Letters to Santa

as is our ohana tradition this time of year, rain and april sat down, pencil in hand, and wrote their wish list for santa. of course we know the true meaning of christmas has little to do with santa, but we believe the spirit of christmas has a lot to do with him. we are happy to say that we all still believe in santa and the good things he represents. Christmas is our favorite time of the year (summer is a very close 2nd).

without any further delay, here's rain's wish list. apparently santa's loaded. money is clearly no object in the clause household. whose kid is this? an iMac? nate, have you been talking to rain? if she gets all this stuff i'm asking for my own private island (with helicopter).
all i want is what's coming to me. all i want is my fair share. :)

april's list is somewhat more grounded.

here's our little tree that we bought earlier this month. notice the sweet decorating job that rain and april did.

this next shot shows our favorite ornaments. can you guess whose is whose?

here's some more of our favorites. we don't really do the traditional glass ball and tinsel look. one of the things we love to do every year is pick up a new hallmark ornament (or four).

this last one below is actually tied for my favorite. it makes me smile every time i see it.

Kami, Mike, & Kelen at the Balboa Park Pepper Grove

lately we've been like kids sitting at the window staring through the rain drizzled glass waiting for the storm to break so we could go outside. the sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds and gave us an open invite to come out and play, so kami, mike, and kelen joined us at the Balboa Park Pepper Grove, aka the Balboa Park Playground, for a fun little session with their ohana.

kami was feeling like a kid again as soon as she hit the playground.

kelen hit the ground running, but i was able to contain him just long enough to get a couple shots in.

kami and mike were a little easier to contain. :)

kelen climbed up to the clouds. he was just a ball of energy and so fun to chase around.

kelen was caged in, but only for a moment.

mike and i got a front row seat to catch kami and kelen doing a little spiral sliding. soooo fun.

with a little sugar from mama, kelen was ready to hit the slide all on his own.

again and again and again. i'm not sure if he just really liked that slide, or if he just loved cheesing in front of the camera.

either way, he had a sweet view of the Balboa Bell Tower.

we were lucky enough to pull everyone away from the playground long enough to utilize some of the magnificent color and architecture that Balboa Park is famous for.

with everbody starving, we decided to fly on out of there, but not before one last shot. :) thank you kami, mike, and kelen for running around with us and being so easy to work with. we need to get out to playgrounds more often. take care. Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree

about 5 years ago we decided to invest in a really nice, albeit fake, Christmas tree. it's beautiful. it's pre-lit, 9 feet tall, and looks amazingly realistic. the only problem is it doesn't smell real. we realized after the first year that we needed that outdoorsy smell of Christmas in our house in december. since then, i have been puting up the 9 foot fakey and buying a second (real) tree to get that sweet smell of the season. this year was no different.

of course, the day we went out it was pouring rain. did that phase us? nope. kim has a thing for going out in the rain. usually it's just to run around & get wet, but this time we were on a mission. neither rain, nor mud, nor dark of night could thwart our mission.

every year i'm reminded of why we bought a fakey in the first place.
the real ones are bank!

at least the girls had fun walking around in the rain while we looked for our tree.

april tried on my sweet old stussy hat.

i love that hat. i got it when i was april's age.

kim and i made a cameo appearance.

i loves me kimmi.

just as april started getting worn out...

we found a perfect little tree to take home and call our own.

we love our little tree. it's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas. :)

a day at Mission Beach with the Nicholson Ohana

aloha friends. meet the nicholson's. another laid back, super cool, southern california family. our good friend nely, along with debbie, gordie, corey, tyler, and "alex"andria met us at one of our favorite local spots, Belmont Park, for a fun little family photo session (no thanks to my errant rendezvous site description).
ferris wheel / carousel...who hasn't made that mistake? :)
anyone? bueller? bueller?
anyway, this first shot sets the table for what was a day full of fun moments and happy memories. sorry, no "yo quiero" jokes.

alex was so cute. she was like a precious little mermaiden.

andy irons popped in to see what was going on.

corey and tyler brought their boards and were busting at their shirt collars to skate around the park. we tried to squeeze in a few quick sessions at the risk of getting booted out. more on that later. luckily, the local shop keepers were cool and let em skate. maybe it helped that we were out in front of a surf shop. half the staff actually came out and watched them. props to you good citizens.

when we felt "the law" may be getting close to busting up our fun, we headed out towards the boardwalk to catch the sun's last rays of the day. ahhh...cozy warm light to match the warmth of this family.

alex and gordie sharing a fun father daughter moment.

after changing into something with a little more street cred, the boys hit the beach. corey busted out a couple sweet backflips for us. nailed it. he's a self-taught daredevil.

can you tell who provides the comic relief in the family?

here's a closer look. tyler had me laughing behind the camera all day.

while corey, gordie, and tyler were out on the sand playing catch, alex kept herself busy with tyler's shoe.

after the shoe game ended alex was bummed that she wasn't able to play catch with the big boys.

tyler, being the good big bro that he is, came over and got alex into the lineup.

with alex deep in her own territory, gordie belted a booming kick. nice form. notice tyler's shoe also made an excellent tee.

alex grabbed it and ran it, like L.T., all the way back for the touchdown...

and in to dad's waiting arms.

we all took our life into our own hands by walking out into the center divide of the "boardwalk highway." bikes and skaters were zipping by at breakneck speeds. pure treachery i tell ya.

signs signs everywhere are signs. blocking up the scenery, breaking my mind. do this, don't do that. can't you read the sign?

and now for that short session i mentioned earlier. here's tyler's fearless impression of a speed bump. when you don't have obstacles, brothers make for great substitutes. :) don't worry. corey cleared tyler every time.

after escaping unscathed, tyler showed us a few tricks of his own.

a day at belmont is always fun, but a day at belmont with the nicholson's is awesome. a sincere thank you to you all for being so easy going and for providing the laughs. from our ohana to yours...
mele kalikimaka.

bye bye bunny.

i'll leave you with this. this is the reason we loving shooting in public and not in a studio. this guy rode by 3 times trying to get in the shot. you just can't get that kind of randomness when you're boxed in. whether you're in front of a camera or behind one, we encourage everyone to go out in public and have fun. your images will thank you for it. stay safe out there.
thanks to nate the photoshop jedi for showing us the way.