Christmas Celebrations: Santa Barbara & Palm Desert

Josie and I drove to SB on Tues 12/22. Josie had fun baking with Gram and Papa and getting ready for Christmas and for the family to arrive.

 Candle lit dinner in their cozy, festive home.

  We got to check in on Bo since Karen, Luke and Katie were away until the 24th. This is the first time seeing Bo since Thanksgiving week when they met Bo at the breeder's. They couldn't take him home for another few weeks. So cute and cuddly.

 Swinging at Samarkand

Rog, Caroline, Oliver and Miller arrived on the 24th. Eric arrived as well and Josie and I moved from Gram and Papa's to stay at Karen and Luke's. We all went to the outdoor Christmas Eve service.

It was a chilly evening under the stars. Fun memories from 2007 when I had a surprise visit from Eric after the service with diamond ring in hand.

Mom made these flower arrangements to decorate this common room at Samarkand for our Christmas dinner. We had some yummy Swedish food along with some traditional dishes. It was great to have all this space to eat and play.

 Christmas morning was at Karen and Luke's. We filled stockings with a little something for everyone. Josie wasn't interested in writing a note to Santa or leaving out cookies and milk.

After breakfast hike from Karen and Luke's house.

We had a Christmas lunch at Samarkand. Later that evening we went back to the common room and ate leftovers for Christmas supper. We opened our Secret Santa gifts and then celebrated Caroline's bday with yummy chocolate cake. Gram gave Papa the Swedish game Kubb. He was pretty happy.

We all bought Pickle Ball paddles for Gram and Papa. I didn't document it but we were all down on the tennis courts playing and it was really fun. I got to play one day with dad's buddies. One guy was in his 90's.

 

Miller and Katie chatting it up.

Hike to watch the sunset.

One of the kids from Karen's class has parents and grandparents who have their own private collection and they opened it up for our family to walk through. It's about 5 min from Karen and Luke's home, up in the hills. It was totally amazing and super fascinating. The dad and grandpa gave the tour. The whole extended family works there to some degree. The parents and grandparents have their homes right there as well. In the below picture you can see the grandparents garage and the parents have the house right after that. Everything is on surveillance so the kids can walk to the grandparents or to the studio on their own without walking on the street and are on camera the whole way. Pretty cool set up. Below is the walkway between the different studios with the different collections.

  They collect first edition books. These are just some of them.

  More books in the the whole middle area. First edition of the full score of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

The wife is from Denmark where Lego is from so there was a whole section on Lego sculptures. Lego translates to "play well."

 

In another room there's a bar and when they have parties you go pick out your glass and order your drink at the bar. The wife has her studio connected to the bar where she has classes for making these glasses and all kinds of things.

  Collection of suns in a room from the bar to the studio. Another room connected to this was filled with gems and artifacts from around the world. Collectors from the Field Museum in Chicago were impressed with the collection.

  The view from their office windows and from their homes.

  Active boys at Samarkand.

  Hiking at Lizard's Mouth. 

  The "guys". Getting ready to push over a boulder. No, they didn't budge it.

  Such a blue sky.

  Nice view of the ocean.

  Tri tip sandwiches at Cold Springs Mountain Tavern.

  Reading with Aunt Caroline.

 

Pool at Samarkand

Walking around State Street.

Breakfast at East Beach before we headed to Palm Desert. Unfortunately Eric head north to go back to work.

Arrived in PD and hopped in the hot tub. Karen, Mom, Josie and I got there first b/c the other carload took the scenic route. We got to enjoy the hot tub in the sun along with happy hour margaritas and snacks. By the time the others got there and in their swim suits the entire pool area disappeared and we were the only ones there. The kids had a great time going back and forth between pool and hot tub. The one pool was 87 degrees and the big pool was pretty chilly although I did jump into it a couple times after the hot tub and then to the warm pool. 

  Kicking back at the Marriott with wine, a puzzle, Aretha Franklin

Katie and Josie watching a video while soaking in the bathtub. 

  Relaxing in the hot tub

Katie participating in the Iron Chef challenge. She had to make a dish with chopped olives. It was yummy but didn't win first place.

  Playing Dad's new Kubb game after everyone brought me breakfast in bed for my birthday. We had fun playing Kubb at the family reunion last summer. Can't beat the view here.

  Morning snuggles. We had two suites down the hall from each other but we gathered in one where we ate our meals and hung out.

  We drove to an oasis for a little hike
 

  Last chance to swim....

  and relax in the sun.

Josie and I drove back to SB on the 31st after dinner b/c we wanted to drive home on the 1st. We spent New Years Eve with Bo and then got up then next morning and drove home.

Goodbye Bo. Such a fantastic vacation with family.