Talkin Bout Stuff

Hola readers,

Well, what's new with the Strehlo's you ask? Not too much. Celebrated Turkey Day and we already put the Xmas tree up. Kinda a lazy Saturday so we decided to knock it out. We have a charlie brown ornament that talks and Max thinks it's the greatest, so we get to here that 10 times a day. We braved the Midnight shopping extravaganza on Thursday night too (minus Max). The plan was to hit up Old Navy, Kohl's, and Target. We started at Old Navy because I thought it would be a little dead. I mean it's Old Navy, it's kinda like Kohl's there is always deals to be had. Within about 15 minutes of opening the line wound around the store and almost out the door. Luckily we were in line about 5 minutes before the real madness and were out of the store in about 35-40 minutes. We stopped by Kohl's next. They did have a pair of shoes I would have bought, IF I didn't have to wait an hour in line. We decided to skip target and were home before 1:00. I think that will be my last Black Friday shopping for about 2 decades. Alright, on to the pics!



He REALLY wants to do the splits. That's about as close as he gets though.
Hanging out at the Children's Museum with Joe.
Yeah, I know I have sweet glasses on.
Everyone loves uncle Ronnie.
Putting up the ornaments, couldn't resist the Christmas jams.


Martin's 1st B-Day party. Best cousin pic we could get.
More B Day Madness


Haven't finished watching it yet, but my video recommendation of the week is the new Pearl Jam doc. In honor of that here is a classic PJ song.

Super California Post

Chad is letting me be a guest blogger on his blog. My parents, Max and I went to California in the middle of October for my cousin Kelsey's wedding. Since Chad did not come with us, it did not make much sense for him to talk about the trip. Hopefully I do not bore you to death. I am not nearly as entertaining or as skilled in blogging as Chad is.

We left early on Tuesday morning. It was Max's first plane trip and he did really well. We had a lay over both on our trip out there and back, and Max slept both times on the second flight. I still do not think he is old enough to understand he was on a plane. I think he thought it was just a really long car trip with a lot of people in the car.

Luckily, we all got to sit together on all our flights.

Arriving in CA. Needed his shades right away.


Before we left we had planned to drive down to San Diego on Wednesday, but we had no set plan for what we were going to do. We decided that morning to go to Sea World. They have an entire Sesame Street section with rides, which Max loved. It was a little cooler that day, so it was not crowded at all.


Max got to meet Elmo and Zoe. We were first in line to meet them. As soon as they came out he ran up to both of them and gave them a big hug. It it was very cute.



You will notice there are not a lot of people sitting in the first few rows. If you sit in the first 10 or so rows, you are pretty much guaranteed to get wet. Since it was a chilly day, I do not think there were too many takers.


On Thursday we went to Disneyland with my Aunt Joan, Uncle Bob, and cousin Amanda. Before we left I decided not to bring or rent a stroller. Max ended up doing awesome. We got there at about 10 am and left about 9 pm. My dad, my Uncle Bob, and I carried him every once in awhile, but he walked for the most part. Our last ride of the night was Peter Pan, and the line was really long. Five more minutes in that line and I think he may have had a complete meltdown. Not surprisingly, he fell asleep about 1 minute after getting in the car when we left.
Since we were there in October, Disney was decorated for Halloween.

Meeting Mickey.

He was too cute when he met Minnie. He walked up to her and gave her a kiss. Then, as you can see from the picture, they rubbed noses.
It's a Small World.
Max's R2-D2 mickey ears. He wore them for about 10 minutes and never put them back on :(. They have about 50 different kinds of mickey ears. It took him at least 20 minutes to pick these out. That's too many options for a toddler.
On the Winnie the Pooh ride.

Max in front of the castle.

Max driving with Grandpa.
Max and I came across a man playing the piano while waiting for the parade. I don't know where he got the energy, but he danced for awhile. I will post a video of his dancing below. He got pretty into it.

Overall, Max really loved Disney. He asks every couple of days if we can go to Disneyland tomorrow. He loved It's a Small World, Dumbo, the Tea Cups, and Winnie the Pooh. He got scared on Pinocchio and surprisingly got scared on the Buzz Lightyear ride (which I thought he would love).


On Friday, the entire family drove out to the coast to see the ocean. We went to Dana Point and Laguna Beach (sadly, no LC sitings).


It was not very warm out (70's probably), so I did not bring a bathing suit for Max. I wish I would have, Max loved the water. The water was cold, but he loved waiting for the waves to come in and to get wet. This picture is from Dana Point, but we also stopped at a beach in Laguna where he really went into the water. He probably "swam" for about 20 minutes before a big wave knocked him over. He inhaled some ocean water and then proceeded to throw it all back up on the beach (along with some of his lunch). After that, he was done with the ocean for the day.


Max and my cousin Jeff soaking up rays next to the pool.



The weather the day of the wedding was beautiful. My Uncle's family was also there, and his niece (my cousin's cousin) has a boy and a girl around Max's age. He walked up to the little girl when we got to the church and said "you look nice today." It was very cute. His dad must be teaching him something.


The Larson family and Grandma after the wedding.
The Larson cousins that came out from Minnesota.

Max had a blast at the wedding reception. He loves to dance, but insists on dancing alone. He was on the dance floor as soon as the music began and was one of the last people on the dance floor at the end of the night. I seriously have no idea where he gets all his energy.


The Bride and Groom.
Max in his element.Max and the bride. Thankfully, he danced with her during the dollar dance. Her other attempts to dance with him throughout the night did not go so well.


Most of the Larson family left on Sunday, so my parents and I decide to drive out to the coast again. This time we went to Newport Beach. It was pretty chilly so Max only got his feet wet.

You can barely see it, but there are some people swimming out there. Crazy.

On Sunday night we went to my Aunt Ginny and Uncle Greg's house. It was chilly, so Max just went swimming in the hot tub.

Max and Grandpa getting ready to go home.

Overall, it was a really good trip. Max, thankfully, was very well behaved. The only thing that makes me sad is that he probably won't remember much of it when he gets older. Good thing he can just look back at this blog post to remind him!

Here are the videos

Max Dancing at Disney:


Max dancing at the wedding:

This is the beginning of the night. As soon as I stopped recording Max started doing some air guitar. I was very upset I did not get that on video.


Max at the end of the night. Even though he was pooped, he could not stop.

Dancing Man

Hello All,

I've been waiting for Sam to blog about her and Max's trip to Cali, but it doesn't look like she'll be doing that anytime soon so you are stuck with me. We'll just start with Halloween. Max dressed up as a ninja turtle, Leonardo to be exact. We hit up about 3 blocks worth. He did very good, said trick or treat maybe half of the time but always said thanks. He only reached in and grabbed the candy twice, so that's good i guess.

Alright, on to the pics and hopefully some vids.

Here's a little teaser for you. Max and Mickey.

Little afternoon nap.
Poo and Leonardo
Scarecrow



Video of the Week

So when Sam was a kid she found this clip on a VHS of theirs. I am assuming Lars recorded it. Anyway, it's amazing. We found it the other day and Max loves it. Here is the original and then another one of Max watching it. We don't watch it every day, but if we watch it once we are watching it 10 times. Good stuff.