Vegas Baby!

Mateo's travel adventures continued with our recent trip to Vegas. We had planned to spend a week back in San Francisco after returning from New York, just to get some family time for the 3 of us, but when we got back to our apartment we quickly realized we were not alone. As if we weren't tired enough from our long difficult day of flying across the country, our home had been taken over by thousands of unwelcome guests -- ants! We frantically killed off enough ants in the bathroom to give Mateo a quick bath (he takes his bathtime seriously), and then we kept our suitcases packed and headed over to Jen and Mike's house to spend the night. The next morning Anita decided to head to Las Vegas early with Mateo while Jesse stayed behind to get some work done at Stanford and fight off the ants. Jesse thinks he succeed in his battle against the ants, but we'll find out on Sunday when we return home whether they've mounted a comeback while we were away.

Getting back to the main story -- we had a great time in Vegas visiting Anita's mom's family for Christmas. We kept things more low key this time, forgoing the many Vegas attractions for some quality time with the family at Sharon & Phil's house. We're now in Cave Creek, Arizona spending time with Anita's dad's family, and we'll post some photos from this part of the trip soon. In the mean time, here are some photos from our stay in Las Vegas:

We took lots of walks around the neighborhood. Here, Mateo's Gemma (Sharon) is holding onto her two dogs Zoe (a Shar Pei) and Ransom (an Airedale), with Mateo's Great Great Grandmother Margaret's poodle Sam in the background. They're standing in front of Sharon & Phil's house, which you can see in beautifully situated at the foothills of Sunrise Mountain.

Even though it was cold outside, the desert sunlight is intense, so we needed to get Mateo his first baseball cap to keep the sun out of his sensitive eyes.

Mateo loves bouncing on an exercise ball -- perhaps a little too much (it's hard to calm him down and get him to nap without bouncing). Fortunately, Sharon & Phil had a big one that we could use. Jesse & Mateo were happy to reunite after 5 long days apart!

Anita helps chop yams for the big Christmas dinner, as she tries not to get too grossed out by the 10 pound hunk of prime rib right in front of her.

Mateo's great granddad Chuck met Mateo for the first time (since he wasn't able to come down from Alaska in time for our November visit to San Diego). Ransom loved Mateo, too, and became very protective of him, barking whenever somebody held Mateo in a way that made him concerned about his safety (like when daddy held Mateo above his head like an airplane).


Surrounded by admirers.

Mateo's Gemma Sharon, Great Grandma Barbara, and Great Great Grandmother Margaret get ready to open presents on Christmas morning.

Anita's stepdad Phil (Mateo's "Philpa") opening a Christmas card.

The happy family.

Mateo takes a short break from all the morning excitement to catch some fresh air with mom.

"This is so fun!"

"Is that next present for me?"

Another family portrait.

Mateo couldn't get enough of his Gemma, and you can see how happy she is to be able to spend Christmas with her first and only grandchild.

Mateo has recently taken a liking to more physical games. He loves rolling over, though he can't do it on his own yet. Here's a short video of Mommy helping him out.

Daddy discovered another fun game for Mateo that involves rocking back and forth on the floor or the bed with Mateo lying against your thighs. He really loves this one, but it's quite a workout for us. Here's a video of Mommy and Mateo playing this game.