I thought we would have to miss Santa’s visit to our community pool this year due to k’s basketball game. Luckily, we made it just in time. Neither child could name one single thing that they wanted when Santa asked.
Illuminocean
Last weekend we went to Dana Point to see its new holiday light show, Illuminocean.
We thought we would have to park at Doheney Beach, but we ended up being able to park for free in the parking lot by Harpoon Henry’s, just off of Golden Lantern. We were greeted by this lit up crustacean, “Sandy Claws”.
The shops have special glasses that they will give out for free (1 per child, 1 per two adults). The glasses make the lights appear somewhat 3D, which is pretty cool. We obtained ours from the coffee/ice cream shop at the bottom of the stairs. 
It was a little chilly, but it was nice to walk along the harbor and breathe in the cool night air. Some of the boats were decorated too. 
This event was fun and unique. We’ll probably visit again in a few more years, since they are planning to improve it to make it even better.
Giving Thanks
We had a nice, low-key Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house. We ate relatively early, so I had time to hit a couple of stores afterward. Does that make me a bad person? I felt a little guilty, but it was way better than waking up super early the next morning. 
This is how n eats his pumpkin pie–haha. 
My mom and grandma! 
I made a corn salad, brussel sprout salad and sweet potato soup. My mom has perfected the turkey. I’m really not sure what I will do when the day comes that I have to make it!
ChocXO
A new chocolate factory called ChocXO recently opened in Irvine. We went to the open house to check it out. 
It’s kind of hard to believe that this claim is true! 
There was a menu of chocolates, and each person was allowed to pick three pieces. There was also hot chocolate, made with “real” chocolate.
We did not stay for the front of the house tour, but there were large windows where you could see all of the equipment. I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the kids, but I think they (at least n) would be too scared to see the movie!
A Kindergarten Thanksgiving
I was able to volunteer in n’s class for their Thanksgiving celebration. They had chicken nuggets, corn on the cob, juice and pumpkin pie (which the class made at school the day before). It was really cute. 
n’s friend wanted me to take a picture of them. 🙂 
They also decorated picture frames. I think we’ll be laughing about this pilgrim picture for years to come!
Las Vegas Rock ‘N Roll VIP @ Serendipity 3
D running the half marathon as opposed to the full marathon last year, was a much better experience for the both of us. It meant that we were able to eat dinner together after the race, and there was still food left! 
Risotto made to order! 
Note the small cup of the famed frozen hot chocolate. I think I will try to replicate this at home for the kids. 
The next morning D woke up bright and early and was ready for breakfast! We grabbed breakfast sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich. 
Then it was back on the road to pick up the kids from school!
Las Vegas Rock ‘N Roll Half Marathon
**The reason for our lack of blogging is that we are having difficulties with our laptop computer. This is my first post written on a Mac. 
Before the race, we went to the VIP tent. I was not too impressed with the appetizer spread. It was just “OK”. 
I was quite excited to see Mario Lopez, while D was excited to see Meb Keflezighi. 
Macklemore provided the pre-race entertainment. He replaced Snoop Dogg at the last minute. Not really a fan, but he brought some upbeat energy.
The best VIP perk for D is not having to wait in these lines for the port-a potties. 
Instead, he was able to use these “deluxe” portable bathrooms, with no lines! 
Before the race started, I walked down the middle of the Strip, back to our hotel room. It was so nice not to have to fight the crowds on the sidewalk, nor go up and down all of the escalators just to cross the street.
Breakfast in “Paris” & Window Shopping @ Bellagio
One nice thing about staying at the reasonably-priced Bally’s is that it is connected to the more-expensive Paris Hotel.
This beautiful glass ceiling is above the walkway connecting the two hotels.
I took a picture of this Italian restaurant in the Paris Hotel because D ate at this restaurant when he was on his business trip. I had never heard of this chain before. It is known for its meatballs.
We mad breakfast the biggest meal of our day, which is what you are supposed to do when you run a race at night. We ate at Mon Ami Gabi, which has a lovely patio right on the Strip in front of the Paris Hotel, across the street from the Bellagio. There were heat lamps, so we ate outside.
We had the croque madame and bananas foster waffle (with fresh whipped cream not pictured). We thoroughly enjoyed our food, and it was just nice to be outside and soak in the atmosphere.
Afterward, we took a stroll across the street to check out the Bellagio. It is always fun to see the seasonal decorations.
Penguin display—LOVE!
We also stopped to look at the Jean Philippe Patisserie.
The multi-tiered chocolate fountain was mesmerizing.
The desserts were works of art!
There was a long line of people wrapping around the store, which I joined like a lemming. However, after waiting for around fifteen minutes (and not moving very much), I realized that there was not a certain thing that I “had to” get, not to mention the fact that we had just finished a large breakfast. So, we left without buying anything, but it was still fun to look!
Fiamma and the High Roller
Saturday night there was a team dinner for Mazda at Fiamma, an Itailian restaurant at MGM.
I had the sea bass and D tried to carbo-load with the pasta trio.
Afterward, we were also given tickets to ride the High Roller, which is a sort of mega-ferris wheel overlooking the Strip. Each pod holds up to 40 people, and some of the pods have a bartender! This is definitely one of those things that I would not shell out big bucks for, but since it was free, why not?
The High Roller is part of a new area surrounding the LINQ hotel. I really liked this shopping/restaurant district. There are no cars, which makes navigation a lot easier than the Strip. We were not really able to explore very much, though, since it was already past our bedtime. 
Las Vegas Race Expo and Bally’s
Since this was D’s second time running the Las Vegas Rock ‘n Roll series, we had a better idea of where to go. We parked at the Las Vegas Westgate hotel (formerly Las Vegas Hilton) and walked to the convention center.
D received VIP check-in treatment.
We were greeted with a gigantic bowl of pasta.
There was good foot traffic at the Mazda booth.
They gave out branded plastic cups with popcorn inside.
Not that much popcorn, as you can see. They did provide different flavor shakers, however.
The expo felt much more crowded than last year. This yogurt was worth waiting in line for, though!
I thought I checked in online into Bally’s, but it did not exactly work. However, we were able to by-pass the regular check-in line by claiming that we did check in online. The room was nothing spectacular, but it was fine for our purposes. I really liked the location (it is connected to the Paris Hotel).