Thanksgiving and Black Friday

So... Big surprise: I'm behind on blogging! I am going to attempt to play catch-up tonight, our last night in California. It would be great to have this all done before we get home... So bear with me! I have tons of pictures!

So... Thanksgiving was a relatively quiet event. Both kids were in rare (naughty) form, and that was kind of frustrating. But Gus and I ended up having a quiet and SUPER delicious meal with my parents, where I ate and drank far too much. It was soooo tasty, though, I couldn't help myself!

Earlier in the day, though, we had watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in its entirety. Maya sort of came and went and played with toys, but Nikos was captivated! It was the first time in years that I got to watch it without someone begging to change the channel! Nikos especially loved the Spider-Man and Sonic the Hedgehog balloons, as well as the Power Rangers performance.

The following day, commonly referred to as Black Friday, was spent avoiding just about every retail establishment, haha! We all went together to take the kids to the duck pond. The best part was actually the seagulls. They saw us tossing bread to the ducks, and would hover in the air above us, trying to dive in for the interception!

We did manage to actually feed some ducks, too:

At around lunch time, my mom and I bravely ventured out to a nearby big box store... only to find it no busier than any other day! I bought a few small things for Christmas, but that was it. Later in the afternoon, we took the kids to the park down the street. Nikos, who complains about walking there ("It's soooooo faaaaaar!") had no problem riding the old tricycle all the way down. haha!

And then, when it was just about time for dinner, my brother and his family arrived! The kids were beside themselves to play with Colton again (he seemed pretty happy, too). They picked right up where they left off in August. It was so fun to see them together! And then they all took a bath together, too. :)

After that, it was bedtime for the kids and, eventually, the adults. Such a full house! Nikos and Maya shared a room (two twin beds), Colton slept in the pack 'n play in the office, Gus and I had a room, my parents were in their room, and Grant and Melissa slept on the fold out couch in the living room. Which brings me to the first picture of my next post... in a few minutes!