Hi Everyone. I hope you are thoroughly enjoying the Christmas season (and not letting it's potential stress catch up with you). Elliott is walking up a storm these days, so I figured I should post our Thanksgiving pictures before the holidays are over, and before he changes too much more. So here you go - a small slice of our Thanksgiving week festivities...
We started off the week by driving down to see Grandma Claire and Grandpa Harry in Newbury Park. They are such joyful people, and Elliott adores them.
My parents and Steve's parents showed up Wednesday night, and we celebrated Steve's parents 44th wedding anniversary at The Palace. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of the two of them at dinner, but I did manage to capture Elliott and Grandpa Wayne holding a drum circle in Cost Plus after dinner.
Congratulations Sandy and Wayne! Thank you for sharing your wonderful son with me.
Thanksgiving morning we got down to the business of cooking a tasty dinner. Even though there were only 6 of us and Elliott, we still felt the need to cook all of the traditional dishes, plus some (about 8 total). And to top off the meal, my dad baked his famous apple cranberry pie. It was delicious as usual.
No day spent at home is complete without a project or two going on in the background, and Thanksgiving was no different. Steve's dad built an amazing bar for our new kitchen/dining room border, and helped us to install it. More on that in a later post.
And of course no day is complete for Reese with out a bit of ball chasing (Elliott gets pretty antsy also if he doesn't get his outdoor time.)
After his afternoon nap Elliott got all dressed up in his Thanksgiving best, and entertained the grandmas with his impressive toy collection and shaky walking skills while we put the finishing touches on dinner.
After 8 hours of cooking we were ready to eat, and it was quite a spread. The turkey Steve cooked was amazing, but my kale-brussel sprout salad got quite a few compliments as well. Check out the mostly finished kitchen in the background, and a sneak peek of our new bar behind my mom to the right.
We passed on the black Friday sales, and opted to enjoy lunch at the beach instead. Here are my guys looking cool while waiting for a table at the Shoreline.
And our awesome table in the sand. Does life get better than this?
After lunch we walked down to State St. - Elliott included! On a side note, our family walks with Reese take forever these days because Elliott insists on walking and not being carried, but he is still pretty darn slow.
When he got tired of walking Elliott did let Grandpa Wayne carry him on his shoulders while we were passing through the harbor.
Our ultimate destination was actually the waterfront shuttle - Elliott's favorite thing ever. Here's the giddy grin he flashed while we cruised up State St.
We hopped off the shuttle for coffee and snacks before turning around and hopping the shuttle back down State St. Elliott loves his Grandmas! He wanted to sit directly between them.
It was a very happy Thanksgiving/Black Friday, and our little guy was wiped out as we made our way back to the car.
Just for fun - here is Elliott last Thanksgiving. What a difference a year makes!
Hope your Thanksgiving was as great as Elliott's, and that you were able to take a moment to reflect on the things in your life that you are thankful for. Top of my Thankful list is definitely the time I get to spend with my family, and our beautiful (and ever improving) home in Santa Barbara. I do my best to soak up the moments of our daily life - big and small. Elliott is changing on a daily basis, and each new phase is more fun and exciting than the one before.
