Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving 2009!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving celebration yesterday. We celebrated with tons of food and great company! (Not necessarily in that order.)
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It really was all fun and no stress. Maybe we're finally getting the hang of this Thanksgiving dinner thing.

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A few pics of the tables...

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Empty plates! Time for seconds. Or thirds.

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Thankswinging.

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Time for the annual Thanksgiving Quiz!! It's quite stressful - Grandpa and Grandma are surely re-thinking next year's travel plans.

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Susie looks pretty confident, though.

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Carol, the brainy one!

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But the winner is: Michael! He won the zebra-print Snuggie.

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He also scored the highest on the annual Star Wars quiz! Here he is relaxing with his prizes.

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Jessica's delicious carrot cake!!

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Maren is first in line for pumpkin pie.

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Enjoying their well-deserved dessert after all the stressful test-taking.

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Molly and Susie!

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Jessica and her Horn-of-Plenty artwork.

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What better way to digest a ton of food than a rousing sing-along!

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She claims to be an alto, but Susie can hit a clear, beautiful high G.

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Jessica reads Maren a bedtime story...

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Maren set up a bed for herself on the couch and was out for the rest of the evening.

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Deacon wasn't happy about taking time out of playing to take a picture, but William was cooperative and congenial as usual!

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David looks really comfortable behind those drums.

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And now, presenting the Ross Family Thanksgiving Photo Gallery!
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2007

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2008
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2009
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Last year, 2008, with an uninvited guest...

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...who found his way into the picture again in 2009.
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Again, we hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday! Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

Maren's Kindergarten Journal: Sea World

Maren's account of our Sea World adventure!
I went to Sea World on my vacation for the five days off school - Maren

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Sea World!

The kids had last Wednesday (11/4) off school, so we went down to Sea World in San Diego!

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It was a GREAT day. First stop: Shamu's underwater tank!!

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A killer whale.

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Shamu was having a blast. The whole area shook when he jumped out of the tank and splashed back down!
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A movie.
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Shamu apparently just loves puppies! A trainer brought a few dogs to the tank, and Shamu came over to say hello. And Deacon, notoriously fearful of dogs, didn't even run away!

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Deacon later described the momentous face-to-face meeting.

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Feeding dolphins!

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A gift shop pic... I'm sure we have a hundred more just like it from Deacon's last visit to Sea World...

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Famed marine biology expert Derek takes a look at a starfish. Note you can see the photographer's reflection in his sunglass lens.

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I don't know what it is, but I'm glad it's extinct.

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Even after his thrilling close encounter with Shamu, Deacon declared that the Manatee exhibit was his favorite part of the day!

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A new friend.

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The Shamu show!

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After seeing Shamu's impressive off-duty antics earlier, the staged show seemed anticlimactic... except for the four huge, bright, spinning video screens that moved back and forth. THAT was the highlight.

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Deacon and a walrus.

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Checking out the polar bear caves... realistic sound effects drove the Alff kids out screaming soon after this pic was taken.

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Fun pics in front of the crazy mirrors.

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A final pic in front of the Shamu VW.