I love it when Conor has a long weekend. I never want it to end. On Black Friday, we went to Half Moon Bay and were kicking ourselves for not bringing swim suits and towels. It was a gorgeous day! The girls love the beach more than anything else. We don't visit Half Moon Bay very much. It doesn't get very warm and it's really overcast. But I love it. It has such a great vibe and it's the first beach we ever went to here in California. It's my first taste of the Pacific Ocean. I'm always grateful to visit. Friday couldn't have been much better. It was a lovely day! I'm so grateful to live where we do.
Thanksgiving is kind of a tricky holiday for me because I'm Canadian. I always do something for Canadian Thanksgiving in October. But American Thanksgiving just doesn't hold the same weight for me. Our families aren't doing anything for that holiday, it's unlikely that we'd ever go spend that holiday with them. But, since this is where we live, I do want to be better at making it more of a "thing" for our family. I'm all for making family memories and making holidays special. I also really believe in the power of good food to unite people. There's something about families sitting down to eat food specially prepared for them on a holiday. So this is my first attempt and I hope that subsequent years see improvement. I kept our menu simple. I roasted a chicken, made mashed potatoes and homemade rolls and I roasted sweet potatoes and green beans. Conor made sure the girls came to the table in nice clothing and not in just a diaper (Greta) or in dress-up clothing (Holly).
We did a couple crafts (Holly's favorite thing in the whole world is crafts). The first was we made gratitude feather necklaces. I wrote down one thing we're thankful for about each member of our family. We all ended up with 3 feathers to string on a necklace with beads. The idea came from this blog, but I used paint chips for the feathers. This will be a yearly tradition for sure! And then after baths, but before dessert (messed up order?), I read a story about the pilgrims and where Thanksgiving comes from. While the story was read, the girls strung a bracelet as the story prompts different bead colors (blue - ocean, gren - land, brown - turkey, etc). That was a nice "bring it all home" activity. And then apple crisp and ice cream for dessert!
The best part about doing a chill Thanksgiving is that I really enjoyed the day with my family. I never felt stressed about food. We went and played at the park in the morning. It was a win-win. However, one day I want to put on a stellar Thanksgiving dinner. I'll just do my best to be super planned and prepared and then I'll never stress. Haha. Ya right!
Whew! Life is busy! Not sure quite what with - just regular life stuff.
While my Mom was here, we took the girls to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. It was the second time we've been and we really like it. It's so fun for the girls - definitely a happy place. Plus the view from it is amazing!
After that, we walked out onto a pier and watched some crab fishers (is that a techinal term?). The pier we went on was right below the Golden Gate and the view of the city was amazing. It was a gorgeous day.
Then we headed in town to go to Boudin. My mom recently took an artisan bread baking course and she wanted to go to Boudin. I don't typically like sourdough but Boudin sourdough is a whole 'nother story! I loved it! There was a museum that we walked through and we could see the happenings of the bakery through glass walls. And it was surprisingly family friendly. Everyone seemed happy that we had my girls there and they were given three sourdough turtles between the two of them. Obviously, I would've loved to have spent more time in the museum reading all the the fun facts (that's kind of my thing), but it wasn't possible. I enjoyed what I did gleam.
A seriously great day!
While my mom was visiting, we went to Natural Bridges State Beach to see the monarch butterflies. They stop in Santa Cruz along their migratory route between Canada and Mexico. It was a beautiful sight to see all those butterflies. We even witnessed a "burst." The girls were semi-interested. Ha. Afterwards, we went to the beach and stayed until we were too chilly and tired to stay any longer. It was a pretty, sunny day, but that wind off the ocean can be nippy! Oh and in very exciting news, Greta finally likes the ocean! She used to cry and cry if I even so much as held her while I put my feet in the ocean and heaven forbid her toes touched that salt water. Nowadays, she's running in and out and absolutely loving it. It's so exciting! I'm so grateful to live where we do. There's so many beautiful and wonderful things to see!
There's a few new quilts in my shop, Lucky No.7 and until Monday, you can save 10% with the coupon code "givethanks". Please pass my shop on to anyone who would be interested. I just listed one of my favorite quilts ever and I hope it finds a good home!
