Thanksgiving Weekend

Not even gonna try to edit myself with pictures here...my family came for Thanksgiving weekend and it was the best.

Started at the aquarium.

Those are sand dollars. One of my favorite exhibits.

Snack time and ocean viewing on the deck.

Jason didn't get enough at snack time...

Then Karen's boys really wanted to visit Dennis the Menace Park after Cole talked it up. It IS an awesome park, though!

I'm pretty sure Owen had never heard the word, "hike" until that day. He had fun learning football from Briant.

Nice water bottle pillow, Jason.

At least they're not picking their own noses...

Kids stayed behind so we could go party on the Wharf with some clam chowder.

I'd like to thank Dad for taking his wig off for the picture. If you must see the wig, visit Karen's blog. I can't give it anymore publicity than it got that night.

On to Thanksgiving...

We ate at Lover's Point. Dad went down early and cooked the turkey in his special turkey cooker he rigged up last year.

Chad & Cherisse's family joined us...

and so did our friends from here the Eady's.

Other Thanksgiving faces:

Cash is Sally's newest friend (he's Ashley's (Derek's girlfriend) son).

Sally loves babies, especially real ones.

Cash, Sally, and Gwen at Lover's Point.

Now here the ball saga begins. Owen's ball got stuck in a real high tree (Dad). At least 3 more got stuck multiple times while all the guys were trying to get that first one down. You'd think they'd learn. Literally HOURS were spent trying to get these balls down. We had all sorts of spectators and people trying to help...so funny.

Still waiting for them to figure out how to get those balls down...

Friday started w/Sally wanting every bow we own in her hair.

This is what happens when Jared gets you for Christmas.

The results of his Black Friday shopping. Lucky me!

We had big plans for Friday but the weather was bad...cold/windy/rainy.
We braved Earthbound Farms anyway.

Then Dad & Jared went to Home Depot and got PVC pipe to get the balls down. Got Chad's football but Jared's baseball and Dad's rope/lock (lasso) are still up there for some lucky finder.

During round 2 of ball retrieving we tide pooled there at Lover's Point.

Everyone collected 10 sea stars and put them all together so they could be friends.

All the guys brought up mountain bikes and went exploring any free moment. Here they are on their way to do the 17-mile drive in Pebble Beach.

We were smart and drove it. Why had I never done this until then? It was amazing! Right up there with Point Lobos. The wind made the waves crazy...watching them was like a show.

Karen got stuck w/all the little boys who weren't really into the drive and all the stops our car wanted to make. But we (Mom, Cole, Sally, and I) just enjoyed our little selves during our beautiful drive listening to Christmas music.

This is the lone cypress, the logo for Pebble Beach:

That night was a first for the boys of my family. Justin had never been to a skating rink before!

But he was doing good...way better than me who has been before. Jared (way back there) skated like he's worked there all his life.

Drew loved it.

So did Owen but he could only handle so much falling. Notice he's the only one w/out skates. He just wanted to enjoy his treasure...vampire teeth. They've been wanting some ever since seeing the Max & Ruby Halloween episode.

Last day....Saturday! :( It was good, though. We went up to Nisene Marks in Aptos (thanks to Rochel's tip when I was searching for good off-road mountain biking trails through Redwoods). Jared & Jason couldn't even contain themselves when we got there. As soon as the bikes were unloaded they were off. I even went down one little hill on Cole's bike and it was so fun!

Anyway, here we are enjoying the Redwoods.

A banana slug...gross.

We LOVED having everyone here. It really was the best weekend. Thank you for coming!!!

Pigtails!

What did you think this was going to be about Sally?

Drew has SO much hair right now.

And I'm not cutting it cause Karen's coming for Thanksgiving
and I want her to have a lot to work with.

So in the meantime we cover it up with fireman hats.11/20 - Ward Playgroup at the Monterey Fire Dept.

PS If you want your hair done, too...
Karen is doing some hair here Wednesday AM.
She's the best.

Holler!

There's more where this came from.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LillyMaeDesigns

Just had to give a little shout out to Lindsey
(my header-making BFF).

She just started an Etsy shop with the cutest stinking
(custom) Christmas cards I've ever seen.

