Season of Thanks!

We had an eventful start to our Thanksgiving week as Mike finished his conference and we went to the Tijuana Temple open house. Later we celebrated Thanksgiving with family, soaking up the warmth both figurative and literal.

Both children have the week off from school, so on Monday we ventured down to Tijuana to see the open house for the temple that was completed there recently. After getting turned around a little bit just past the border crossing, we found our way onto the right road (thank you, GPS!). All those we stopped to ask help from were more than helpful. The temple is a beautiful structure (here is an album with photos we didn't take), and we hope the members of the church living in the area will enjoy the new building. Hallie was touched by the fact that members of the church sat at our feet and put booties over our shoes. What a humbling experience!

We took advantage of our trip to rekindle our Kinder Surprise tradition. Judging by the Wikipedia page and news reports, we may have to resort to eating the eggs outside the US. Legitimate choking risk notwithstanding, with all the real threats at the border, you’d think that something like toys in chocolate would get a pass.  Mike and Hallie loved the mango smoothies they found at the Costco food court – much better than the berry smoothie they have here at our Costco.

With Mike’s conference done, we made it back to Camarillo on Tuesday, but not before making a few quick stops along the way. Landon was not keen on going to get gas, stopping by our friend’s house one last time, going to City Lights in San Diego, Deseret Book in La Jolla by the San Diego Temple, and then getting lunch. Both kids would have been happy to be glued to the DVD player the whole way home.

Goodyear Blimp off the freeway

Hallie's old house

The kids played for the rest of the week.

Nice photobomb, Girly-O.

Landon went to gymnastics on Wednesday, and it was just him and another boy. When there are two in class, so much one-on-one happens. It is great fun watching Landon’s progress and seeing how he loves going to gymnastics.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with trips to both sets of grandparents’ houses, visits with relatives, and yummy food.

On Friday, the kids started the morning building a gingerbread turkey we received as a festive gift from Sis. Barton in the ward. The kids definitely got into the spirit of the occasion, the little turkeys.

Later, after some Thanksgiving-themed videos, we bid farewell to the fall and welcomed winter with a change of décor. Hallie and her mom did venture to the mall in the morning, just for a bit. In the evening, we went over to Freedom Park for some track time.

Grandma and Grandpa M. stopped by later on their way to the outlets. 

Saturday brought more decorating and storytelling around the Christmas tree. One of our family traditions is to get commemorative ornaments from the places we have traveled, so we have added one or two ornaments each year. This year Grandpa and Grandma Dorey helped add a bit more of Nova Scotia by leaving us with a beautiful Amos Pewter ornament that we had to open early.

Hallie did some Christmas shopping today for the kids and scored some amazing deals. When Hallie scores a great deal she becomes so excited, and today’s finds were no exception. No more renting a bike at the track for Eliza. Shhhh!

Mom and Dad taught Eliza’s Sunbeam class today. The experience of being substitute teachers always makes us grateful for the kids’ full-time teachers. Many, many thanks! 

Sometimes the kids need to take a little walk . Sometimes that walk needs to be a "walk like an animal" walk.