Thanksgiving break
We drove up to Northern California to spend Thanksgiving with my Sister's family and my Mom. Luckily she has a pretty big house because we had 7 kids and 5 adults under one roof. It was a little crazy, but really fun. The day we left my girls were asking when we could go back.
The 1st day we drove into the city to go to the California Acadamy of Sciences museum. The entire Golden gate park was completely packed and the museum parking was closed. So we went to Boudin's on the wharf for lunch and watched the sea lions on the docks.
Back at the house my Mom made turkey cupcakes with all the kids.
My girls had asked to go to Alcatraz several months ago and I promised that we would on our next trip to San Francisco. I had pre-purchased the tickets on line, so even though it was raining and really cold, we made another trip into the city and went to prison.
The kids all listened to the tape tour and were totally into it.
When we got in the car all the kids were raving about how cool Alcatraz was. Haley said "Even though its a yucky day and we were learning about history- that was really fun!"
The kids all listened to the tape tour and were totally into it. 
When we got in the car all the kids were raving about how cool Alcatraz was. Haley said "Even though its a yucky day and we were learning about history- that was really fun!"After we left Alcatraz we ran by China town (our kids favorite destination) to let them each buy some inexpensive piece of junk... I mean chinese treasure and make their day. We completely did not think about the traffic getting out of the city. It was a nightmare. It took my Sister 2 hours to move 3 blocks. We took a different route and it was a little faster but no less painful. The people and cars everywhere and tall buildings so you can't see out made me feel like I couldn't breath. It solidified that I do not care for big cities.
Another day we headed back into the city for a second attempt to go to the California Academy of Sciences. We got there 1st thing in the morning and waited the HUGE line to get in. We got in, but again there were so many people in that building it was really uncomfortable.
Lucy used my scarf to make a sling for the monkey she got.
We also drove up to Petaluma to the Mrs. Grossmans sticker factory. This is the 2nd time we have gone here and we LOVE it. We scored a tone of super cheep stickers!
One thing I have to mention about this trip. When you go into the city from my Sister's neighborhood you go through a really long tunnel. Eric and the girls have a tradition that whenever we go through a tunnel he rolls down all the windows and they all yell the entire length of the tunnel. I choose to take photos instead of scream.
My Mom really did not appreciate that Eric did this when she was in the car. She was bugged that the wind was messing up her hair and the yelling was giving her a head ache.... then Eric started dancing with the kids to We are family (their favorite song/ Sister Sledge) with his hands in the air, I thought my Mom was going die.
On Thanksgiving day while we were watching the national dog show (Ok, I was really the only one watching) Tiff's dog Emma would bark and try to get to the dogs on the screen. It was totally cracking us all up.
There was lots of stress in the kitchen. My Mom does not do well cooking in a kitchen with 7 children and 1 dog constantly running through.
Of course, Thanksgiving would not be right without dead rats in butter. Yes, dead rats in butter. The kids kept asking "Grandma, you are making dead rats... right?".
Another day we headed back into the city for a second attempt to go to the California Academy of Sciences. We got there 1st thing in the morning and waited the HUGE line to get in. We got in, but again there were so many people in that building it was really uncomfortable.
Lucy used my scarf to make a sling for the monkey she got.
We also drove up to Petaluma to the Mrs. Grossmans sticker factory. This is the 2nd time we have gone here and we LOVE it. We scored a tone of super cheep stickers!
One thing I have to mention about this trip. When you go into the city from my Sister's neighborhood you go through a really long tunnel. Eric and the girls have a tradition that whenever we go through a tunnel he rolls down all the windows and they all yell the entire length of the tunnel. I choose to take photos instead of scream. 
My Mom really did not appreciate that Eric did this when she was in the car. She was bugged that the wind was messing up her hair and the yelling was giving her a head ache.... then Eric started dancing with the kids to We are family (their favorite song/ Sister Sledge) with his hands in the air, I thought my Mom was going die.
On Thanksgiving day while we were watching the national dog show (Ok, I was really the only one watching) Tiff's dog Emma would bark and try to get to the dogs on the screen. It was totally cracking us all up.
There was lots of stress in the kitchen. My Mom does not do well cooking in a kitchen with 7 children and 1 dog constantly running through.This was the turkey team. I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but my Mom kept calling them to rotate, move, advise on the condition of the turkey.
All 12 of us fit at my Sister's dining room table. The table was beautiful and the meal was delicious.
***Again excuse the horrible blurry photos taken by my dropped camera.***
Of course, Thanksgiving would not be right without dead rats in butter. Yes, dead rats in butter. The kids kept asking "Grandma, you are making dead rats... right?".This is our family tradition you can read about here.
Over all we had a great, cousins everywhere, lots of noise, lots of fun Thanksgiving.
5 comments:
Sounds like another fabulous family gathering. I can't help but think of WWTD when I read about you being with your sister.
I love the Caldecott Tunnel. When I lived up there, we used to try to hold our breath as we drove from the East Bay into San Francisco. I'm not going to tell my boys about Eric's yelling tradition. I'd rather deal with resuscitation than headaches and messy hair. :-)
We could have had real dead rats in butter for dinner tonight since after days of searching for the source of the foul smell in my kitchen, the mystery was solved when we found the dead rat under the kitchen sink. I'm totally not kidding. I will dig through the garbage and fish him out now that I know he can be a side dish!
What a great trip! You'll have to make Dead Rats for us sometime!
I love NoCal! I am so glad you got to go and enjoy your family, and your dead rats!
Thank you Chanel! I feel like I was there with you all... but alas we had our own 14 (minus 5 who went to cousins next door) Thanksgiving dinner and we had to have two tables. There was just no getting around it, our table will only do 10 tops and that still left 4, so all the kids were at the other table. Probably more fun (all teens except one 22yr old). But we all got around the "adult" table for games afterwards, those teens are really fun! My real comment was that I am so happy you have a "tunnel tradition." We honk the horn inside the tunnel! Two or three times if it's long enough. My Dad always did that, and so Don does it for him. We love IT! The yelling and singing is TERRIFIC. Keep it up, no matter who complains! Love you guys Susan
PS Oregon sounds wonderful. We were in Portland a couple of years ago and it even seemed small. Now I know I'll be losing your Mom to some other location. Maybe I'll see her even more often, you'd think Orem/Vineyard was across the country. I think I've seen her twice in the last year although we talk or email frequently.
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