Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Thanksgiving California Style
















We celebrated this holiday with our friends the Holcombs - Sean, Heather, and Haley. Our goal was a stress-free, relaxed day. After a busy morning of packing we headed over to Adronico's to pick up the goods - our dinner. We ordered the complete dinner including turkey, dressing, greenbeans, mashed potatoes,rolls, gravy and pie. Art did make his all famous sweet potato pie (which is mashed sweet potatoes with marshmellows on top) As we drove to their house in Marin we sang, "Over the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge to Haley's house we go....."

After a loud greeting we settled in. I was a little nervous about unleashing our loud family on the Holcombs but our energy was greeted with open arms. We started with a walk on a trail right near their house. They live on the side of Mt. Tamalpias. The children ran, screamed and had fun. We found a nice grassy spot to have a snack, climb trees and begin our relaxing.

My memory of the day from an adults perspective included a flight of wines (as Sean works in the wine industry), sitting on their deck, and minimal kitchen time. Heather and I were a little disappointed to realize we would have to coordinate and plan this dinner more than we'd hoped but we certainly could not expect any less. So we did have to keep our heads about us.

After dinner we packed everyone up and drove to Muir Beach about 15 minutes away. It was beautiful, the glow of the setting sun just passed the horizon and the moon coming up. The drive reminded us of our old days of going to Stinson Beach on Friday nights. We took a little bit of wood out the beach only to discover the HUGE bonfire made from telephone poles. It was so cold outside that you needed to be close to the fire but the fear of creosote infused smoke scared me a bit. The children were a little over whelmed by the blazes and spent most of the time playing with the flashlight in the shadows (up-wind of the toxic smoke.) All of a sudden I saw a police man's light coming from a car up on the hill over looking the beach. 5 minutes later a park ranger was there. He asked us if we started this fire. We confessed we had not which was further confirmed by the children saying we found it over and over to him. He said it was an illegal fire - too big. I asked if we needed to put it out. He said technically yes. but after surveying the blaze for while, he said, "go on, I got it." so we thanked him, wished him a happy thanksgiving and drove home.

The children were to happy to be together and it was a truly relaxing day. Haley is wise to the world of sleep-overs and was able to stay awake until almost 10:00. Eli passed out at 8:30 and Eva finally was banished to our room around 9:00. As can be the case sometimes the later our children go to bed the earlier they get up. So at 5:00am they were up and ready to go. Each parent took turns sleeping in.

Art had to go to the city to take care of a few things. Haley showed E+E her school yard and we had lunch at a fun restaurant where they got the biggest hot chocolate they've ever seen piled high with whipping cream.

We returned to city in the afternoon tired and ready for an early bed time.

No comments:

Post a Comment