Christmas Puzzle for 2018

Our annual Christmas puzzle is available now. Follow the simple directions, eliminate those words and see what's left...

As in prior years, the reward for solving is a video Christmas card, but you'll need to figure out the password by solving the puzzle.

Feel free to add a comment below to let us know that you successfully figured it out (without giving away the answer to others).

If you need help with the puzzle or if you missed the reference in our Christmas family photo, here is the answer to the puzzle. But try to solve it yourself before looking there.

Christmas Puzzle for 2017

Our annual Christmas puzzle is available now.
As in prior years, the reward for solving is a video Christmas card, but you'll need to figure out the password by solving the puzzle first.

Note: If you need some help, the full answer is posted here, but try solving it without help first... it's more fun that way.

Feel free to add a comment below to let us know that you successfully figured it out (without giving away the answer to others).

Christmas Snowflake Matching Puzzle for 2016

Our annual Christmas puzzle is available now.
As in prior years, the reward for solving is a video Christmas card, but you'll need to figure out the password by solving the puzzle first.

Note: If you need some help, the full answer is posted here, but try solving it without help first... it's more fun that way.

Feel free to add a comment below to let us know that you successfully figured it out (without giving away the answer to others).

Christmas Puzzle for 2015

Our annual Christmas puzzle is available now.
As in prior years, the reward for solving is a video Christmas card, but you'll need to figure out the password by solving the puzzle first.

Note: If you need some help, the full answer is posted here, but try solving it without help first... it's more fun that way.

Feel free to add a comment below to let us know that you successfully figured it out (without giving away the answer to others).

Power of TEN - Christmas Puzzle for 2014

Our annual Christmas puzzle "Power of TEN" is available now. Every answer is a word containing the letters TEN. For example, if the clue were "These keep your hands warm when playing in the snow", the answer would be mittens.

As in prior years, the reward for solving is a video Christmas card, but you'll need to figure out the password by using the first letter of each word. As a hint, the password could be used to describe an occasion such as the new year.

Note: If you need some help, the full answer is posted here, but try solving it without help first... it's more fun that way.

Feel free to add a comment below to let us know that you successfully figured it out (without giving away the answer to others).

Cosplay fun at Fanime Convention in San Jose

Over Memorial Day weekend, the family headed to San Jose and attended "FanimeCon", an annual convention of fans of cosplaying, video games, animation, etc. On Saturday, Felicia and I dressed up as Mario and Princess Peach from Mario Tennis. Jason and Amara dressed up as opposing scouts from Team Fortress 2 (TF2). On Sunday, we all dressed up as characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, Princess Peach, Toad and Toadette. Click on the picture above to see other pictures from the convention.

Christmas Puzzle for 2013

Our annual Christmas puzzle is available now. Follow the simple directions, eliminate those words and see what's left...

As in prior years, the reward for solving is a video Christmas card, but you'll need to figure out the password by solving the puzzle.

Note: If you need some help, the full answer is posted here, but try solving it without help first... it's more fun that way.

Feel free to add a comment below to let us know that you successfully figured it out (without giving away the answer to others).

Jason's 12th Birthday - Indoor Skydiving

For Jason's 12th Birthday, we went to iFly Indoor Skydiving. It was a blast and we all had fun! Can't wait to try it again.

Check out the video of Jason's 12th Birthday - Indoor Skydiving

Amara's 10th Birthday Party - Olympics Theme

For Amara's 10th Birthday, she chose an Olympics-themed birthday party with various sporting events and party games.  The party began with guests entering the "Olympic Village" and decorating their water bottles with markers and stickers.

The first events were Synchronized Ping Pong (like "Simon Says") and Basketball-bomb (like "Hot Potato").  That was followed by a Parade of Nations Quiz where the teams tried to match pictures of flags to their respective countries.

The rotating events included Candy Matching (like "Memory"), Javelin Throwing and Sailboat Racing.  After each guest had a chance to compete in each event, we had the Gold Medal Piñata ceremony.

Back inside, as we were grilling hamburgers, we kept the kids busy with our version of Scattergories followed by several rounds of Olympic Events Bingo.  Finally, Felicia brought out the homemade Gymnastics cake, with a fondant-wrapped cookie dough mat.

Amara's visit to Mission San Juan Bautista

It is that time of year when the 4th graders study the California missions and create a Mission Project of one of the 21 missions.

Amara chose Mission San Juan Bautista since it was within driving distance for a visit and because she wanted to create a video of our visit to Mission San Juan Bautista.

Interesting facts about the Mission:

Largest of the 21 California Missions.

Its church is the largest in the mission chain and is the only with a main aisle and two naves.

Was used as the setting for Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Vertigo" starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak.