Thanksgiving

Hey All,

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? I hope you all had a relaxing and joyous week/weekend. We were lucky enough to have almost a whole week of fun Thanksgiving festivities. We spent most of the holiday down in San Diego and in Brea doing the rounds to see all the family. Boy has a lot changed in a year. Last year, we bravely packed up the car with a 10 day old baby and me being 10 days out from a c-section. I think one day I will be glad that we made that trip, but I'm not gonna lie...it was hard. This year, our baby is just over a year and even though car trips can still be hard, it's a whole different ball game,

Is he really mine? 

We planned on leaving relatively early Wednesday morning to avoid traffic, but we weren't expecting 4:30 am, which is apparently what Henley had in mind! We made a big pot of coffee and hit the road before sunrise. Henley fell right back asleep and woke up just as we hit Dana Point. We stopped for some breakfast and hit the park/beach to stretch our legs. After about an hour or so, we hit the road again and Henley fell right asleep. We arrived down in San Diego right as SeaWorld was opening. Alex had a little work to catch up on, so Henley and I spent the day with the animals. As always, Henley loved SeaWorld. We spent time checking out belugas, fishes, rays and dolphins, went digging in the sand, ran around, played with water and even touched some snow. The whole day was probably the best day that I have ever had with Henley. He was such a happy boy, he never cried, and we just had so much fun together. I will never forget it.

Playing in the leaves @ Doheny State Beach 

Future marine biologist? 

He LOVES water

Still happy at 5pm!

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Nana's house down in Point Loma. The day was nice and relaxing. Hal and Nana made a wonderful dinner with tons of fruits and veggies, a savory pumpkin bread pudding, creamed onions and peas, and a lovely apple, raisin, and walnut pie for dessert. All together the table was just Alex, Henley, Nana, Hal, MM, Brenda (one of Nana's friends) and myself. It's so nice to spend holidays with family.

Friday we spent the day down in Bonita visiting with MM's side of the family. Henley loved running around and crawling up the carpeted stairs. :) We also had a nice dinner and H ate his weight in sweet potatoes.

Saturday we headed back up to Brea for a late Mediterranean Thanksgiving dinner. We spent the day running around and opening toys from his birthday. After dinner, we headed down the street to check out a light show that a local house puts on. Good way to kick off the Christmas season!

We all had such a great holiday. Running all around does get tiring, but it's something that we really missed when we were living too far away. Henley is a happy baby when he is surrounded by tons of friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving!

We are busy getting ready for Christmas already and we are putting tons of thought into the real meaning of Christmas for us. We are thinking of pairing down the gifts this year and really focusing on creating lasting memories and continuing/starting new family traditions. We are very excited. Stay tuned for updates!

xoxoxo
-D