Christmas 2011

Below are pictures from our Christmas season.

Brenna loves her Great Grandma Dede. The two spent a lot of time "calling" each other on Brenna's play phone.

Six grandkids all ready to have a slumber party with Grandma Sharon. The four older ones got to stay up late one night to watch Cars 2.

For the past few months, since we watched all six movies together, Dillon and Connor have been obsessed with Star Wars. Dillon loved getting some action figures and a Bubba Fett gun (not pictured) from Uncle Jason.

Connor couldn't believe that Uncle Jason got him the Millennium Falcon.

We celebrated Christmas at Grandma Barbara's house on Thursday, where Bradley and Connor had a great time on the see saw.

The feast at Grandma's was, as always, delicious. We ate a very southern Christmas dinner, chicken fried steak.

Friday night was spent at Grandma Dede and Pops' house. Brenna had already become a present unwrapping expert and tore through her gifts with unexpected efficiency.

Someone got so excited over opening Christmas presents that they had a hard time controlling their bladder. (Just kidding, Brenna spilled her water in the funniest place possible.)

The next day we opened presents and stockings at Papa and Grandma Sharon's house. Grandma Sharon stuffs their stockings so full that she needs to hold them to the mantle with 50 pound weights.

Connor, Kaleb, and Dillon watching Toy Story 2.

Christmas Eve we drove back to Sonora in time for Santa to bring Brenna her doll stroller (the doll was courtesy of Aunt Terri) and the boys light sabers.

Christmas day we went to church and then to Papa and Grammy's house. There the boys and Trent honed their light saber skills with epic battles against the dreaded Darth Vader.

The Cummings had a few friends over and we sang Christmas carols before we opened gifts. I belted out the chorus to "We Three Kings".

One of their gifts included some balloons all the way from Japan. They were quite a hit, so much so that we had to put them away just to get the kids to finish opening their presents.

Of course, like every year, the kids got too many gifts.

One of Trent's favorite things to do is come over and play "yegos" at our house. So Dillon made Trent his own Lego figure and put it in with his present. Trent didn't let the figure get out of his line of sight the rest of the night.

More Brenna Pictures

One of my rules for our babies was that we would never announce the names until after the babies were born. No matter who or how many times they ask, I would not reveal the name. Last night at dinner, Grandma Sharon was drilling me over the name and I was refusing the temptation to spill the beans.

I did say that Dillon was told the name a few days ago but had forgotten it. Christina and I had just asked him the night before if he remembered Brenna's name and he said no. So the following exchange happened:

Grandma Sharon: Dillon, what's your sister's name?

Dillon: Jessie (He was enamored with the name since Toy Story 2 is his favorite movie.)

Grandma Sharon: It's ok Dillon you can tell me her real name.

Dillon: (whispering in his grandma's ear) Brenna Joy.

I guess I won't be sharing any more secrets with Dillon.

A good picture of me and Brenna. Our nurse took a picture of me but it was really blurry so Christina had to snap this one.


Brenna tried to open her eyes for this picture.

Grammy with Brenna. Due to the H1N1 scare, the hospital only allowed two visitors for the entire stay and I count as one of those visitors. That left us having to choose one of the four grandparents be able to hold Brenna during her first couple of days.

However, Ginni knew one of the nurses in the Birth Center and she allowed the other three grandparents in to hold Brenna. That was the one bright side of Brenna being born at 3:31 in the morning, we were allowed to sneak in extra visitors.

Papa Jim was the biggest person to benefit from the "extra visitors" because he was going to have to leave Sonora before Brenna would be released from the hospital. There are not any pictures of Brenna with Grandma Sharon because I had left the camera in the waiting room when she was holding her. She will just have to wait a few days.

By the way, please excuse any typos or misspellings in the last two posts. I don't function well under three hours of sleep.

