Thanksgiving at home

  Last night while I was waiting for a book project to upload, I also uploaded all of my pics from my phone from the past month or so.  I was trying to order two books by midnight to get 50% off.  Earlier in the week I had literally missed a half off promotion by one minute and I was trying to avoid that again, but I sure cut it close.  With a mere 7 minutes to spare, I have picture books for 2017 through mid-September.  All that to say, I was able to go through some pics from our time with my family.

  My sister and fam stayed for 1.5 weeks and my dad came in and stayed for just over a week.  We were very busy and had so much fun!!  We didn't do everything we wanted, but scheduling in down time was a must!

Layla immediately gravitated to Hannah once again.  She reads with her and plays with her and carries her...who wouldn't gravitate toward that.

  We all watched my dad finish his 12th ironman on the computer.  I sent this to him as soon as he finished.

 

 My dad came into town the day after his race and jumped right on a bike as if he hadn't done that for 112 miles the day before.  We were headed to the library to return and get new books.  This was also Layla's first bike ride!

   It was showing to be a gorgeous day in Santa Cruz, so we went to Natural Bridges on tuesday to see the butterflies, play on the beach, and explore the tide pools.  It was 80 degrees in Santa Cruz, so warm and beautiful!

  We played at the pool one day.

   Bike ride to the park.

   We had a low key Thanksgiving morning.  Lots of playing catch, riding bikes, and preparation.

   Friday morning I went to the pool to swim the first part of our "triple crown" series.  The first swim is 5000 yards.  A bunch of people came out for it and I had a blast!

Went to get our tree friday late morning.

 Friendsgiving was on friday night and the kids put on a show for us!  It was warm enough for them to sit outside too!

Saturday morning we did a mini-Christmas and there was really nothing mini about it.

 Saturday evening we watched the Apple Cup.  Also, Ava did not take a nap that day and she could hardly make it to dinner.

 She was asleep through all of the screaming!  I didn't let her sleep long and she definitely got a second wind!  She was in her cheerleading Husky outfit in no time.

Sunday we skipped church and went up to the city.  The weather had changed and it was raining and that was good for us because I think it kept the crowds away.

We explored Chinatown some and the fish markets did not disappoint.  The workers were not amused with the squeals and laughter, but we had fun!  I mean, what else do you think we're supposed to do when fish are flopping on the ground, shrimp are jumping out of tubs, and a fish that is literally cut in half is still moving?

Also, frogs.  Like moving around in the tub alive frogs.  Oh.  My. Goodness.

Monday we went to the visitors center at the new Apple campus.  They had a neat augmented reality thing of the new campus.  I personally think it would be better to see it in real person, but I just found out that that won't be happening.  :(

My dad drawing pictures is always fun.

Our time eventually came to an end on tuesday.  We have transitioned back to normal pretty nicely, that is not to say that there weren't tears or tantrums.  We hope to see everyone again real soon!