Woah - Fashion Island looks awesome! Where is that?!! That tree is HUGE, and the photo ops look AH-MAY-ZING!!!
    Poor Mason. Santa is just not his jam this year.

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  4. Holy ginormous tree batman! I love that you do a yearly cousin picture, but oh my, I can imagine what it takes to get them all in the pictures and smiling. Hopefully next year will be better :) 2013 he looked happy!

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  5. boat parade FROM A BOAT. i love it. and i'm so jealous!!!

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  6. That boat parade looks amazing, and watching it from a boat just puts it over the top! That is so cool you all go together to see Santa. Too bad he's scared of him though. That was Noah last year, crying at the mere sight of Santa. Now he's intrigued by him from a far but is very serious when we go near him and won't sit on his lap alone. It will be hilarious to see all the pictures through the years and how they evolve!

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  7. A boat parade? Like boats with lights? From a boat? Amazing! Makes me hate being landlocked. And I am SO loving the Santa photos. The meltdown is awesome! I can't believe you've tried this 3 times now. This poor child is going to be scared shitless of Santa! I love it! Also, I'm a horrible person too.

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  8. A boat parade! So much fun! Girl, don't feel bad for really wishing the picture would have happened. Better to have the memory with him in the picture and screaming than not involved at all. You're not a bad mommy for having had that happen. I probably would have tried my hardest to keep Lily involved too. :)

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  9. Baha ha! Oh my goodness I don't think your terrible, I want to hug you. I just feel like I understand where your coming from we have had 2 failed attempts so far this year to with at least one more left. Oh well. Lights on boats that is the coolest.

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  10. LOVE the santa PJs attempt.. poor guy just not having it. And 5 kids?! You guys are braver than I am! Ok this boat xmas light parade? Seriously amazing! AND you got to see them from a boat?! SO awesome! Btw love seeing Mason with the ipad case - we got it Tuesday and I already LOVE it. It's the best ever!

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  11. I love all the fun pictures with the cousins! How lucky that he is able to see them! Thanks so much for linking up with us!

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  12. I love Christmas filled weekends! Ours will be that way this weekend and I am so excited. The boat parade sounds and fun!!! Holy amazing photos!!! I love the kids outfits!!! So cute! K I told Desiree, but you find the coolest place to go to. Seriously!

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  13. on a boat!! that is awesome, the pics look cool. I've never heard of a boat parade light thing, but hey I'm down sign me up! And it is always that dang .01 second right? You blink and chaos.

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