Our Thanksgiving

Marc, Carter and I used Anderson as an excuse to get our families together for a bit over the Thanksgiving holiday--we blessed him in church on the 26th. So the whirlwind of family visiting began on the 22nd when my parents and sister, Allison arrived after two long days of driving from Colorado and Idaho. We sure missed out having the whole family--Danette in Chicago of course couldn't make that long of a trip for such a short period of time, and my brother had other things going on at home. We kicked off the weekend right away in the kitchen fixing up my dad's favorite soup for dinner and then prepping food for Thursdays big meal. Allison, a self proclaimed non chef, even made the fabulous pecan pie while Carter introduced Grandpa to his new love as of November 9th when it came out on DVD--Cars. And Carter might just be his grandson after his own heart as he loved it just as much as Carter does! Thursday morning we were all up early--Marc took everyone to a 5k race in Thousand Oaks where all did well working up an appetite for the dinner Anderson and I were at home preparing. It's my second full Thanksgiving dinner I've made and I have to admit, it turned out pretty good. We had maple roasted turkey--which by the way makes the best gravy since the drippings are maple syrup!, sausage and apple stuffing--a new recipe but it's a keeper for the many dinners yet to come!, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls--thanks to my Mom since Marc would have nothing less, yams, green beans and of course pie for dessert. We ate and ate and finally ended the day with Grey's Anatomy. Friday morning we thought we'd skip the shopping--we never really do that anyway--and went to the zoo. Apparently 1/2 the city of LA had the same idea--it was very crowded. But Carter had a great time making the animal noises as we searched the exibits for them. He perked up especially when he saw the lion begin to move from his sun bathing position, and when the monkeys were having a singing fest. We survived a blowout diaper from Anderson, too. After the zoo, we went to Hollywood--Marc was the only one who'd been there before and to be honest, with the stress of working our entourage of 5 adults and a double stroller through the crowded Walk of Fame, I thought it was a bit overrated. On Saturday we got up early and hit the beach--it was the perfect beach day. A little chilly but not a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, none of the pictures shot are really post-worthy. Maybe next time! We enjoyed pizza and a visit from my dad's sister, husband, and daughter in the evening. After a stressful Sunday morning getting all of us ready for 9:00 church, Anderson was given a beautiful baby blessing by Marc with the help of both grandpas and our brother in law. We were sad more family couldn't have been there to join us. Afterwards, my family took off on the long trek back to cold country while we visited with Marc's parents and sister and her family for the day. It's always fun when they visit from Santa Maria--Carter loves playing with his cousins who we consider to be like his older brothers. It was great fun to be with family for the holiday, though Marc did mention that it wasn't quite as relaxing as past holidays have been. That's okay because Christmas will be a quiet one and we'll have plenty of time to enjoy that.