Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting here was a pain.  Flat tire on our brand new tire, causing us to get a late start, tons of traffic through L.A., stopping every hour to fill up said tire.  A can of fix-a-flat solved the problem for now but we will have to take it to a tire shop and try and have it patched before our trip home on Sunday. Then Joe will have to go back to the tire shop we purchased it at on Monday and get a new one.

Took us nine long hours to get here but we made it safely and that's all that matters.

Can't wait to eat myself into a food coma.

I hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving!

Lisa's Visit Part Two Or the most picture heavy post ever

    This was the view from Lisa's hotel room.  No, I did not use the zoom.  That is actually how close the train tracks were.  Needless to say, she moved rooms after one night.

On Thursday we went to the OC Fair.  We were thinking that it wouldn't be crowded because opening weekend was over and it was a Wednesday.  Everyone else in Orange County must have thought the same thing because it was more crowded than I think I have ever seen it.

                                                              Wall to wall people

Cameron and Grace went on this ride. It went in a circle backwards and then this tent folded over you while you rode.  Not my cup of tea.  Cameron and Grace loved it.

                               Remember the pig that was pregnant last time?  She had her babies.

                                      All together now..........Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

                                     On Friday we went to the American Girl Doll store. 
                                        It was like the Mother ship was calling Grace            
                                                 home(love that quote from "Friends").

                             Pretty fountain at "The Grove" where American Girl Doll Place was

                            These kind of freaked me out.  Dolls that look just like you.
                                  One is fine.  But a  bunch of them together is freaky.

                                      The Hippie doll is my favorite.  I used to have that bike.

                                          
                                             Grace with her "twin" doll and matching outfits.

                                       Lisa, Grace and Cameron at American Girl Place. 
                                                          Cameron is displaying his
                                        displeasure of  the whole American Girl Doll experience.

                           On Saturday we met up with Stacey and the kids at Downtown Disney. 
                          Tony Hawk was there doing a  skateboarding demonstration.  It was gnarly.
                             (That's me trying to be cool.  I wasn't that impressed.
                             Although Tony is catching  some wicked air on that trick).

                                         Give me an "A".  For Cameron.  I don't know why.

Austin, Cameron and Ryleigh all had their pictures taken with their respective letters in the "California". Upon realizing that Grace had no letter on which to pose she said in her best drama filled voice "There's no "G" in California!!  Sob".  Heh.

Here we are compromising. "F" for friends!

C for Cameron

                                            A for Grace.  Again, I don't know why. Oh yeah.
                                                         There's an "A" in   Grace.

                                               The whole group(minus Joe).  C for Californians.

Somewhere in there we squeezed in a trip to Dave and Buster's.  Love how intent everyone is on driving their little cars around the tiny little track.  I think Cameron won.  Much to Uncle Joe's chagrin.

Grace's favorite game.  Doesn't she look like she is sittng at a slot machine?  Nice.  Way to go D & B's.

Lisa's Visit

Lisa and the kids have been visiting for the last 5 days and we squeezed a whole lot of fun into that short period of time.  There is so much to post that I'm going to have to split it into several posts.  On Wednesday DeAnn met us at the beach and took some pictures of Lisa and the kids(and dog), with a couple of me thrown in.  They really turned out great.  The weather was overcast and cold and the waves were huge.  It was kind of scary. The pictures turned out good regardless and you can't even tell that I was terrified the whole time that we were going to be swept away into the ocean to our deaths.  You probably think I am kidding but I am not. It was scary. 

                                                  I love the look on Grace's face in this one.

                                                  The ones of Grace came out so good.

                                                         Handsome Finn

The tide came in very quickly and we almost got stuck on the cliffs.  I tried to cross back over and a huge wave engulfed me and I got soaked.  Lisa crossed with Grace on her back, narrowly missing a huge wave and then DeAnn followed shorty after, when the set had gone back out.  It was at this point that I became very nervous.  I was shaking as I took these pictures.  Thankfully everyone made it safely across.

                                                       It  truly is a beautiful place though.
                                            Thanks DeAnn, for doing a fabulous job, as usual.

Day two coming tomorrow.

Fun in San Francisco Part 2 (Update)

On Saturday we headed out to Fort Funtson, AKA dog paradise.


Dogs can run freely without their leashes and their humans can enjoy the breathtaking views of the bluffs and the ocean.










Diggin' a hole


The waves were huge that day








Take note of Joe's hair in this picture. It's the last you'll be seeing of it for some time  :0


********UPDATED*********  Sorry to leave you all hanging on the state of Joe's hair.  I got a new e-mail address but Blogger won't let me switch my notifications to the new one.  I am beyond annoyed with them right now.  In fact, I am beyond annoyed with all things G**gle(Is it my imagination or do they own EVERYTHING?  Flickr, my e-mail account, Blogger, etc.). They need to make it easier to change the settings on your accounts.  Just saying.

Anyway, Joe shaved his head this weekend.  As in totally, completely bald.  Even finished it off with a razor.  He asked me not to post any pictures yet and I have to respect that(seeing as though he pretty much lets me spill anything else I want to here).  As soon as he's ready I'll show you guys.  I have a thing for bald guys, so it's all good.  And it's just hair.  If he changes his mind it'll grow back.

Oh, my new e-mail address is scrappermg(at)att(dot)net. So the same as the last one but with "att" at the end instead of "cox".  I know I sent out an e-mail with my new gmail address and it's still valid, but this will be my primary e-mail address.

Fun in San Francisco

I figure it's too late to post Thanksgiving pictures now, but we did do a couple of other things while we were in San Francisco that were fun so I thought I'd share those.

We (read: Lisa and I) took the kids ice skating in Union Square.  It was so much fun!  Surprisingly I am a pretty good ice skater and I didn't fall even once.  If  you know me, you know this is kind of a big deal. I fall down on solid ground almost daily, let alone slippery ice.  :)



Grace is also quite a good ice skater and after one time holding Lisa's hand, she was zipping around and around all by herself.  And not even near the railing.


Love this picture:


Doing a spin with Mommy


It was quite crowded but surprisingly warm for S.F.




Macy's all decked out for Christmas




All of us.  The other boys(men) hung out on the side cheering us on.


It was so much fun!  I think we'll go back at Christmastime too.

Part 2 coming soon