Krause Christmas 2021, Part 1

It was a Krause Christmas this year so my family came here for Christmas. Unfortunately, this year Benjamin and Christina couldn't make it, but it's because of great news...she's due with their first baby soon!

My sister, her husband, and five kids (ages 8, 6, 4, 2, 0) all arrived on December 14th from Indiana. They had a trying time getting here since their connecting flight from Las Vegas to San Diego was cancelled, but after renting a car and driving in the pouring rain for six hours, they made it!

 

 My kids had their last day of school the day after the Gallos got into town, so I dropped them all off at school and then planned to drive straight to my parents' house to see them. Joey was my last drop off of the morning, and he asked if he could skip school and come with me instead. Since it was the day before break, and he really didn't have anything important going on in any of his classes, I said yes. 

At one point I walked by and saw the four older kids standing like this. They were waiting to surprise Joey when he got out of the bathroom. It made me laugh.

The next day, my kids were officially off of school for Christmas break so we met the Gallos and my parents down in Balboa. 

The kids were all very excited to see each other!

Balboa is such a beautiful place to explore,

especially at Christmastime!

Sisters!

As we were walking around, we found this cool area with all of these beautiful, exposed tree roots. The kids had fun climbing all over them.

This guy is just the happiest baby!

Eventually we made our way to this beautiful fountain

and this reflecting pool/koi pond.

After we walked all around Balboa, we drove about five minutes away to this suspension bridge.

Not everyone in our group was thrilled with it, but I thought it was so cool!