The Tree Goes Up

We put the tree up this weekend...hooray!

Now it's time to relax by the fire!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Once again, we spent our Thanksgiving holiday in Glamis with the Jurgensen family. The pictures, starting with Ethan's table decor (on Seth's woven place mat) are listed below in no particular order.

Mary and Randy did a great job getting the turkey ready for cooking.

Hungry kids watch as the turkey gets carved.
Dinner at last!
Ethan got to drive (on Daddy's lap).

Emerson is our cute little Ranger girl!

Such a tired girl!

Seth rode his quad in the dunes for the very first time.
He was so proud of himself, and we were proud of him!
Ethan and Curran were honorary Ottonellos for the day. The rode with Domanic in the backseat of the sandcar, and all three kids fell asleep on the ride back to camp.

Our "hotdog" riding outside of camp.

EZ on his motorcycle

Emmy and Dad watching the boys hike up the dune.

The boys hiked all the way up this super soft dune. They made it to the highest peak (on the left hand side of this picture)!

Gazing out the window when we retreated to the trailer after the wind came up.

Last Soccer Game

It was a big Saturday at the field!

Just the Girls

I had to pick Randy up from the airport today. Emmy came along to keep me company. We got downtown way too early, so Em and I decided to "play tourist," take a walk along the harbor, and visit the Maritime Museum. Emmy loved watching all of the big boats come and go, and she loved hearing the Hornblower before it backed out.

I know the boys would have loved this! We checked out submarines and tall ships including the Star of India. We were able to watch the crew of one ship take down the sails. It was pretty cool. They looked like pirates hanging around up there.

Here is the ship after almost all of the sails were taken down. There are still a couple guys hanging on up there!

We walked all the way down the aircraft carrier, the Midway.

Emmy enjoyed a slushy in front of the Midway before we headed back to the car.

The time got away from us and I realized it was time for Randy's flight to arrive. I knew we still had time since he was going to meet us at the curb. Then, all of a sudden, there was a Delta plane about the size that I thought he would be on. I told Emmy, "There's Daddy!" I hurried to take a picture and then, sure enough, Randy called about 2 minutes later saying that he had just landed!

We had pizza in Little Italy and then headed back home. All in all, it was a nice day!

Pirate or Princess?

Emerson has decided to be both!

Fall Mornings

Is fall finally here? We sure hope so! While we love our warm Southern California weather, it sure is nice to put on a comfy sweatshirt in the morning--even if we don't need it after 10:00am!

This is a typical morning drop off at the Primary School.
I just love these little guys!