Muppet Mashup

Sesame Street has gotten some attention on the Internet this last week because of their 40th anniversary. In their honor, this site posted pictures of Sesame Street (and Muppets) celebrity doppelgangers. My favorite was Pepe and Steve Buscemi.


This made me realize I have some people in my extended family that also look like characters.


James and Captain Breakfast


Taylor and Miss Piggy


Mike and Waldorf

Connor and Scooter (minus the glasses)

Thankfully there is only one Pops.

----------------
Now playing: Ra Ra Riot - Can You Tell
via FoxyTunes

Disneyland Video

Disneyland Update #2

Due to a long day, you will only get a few pictures of today's outing. The next update will come, at the earliest, Wednesday night.

Family Bus

I never mentioned this on the blog before, but at Christmas James' family came to Sonora. We borrowed our friend's bus to take a trip up the hill to the snow. We had a great time visiting with everyone during the trip. Afterwords, James and I talked about trying to find a vehicle that our whole family could fit in. Now that we have two kids and James and Michelle have one, it was hard to go anywhere without taking two or three cars. We joked about getting a bus like the one we had just taken to the snow.

This week I caught wind of an auction the county was having for old vehicles. On the list was a few old transit buses. I was able to prearrange a meeting to look over the buses before the auction on Saturday (my only perk of being a county employee.) Three of the buses were in excellent condition. The county was having to replace them earlier than planned because of California's emission standards. It didn't take much convincing to get James and Mike on board to the idea of splitting the purchase of one of the buses.

Saturday morning Mike and I showed up at the auction ready to start the bidding process. We staked out the one we liked the best and was hoping no one else wanted it. Turned out someone else did want it so I participated in my first auction bidding war. After a few going back and forth bids, the Cummings, Evans and Nixons became proud owners of a used 2001 transit bus.

Here's the front the bus. We have decided to keep it at the Cummings' house for storage because they have the most room.

The county painted over the logo they have on the side of their buses, leaving us space to put in something clever. If only we were clever enough to come up with slogan or logo.

The bus came with an automated wheelchair lift. We are hoping to take it out and sell it on Ebay or Craigslist to help offset the cost of the bus. Is there a market for used wheelchair lifts?

There are 13 seats on the bus, plus the driver's seat. The seat belts will allow us to properly secure the children's car seats. We also will use it to take visiting family members and friends to the lake, snow, or any other local landmarks.

The bus only has 181,000 miles on it, which is very low for this type of vehicle. Thankfully, the county keeps their fleet well maintained and had just put in a new transmission into this bus.

The Evans are visiting Sonora soon, allowing us to take our bus on it's maiden voyage. Here's to many good times to come.


----------------
Now playing: Eddie Kendricks - Keep On Truckin' (Part 1)
via FoxyTunes

New Years Video

Christina's cousin, Laurie, and her family came to visit for New Years. Here is a little video I put together.



As you can probably tell, Dillon loved playing with Alec, Shane, and Lucas.

Alaska Video

In case you were wondering, we were able to bring home a lot of fish. We each brought back 38 pounds of fillets apiece. Most of that was salmon, as we only got about 9 pounds of halibut each. Also, the day we were halibut fishing I caught three manta rays. A marine biologist would call them skates. Larry was amazed I pulled up three of them because in all his years of fishing he had only seen one other skate caught. Reeling them up from 150 feet down was exhausting due to the massive drag they created.

Enjoy the video.




----------------
Now playing: Dave Matthews Band - Tripping Billies
via FoxyTunes

North to Alaska

Below are pictures from our trip to Alaska.

James and I were able to borrow the Leveen's camper to take a trip to Denali National Park. The park was about 3 and 1/2 hours from their house in Palmer.

While at the park, we took an 8 hour round trip bus ride to the base of Mt. MicKinley. On the way up we saw this bear feeding on berries in an open field.


The Eielson Visitor Center at the base of McKinley had a sign showing the crummy weather we encountered on the trip. At the time we took this picture, visibility was about 100 feet. The overcast weather that day kept us from enjoying the complete scenery of the park.

