SUNDAY HAPPENINGS

My first (looooong) game of D&D

Drinking like royalty 

Sleeping with mama (I don't remember why...)

It's close enough to October - time to decorate for our favorite holiday!

CHECKERED

While Cora is in her voice lesson, James and I battle it out in checkers (if he's finished his homework first, of course).

Total confidence usually ends in sadness for him (but he beats me occasionally)

A SPIN ON FAMILY GAME NIGHT

We surprised the kids with an out-of-the-house Family Game Night tonight because we have a brand new bowling alley in town! They were both thrilled, until Cora realized she wasn't winning. Sometimes I don't know about that girl and her competitive nature... It will serve her well, but it sure can be frustrating for her family. The facility also had a short-order restaurant, bar, and arcade. Wednesday night bowling is a pretty good deal, but they seem overly expensive on regular nights...

COTTONWOOD SHENANIGANS

Sometimes the middle of the week calls for a very early dinner of pizza and some family game time before one parent has to head out to an evening meeting

CALIFORNIA THANKSGIVING 2019

We arrived late on Saturday night, and while the kids made it through the drive to NOLA (including a fun lunch with alligator at Middendorf's), the lengthy wait at the airport, and the nonstop flight, they passed out almost as soon as they were buckled into PawPaw's Suburban.

James discovered the fun of Sunday morning comics!

After Cora helped PawPaw tidy the yard, we took Grambot for a walk around the neighborhood.

Then we headed up to Elk Grove to meet Taryn, Eli, and Addy, and the Sanchez-Munger crew for a bowling and arcade adventure!

(Just an example of how hard it can be to take a "nice" photo with Sophie...)

The bowling alley had a pretty good restaurant (and pitcher beer specials), so we took a break there for a bit before hitting the arcade.

On Monday we took a drive up out of the valley (and away from the smoke and hazardous air conditions from the Camp fire) to take a cave tour, but the cave was closed, so we went gem mining instead.

This fountain took us all by surprise when Cora's side arched all the way over to hit James:

On Tuesday we went to see Grandma and Grandpa's new apartment and visit with Grandma over coffee in the downstairs bistro, and Cora was shocked to see a version of herself in the photo Grandma keeps of her grandkids:

On Wednesday we had an early Thanksgiving celebration (because David had to work on Thanksgiving) with an amazing meal made by Taryn (and some yummy side dishes made by mom). It rained all day, so we weren't able to take the kids to a playground or go for a walk after lunch, but the rain cleared the air and we all breathed a sigh of relief!

Jay took some (indoor) family portraits for us before lunch:

We played a lot of games and had a great time just hanging out!

On Thanksgiving we had a quiet day at home and the kids got to enjoy some time in Grambot and PawPaw's backyard for the first time since we arrived!

We even made s'mores!

On our last day in town, the kids stole PawPaw's chair for a bit, helped decorate the Christmas tree, and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with their cousins.

(We had to wait on David to get home from work and we kept hoping he'd get sent home early)

The kids were so sad to leave their cousins that night, knowing they wouldn't see them again for about a year, but they were definitely tired...

Baby Doll, especially, was exhausted after a week of late nights and too much fun. Asleep in the car on the way to the airport, asleep in the airplane, and asleep again on the drive home from NOLA.

While it's always fun to travel and see family, it's always good to get home to your pets and your own bed too. I was surprised just how much I missed Binx and Obby (pretty sure they missed me most too), and we discovered that Claw'dia missed Jay a lot too (and has since become quite the lovey-dovey cuddle cat with him).

(Buster spent one more night with Zy because Lawrence and Christine sent us this picture and asked us if we could let him stay, since he was already snuggled in to bed.)