That's a Wrap

Yay a winning season!
Especially fun to win the last game.

Owen with his friend Landon at the party afterwards.

Coach handed out patches after each game
based on how they did that day.

We added the dolphin & silver star cause
Owen was bummed he missed a game.

A medal and the "most improved player" patch.
He really did come a long way from day 1.

Next up...golf?
That's what he said he wanted to play cause
he knows how on Wii but wants to know how for real.

Throwing Things

It seems this frisbee golf is becoming a holiday tradition.

First Columbus Day.

Now Veteran's Day.

Family, would you be interested in this for Thanksgiving perhaps?

If so, bring your frisbees.

Or you could bring a kid to throw in like I did.

The Ball

After 6 years in the military we went to our first

Marine Corps Ball last night.

Just so happened to be on our anniversary (#9).

How nice of them to throw us a party!

It was memorable for sure.

Pretty much everything was bad.

But so bad it was funny.

The music...
was like a Saturday night dance from 1995:
The Macarena
(which the DJ was way into and scratching on his little records),
Shaggy, The Electric Slide...etc.

The food...
oh man.
Whoever bought us our tickets put us both down for beef.
It came out this huge nasty slab that was half fat.
So I asked if I could switch for chicken.
They were nice and brought me that...not sure if it was better.
It was a brown hunk filled w/rubbery mushroom stuff.
But by then it was 9 and we were starving so we ate anyway.

Our table...
We were the only ones not drinking.
Some people were very funny and some were offensive.

The ceremony...
That was the part I was most looking forward to.
I was so bummed we had to watch it from the foyer.
I had to leave for a minute to compose myself after talking to the offensive drunk guy and went out at the exact wrong time before it started and we weren't allowed back in until it was over.
We did get to see first-hand the guy who passed out
during the ceremony (a combination of drinking
and standing still too long w/his knees buckled).
He got taken away in an ambulance.

I did love the venue...
it was at a historic hotel at Naval Postgraduate School.

And my date.

Happy Anniversary, Marine Corps Birthday, and Veteran's Day!

Effects of Anesthesia

In case you can't understand, here's some closed captioning:

Nurse: (not sure)
Justin: Maybe I might break dance (I think that's what he said thanks to Sara's clarification)
Nurse: No, not here (laughing)
Justin: I'm pretty good
Nurse: Ya? Okay go ahead and step down for me
Justin: I kind of forgot how

Aaron: Allright say hi
Justin: Hey Fallujah (Iraq). I'll be back.
Aaron: How'd it go?
Justin: What?
Aaron: How are your teeth?
Justin: Uuuhhhhh they're kind of...I think they went surfing.
Aaron: Oh well you don't have them anymore.
Justin: Oh! I guess that explains why.
Aaron: You want to drive?
Justin: Um the hot chick said I ain't supposed to drive.
Aaron: The nurse?
Justin: Yyyah
Aaron: Okay I'll take you back to the det (Marine Corps detachment at DLI). You gonna work today?
Justin: I don't know.
Aaron: Go home and take a nap?
Justin: Moomkin ("maybe" in Arabic)
Aaron: Say, "Hi Shauna I love you!"
Justin: Hey sweetie pie.

Aaron: Is it ringing?
Justin: Dude, phones always ring. Ahhh man I gotta pee bad.
Aaron: She's not there?
Justin: Uh uh I don't know what her problem is...she must not like me that much
Aaron: Yes she does.

(Accidentally left my phone in the van while I was shopping...when I called him back he was still talking the same craziness.)

I'll leave off the video Aaron took from around the corner of him going to the bathroom. But it involved the Nile, a fish coming out, and being hydrated.

There were other funny stories Aaron told...like Justin calling all the Navy guys he saw Devil Dolphins (Marines are called Devil Dogs). And watching him crawl up a ramp on base. They made him do some paperwork there after surgery!

3 days later...he is still puffy, sore, and swolen. But he's back to school and getting better. He got his bottom 2 wisdom teeth taken out before his mission but still had these top 2 that he's wanted to get rid of for awhile. He wanted to do it here so he wouldn't have to go to a military dentist.