During the entire trip we only had two days of sun. The rest of the time was cloudy or rainy which, as we were told, was how the whole summer has been for Alaska.

From left to right: Bill (James' grandpa), Jimmie, James, Larry, Mike

Me, my first catch of the trip, and Larry. A keen eye will spot the blue sky.

Here is a glacier we visited. Glaciers are common in Alaska, though a majority of them are up in the mountains. This one stretched down to the valley floor and we were allowed to walk up on it.

The melting ice formed a gorgeous pond in the middle of the glacier. The hike on the glacier may have been my favorite part of the trip because around every corner was a different ice formation. The ever-changing landscape was gorgeous.

I am almost finished with the video and will post once finished.



----------------
Now playing: Coldplay - Daylight
via FoxyTunes

Into the Wild

Tomorrow night Mike, James and I get on a plane headed for Alaska. This "guys only" trip will be spent in Palmer, Alaska visiting Christina's Aunt Lenny and Uncle Larry. The plan is to hang out with them for a few days then Uncle Larry will take us out on his boat to do some fishing. James and I might also be taking a side tour of Denali National Park one day. Our return back to California will be Sunday, August 3rd.

Pictures will follow throughout the week if I can find a wi-fi hot spot.



----------------
Now playing: The Killers - Mr. Brightside
via FoxyTunes

Holiday Catch Up

This Christmas was a very busy time for the Nixons so I thought I would post what we were up to for the last two weeks.

The weekend before Christmas was spent with the Cummings and Evans. I got a sweet Hawaiian Jamba Juice shirt from the Evans. I now need to find a matching one for Dillon because I have passed on my love of Jamba to my firstborn.

Dillon and I both love the Caribbean Passion and Orange Dream Machine. Here he is on our trip down to Shafter. We have learned to get him his own cup of Jamba...

...because this is what happens when you take his Jamba away from him. By the way, James sent me the following Jamba Juice related video via email with a note that read "Jimmie = Chris Parnell's character."

Jamba Juice - SNL

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Papa and Grandma Sharon helping Dillon open a present while Kaleb enjoys the box of one of his presents.

Uncle Larry helping Dillon with his new motorized tractor. I know that in the summer time I will arrive home from work to find Dillon pulling Otis in the trailer of this tractor.

The theme of this Christmas for Dillon was trains and tractors. Here he is opening up his Lionel wooden train set.

On Christmas Day I had to come back to Sonora to work while Dillon and Christina stayed in Shafter. Now don't feel too bad for me because I spent my evenings playing Rock Band on the PS3 with James. I jammed on the drums while James shredded on the guitar. Our band, the In-N-Outlaws, is on the way to rock and roll stardom.

Three days after returning to Shafter I had to drive back to pick up the family. But the trip was not a waste because Saturday evening was Taylor's third birthday party.

Taylor got plenty of Princess shirts, toys, shoes and dresses for Christmas and her birthday. After her birthday Dillon, Christina and I drove back to Sonora because Christina's cousins, the Naves, were up from Thousand Oaks for New Year's.

New Year's Eve day the whole gang, including the two horses, Otis, Brandy (the Cummings' dog), Snoops (the Evan's dog), Shadow (the dog the Cummings were dogsitting), Lulu and Bently (Michelle's boss's dogs), all went for a walk around the neighborhood. This parade got quite the looks from passing cars.

We even put Shadow to work pulling Dillon's stroller.

James and Scott came to the conclusion after viewing the Time Person of the Year cover that I looked like Vladimir Putin. That meant I had to deal with Russian jokes and stupid nicknames like Jimmie Putin during New Year's.

I don't see the resemblance.

But James used his mad photoshop skills to help everyone else see the likeness.

Though there was a lot of driving involved, we had a wonderful time with family over the holidays.


----------------
Now playing: KT Tunstall - Through the Dark
via FoxyTunes