Day 9. That's right. Longest. Vacation. Ever. And we weren't ready to go home when it ended. Day 9 wasn't even the end! Day 9 was Thanksgiving Day. We started by sleeping in!! And then we headed to Huntington Beach to visit with a friend of mine!
FYI, part way through our trip I ran out of some of my makeup. Grrrrr. I don't even know how that happened. And it isn't the kind I could just run to the store and pick up. So I just lived without it for several days. Don't judge my face. Thank you very much.
Anyway, it was so much fun to visit with Sharla and her family! Lucas and Brooklyn made friends. I would not be opposed to a future arranged marriage.
After visiting for a bit, we headed over to the beach house my family was staying in and my mom and I made our traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We did the best we could with what we had at the tiny beach house to make it all fancy.
Somehow this is the only turkey picture I got and it's still in the bag.
Yummmmm!!! Candied yams, green beans sauteed with almonds and butter, mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, cranberry slush, homemade rolls (if rhodes count as homemade, ha!), homemade cranberry sauce, and the best dressing you've ever had in your life with craisins and cashews and all kinds of good stuff!
Not the best picture of everyone, but here we all are, crammed at the little table and being so grateful! We missed the brothers, but Brennan was on tour with his band and Devin was in Thailand on vacation so we didn't feel too bad.
After we stuffed ourselves to the brim and cleaned up, we decided to walk down to the beach. It was a whole two blocks down the street.
Love beach sunsets!!!
Here is Lucas's first impression of standing in the sand. :)
It was a little chilly, but beautiful and totally worth the cold! Lucas eventually warmed up to the sand and LOVED the water!
While everyone watched the sun set and enjoyed the smell and the view, I climbed out on the jetty and watched the waves splash up on the rocks.
Eventually everyone else joined me and I got this fun picture of a wave splashing up around everyone.
On the way back, the kids all climbed up on the lifeguard tower to pose. Silly.
Then we headed back to the beach house to watch some Christmas movies and dog-pile on Grandpa. He's under there somewhere. He's wearing a blue t-shirt. See if you can spot him.
There's nothing like the magic of Disneyland. But there's nothing like the magic of the beach and family, either. We had actually planned on a one week vacation, just our little family. Then my dad called and asked if we'd want to stay a few extra days and they'd meet us for Thanksgiving and to relax at the beach. Those relaxing beach days made me want to never, ever come home. Reliving them now as I post I just want to run back!!!!
