Holy Cuatro! Luca turned 4!!!!!! I don’t even know how that happened. I remember his sweet squishy cheeks when they were hot off the press.

Luca facts:

-Prefers to be called “Geeka”

-Favorite color” Green

-Loves the GT Scorcher

-Favorite Shows: Hot Wheels and Knight Rider

-Favorite Movie: Back to The Future part 1 but he loves them all

Here are some highlights from his big day:

Luca is such a fun and silly guy. He lights up a room and fills our lives with so much joy. He loves his brothers and someday would like to be Michael Knight or Marty McFly. Or he would like to design Hot Wheels.

In the last post I mentioned that we would be heading south. I also took a photo of a gift with an owl on the top. In that package were 4 scrolls that told the kids what we would be doing for new years eve! We surprised them with a trip to Universal Studios. After driving down on the 27th to the Umpqua River Lighthouse and seeing the it decked out in Christmas lights we continued our trip. I forgot my contacts at home and we stopped last minute to get a new prescription at Americas Best near Medford (thank heavens they could fit me in and give me some samples). We drove almost 10 hours and then stopped in Sacramento for the night and spent the night with J’s parents (Grammy and Grampy). We rested. We relaxed. We tried to store up some energy before our next drive. I didn’t take many photos!

When we were ready to continue we drove another five and a half hours to Palmdale. On the way we stopped at one of our favorite beaches . We visited the the Alaska Air Flight 251 crash memorial. This was Ezra’s first time to a SoCal beach. Needless to say that he was a fan. He love kicking his tiny toes in the sand and his laugh was captivating. We also visited a few different Back to the Future filming sights. Luca our sweet little light -lit up light a Christmas tree seeing his favorite film locations come to life. It was pure bliss for him.

We were so tired that when we made it to the hotel we were ready to crash! The next morning we got up around 5 to get ready to head to Universal studios. December 31, 2024 went like this…

Jan 1 was a rest day! We did do some minimal sightseeing. We took the kids to Twin Pines Mall and to the Griffith Observatory. The kids enjoyed seeing Twin Pines and we showed them where Doc Brown parked his van to unveil the time machine for the first time to Marty. Arabella had been once before in October of 2015. The boys hadn’t experienced it yet. I so badly wanted to make it to The Last Bookstore but it was closed. My heart was sad but at least we still got to visit Griffith. The views are stunning and it’s a great place to let the kids nerd out about space.

On the 2nd we headed back to Universal. Another 5AM morning. We parked, I fell up the escalator (long story), and then we made it to the park. UGHHHH. When we arrived we found out that it was a blackout date. It was frustrating because before we purchased tickets we double and triple checked that it wasn’t a blackout date. BUT somehow the dates changed. The kids were devastated and it made us feel gutted. Grammy and Grampy said they would help us pay for the upgrade so we could all go. They not only paid for their upgrades but they also paid for a good chunk of ours. The kids were elated. Over the moon excited. J and I felt relieved and grateful. We finally made it to all of the Hogwarts rides… they were a win. Mario World was Meh though. I 0% recommend.

On our last day we went to the Blackbird Airpark. The kids enjoyed playing near the airplanes and then getting some souvenirs.

As always December flies by so fast! This year it started with decorating the church, writing letters to santa, kids Christmas concert, baking cookies and decking the halls of our own home.

Christmas day was beautiful and hopefully the family will have some really great memories!

After Christmas we headed south towards the coast. We checked out some Christmas lights, toured the lighthouse and then headed further south (Part 2 coming soon!)