Thanks

Our annual trip to Ventura for Thanksgiving was loaded with family, food, and ocean.  We had such a relaxing time, and savored this lovely pause before the December TO DO lists come out.

The kids had hours of cousin time on the beach, and I couldn't seem to stop taking pictures.

Clara delighted in lots of bonding time with Stevie.

We got caught up with Gomma, Thanksgiving hostess with the mostest.

And the sunsets were spectacular, as always.

Driving home, we were amazed when this scene appeared through the windshield: 

A perfectly-placed Rest Area allowed us to get out and frolic (and pose) in the white stuff.  It was hilarious how the place was jammed with Thanksgiving road-trippers doing exactly the same thing.   We lowland California dwellers go pretty berserk around snow (I know, shame on me, with my Canadianness and all....). 

Countless things to be thankful for this year.  Beach and snow all in the same day is well up the list.

Play day

Today began an entire week of vacation!  Yahoo!  Let me start Thanksgiving by being thankful for all of the holidays we lucky teachers get.  :)

Instead of puttering away at projects around the house, we decided to take a real excursion and go check out the new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  Since its grand re-opening in July, we've been kind of afraid to face the crowds there, but it was fairly manageable today.  As an added bonus, we got to do the exploring with some of our best buddies.

The new building was designed to be a model of environmental friendliness, so it's about the greenest structure you can imagine, and then some.  The roof is literally green.  It's a living roof, covered with native plants (and solar panels).  We loved the whole concept, and enjoyed hanging out on the roof, but couldn't get past the eerie similarity to the land where the Teletubbies live.

To cap off the day, we soaked up some super-rare SF sun in a fabulous playground in Golden Gate Park.  Check out the old-school concrete slides:

Child-centered days like this don't happen often enough.  We got to spend the afternoon watching the kids slide, laugh, and slide some more, after hours of searching for camouflaged insects and lizards.  I'm very thankful.   

Unpacking Christmas

I waited longer than usual to get out the Christmas stuff this year.  It took some serious restraint, but I let a full three weeks lapse between the composting of the jack-o-lanterns and the crooning of Bing.  

The kids (and Chad– although somewhat reluctantly) helped me deck a few halls. 

We'll be staying home at Christmas this year, so I have a few special projects in the works. Come to think of it, I'd better stop blogging and get to work...