Christmas Day, 2013

 We told Zachary he could not wake us up before 6:00am on Christmas morning.  At 6am on the money, he ran into our room and said, "MOM!  DAD!  IT'S 600!  Time to open PRESENTS!!!"  We woke up Kate and headed in to see what Santa brought.

Kate's saw the wrapping paper and exclaimed, "Look at the sparkles!" She followed up with, "My pink bike!!!  I want to go outside!"

 Thanks to Kate, we found pieces of red and green bubble gum in various places throughout the house.  Santa should not bring gum to a 2-year-old, and also should not put off stocking stuffers until two days before Christmas, when gum is the only thing the elves have left.

 Zachary opened up his big Santa gift, a switch-n-go Dino.  His reaction, facial expressions included below: "THIS IS AWESOME!  Ooohhhhhh!  This is the best. present. ever.  I'm going to keep it forever and forever."  Zac is the best kid to give presents to.

 Kate opened her dress up shoes and said, "I'm going to wear them to the beach!  I'm going to wear them to church!"

 Zac's other Santa gift, the one he asked for, was a remote controlled helicopter.  While the elves listed the manufacturers age as 4-14, and Amazon listed it as their #1 best selling preschool toy, it was too technical for Zachary (and Brady).  We sent it back to the north pole, and thankfully, Zac wasn't heartbroken.  He said, "It's okay.  I have lots of fun things to play with."

 Kate took her final turn with Santa presents and opened up her doll from "Frozen."  Before unwrapping, Zac said, "KATE!  You might get a remote controlled helicopter, because that was the size of mine."   (You might notice that Kate has a less excited set of facial expressions throughout, but she really was excited.)

 Nerf gun, facial expression:

 This was probably Kate's favorite present:

 Legos, facial expression:

 Kate loves to read, but doesn't like to be read to:

 A purse from Daddy:

 New slippas!

 Kate's present to Zachary:

 Zachary doesn't like getting clothes as gifts, but Kate LOVES it.

 Kate opened up her new food, and disappeared for 15 minutes.  We found her stuffing it into her kitchen.

 We got to speak with both sets of grandparents, and even talked to Eric via speakerphones.  We ate a hot breakfast together, played with toys for ages, put Katers down for a nap, went on runs, and then, what else?  We went to the beach.  We used to love going to Hanalei on Christmas Day, but now the kids are older and want to play with their toys.  Instead, we went to Waiohai, which was beautiful, crowded, and flat.  At least we had our paddleboard!

 After quick showers, we headed to Nic and Heidi's for a lovely Christmas dinner with the Smiths, Chadderdons, and Probst families.  We really missed spending time with family this Christmas after our last two Christmases in Utah, but we loved the stunning weather and spending time with friends.