Bye to Uncle Mike and Grandma Ruthie

 Today we had to say goodbye to our Thanksgiving visitors, but not before we squeezed in some fun.

Uncle Mike was set to depart in the early afternoon.  We took some pictures before he needed to leave.

 Serafina wanted to show off her bike riding skills.

Uncle Mike had some skills of his own.  

 Grandma Ruthie didn't need to leave until late tonight, so we took her to the beach for an adventure.

 I believe the look on Tom's face is his reaction to watching his mom slip around on the tide pools.

 Her boots were cute and sassy, but not exactly made for walking on wet algae.

 We left the beach to take a walk on the cliff.

 Pretty girl in the pretty cypress trees.

 

Monkey dad

We got stuck in some traffic on the way home and played an epic game of "I'm going on a picnic...".  We were all too wiped out to deal with dinner and dishes and the rest so we went out to dinner.  

The kids said goodbye to Grandma Ruthie at bedtime.  She has a long journey tonight, but we appreciate her coming all this way to spend time with us.

Thanksgiving and the day after

I was a little too tired and stuffed to post last night, so happy belated Thanksgiving.  We had a very nice day with beautiful weather and great food and company.

Here's Tom with his beautiful turkey.

Leo had a full plate.  

Uncle Mike helped make the meat more manageable.

Ready to dig in.

Leo played with the wine opener for a while.  He talked to it and pretended it was a robot.

The kids dressed up in Serafina's Native American and pilgrim accessories from school.

For dessert, I made a pumpkin pie with a gingersnap crust and a chocolate ganache topping.  It also had a bit of orange zest, which added a nice accent to all the spice.  We tried to eat it when it wasn't fully chilled; it was still tasty but the texture was a bit off.  Once it had cooled completely, it was better.  This was all that was left when I went to bed.

Sign of a good Thanksgiving?  This right here...

Today was even nicer weather so I insisted the kids go outside for a while.  They were amped up about putting up the Christmas tree, but I got them out with the promise of hanging the outside lights.  Tom didn't really feel like doing our usual display, which is labor intensive, but the kids really wanted lights up.  I suggested we just toss up some easy strings of lights.  It still took some work, but not nearly as much.  Leo was a good helper.

Serafina wasn't as helpful.

The tree did go up today.  It feels a little early, but we wanted to do it while Uncle Mike and Grandma Ruthie are here.  Here's the Mirrione boys executing some careful ornament placement.

Of course, I needed to make another dessert for tonight.  It's the final night our guests are in town and there wasn't enough pie to go around (or even really satisfy one person).  I went with a classic chocolate cake with a chocolate buttercream.

Tom sliced the two layers so we had a four-layer cake with frosting in between each.

It was spectacular.  Mike declared it was the best chocolate cake he's ever had.  Boo-yah!

Nature walk with Grandma Ruthie and Uncle Mike

Grandma Ruthie and Uncle Mike arrived late last night. Today we spent some time shopping, but we also got outside to enjoy some nature and good weather before we hole up inside to eat and eat and eat, and watch some football.