Happy Thanksgiving Day (Week)!

David decided to take the entire week of Thanksgiving off. He felt he was deserving of some much-needed respite - a "vacation," if you will.

Why he always makes the mistake of thinking his staying home will garner hm some R&R, I'll never know... :)

On Monday we took the girls to the Los Angeles Zoo. It isn't that far away, but we've never gone before. I just didn't want to do it alone and figured that weekends would be far too crowded. So, having Daddy home, we took what should have been a 30 minute drive (it took an hour - welcome to SoCal freeways, my friends). I was totally worried we'd wasted extra animal-viewing time by being stuck on the road, but it turned out that the zoo opens at 10 AM (which I had forgotten to look up). We got there at 9:45. That was the first time in my life I ended up being grateful for traffic (if we had gotten there within the afore-mentioned 30 minutes and found ourselves waiting for the gates to open for over 1/2 an hour, then I never would've heard the end of it from David after my chaotic rushing-him-out-of-the-door that morning...).

CC is attempting to put her arms up like Malia. And yes. She is "smiling."

YAY! Going to the zoo! (Evidence that my children actually have a mother is found in the fact that these pictures exist. Someone has to take the pictures, you see. That's all the evidence you are allowed to require).

If Malia has a hooded jacket on, she requests to put the hood on every time, even though it often causes her to complain about static-ky flyaways in her face for the rest of the day...

Daddy's attempt at multi-tasking.

Any tips on how to teach a child to smile...?

The gorillas and the girls. No need for a caption, really. Too late.

I really wanted to wear the girls out, so I required them to walk most of the day. When CC was finally put in the stroller, she leaned back and made the most of it.

A final shot before leaving. There were no decent signs in the front due to parking lot construction, but if you can read backwards, you can see where we'd been.

The next day we took our usual Tuesday trip to Disneyland, but with the added bonus of Daddy in attendance. NOTE TO SELF: The block-out days for my annual passport are no longer the ONLY crowded days at Disneyland. Just because the calendar says I can go does not mean I should go because of the ignorant assumption that the REST OF THE WORLD is, supposedly, staying home! One of the employees said it was due to the upcoming holiday. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Thanksgiving the day you're supposed to either stay home or go to a family's home? I'm not sure, but I'm pretty confident most of those people are not related to Mickey Mouse....

On the tram. One of the only rides we actually were able to go on that day.

Cecily decided I wasn't allowed to take pictures of her this day. The above shot was a lucky one I got when she looked at me just as a roller coaster sped overhead and it startled her.

This picture is literally her, basically, saying, "If I close my eyes, then you can't see me to take a picture." Obviously, she didn't say that... but that's exactly what's going on here.

Told you. At least I did her hair cute that day...

Malia & David on the 2nd ride (out of a total of 3 - if you count the stupid tram) we were actually able to go on (Seriously. No line was less than a 45 minute wait). Plus, she loves these swings.

I just wish this picture had audio. I love when Malia does her 1/2-scared, 1/2-elated scream that pierces, literally, over all the others. It's awesome.

And, once again, Malia reminds my camera it's not totally useless.

Ride #3. No smile, but at lease she didn't look away this time (Seriously. I didn't include the 20 pictures of the back of the kid's head).

On Wednesday we drove up to my Mom & Dad's in Apple Valley. And on Thursday, I cooked most of the (pre-cooked) food while my mom entertained my kids and Dave talked nerd stuff with my brother, Tony. No idea where my dad was for the majority of the day. That's typical - LOL. We enjoyed a wonderful feast (due, partially, to the fact that CC went down for her nap just as we began. Anybody else enjoying the food battles stage of a 2-year-old)?

My mom - doing what she does.

CC - About to have some eggnog and a bowl of fruit before taking a nap.

Malia - smiling and then immediately reminding me (over & over & over & over...) that I said she only had to take a "polite bite" of turkey.

My brother Tony -

... who a lot of people say is actually the shy one in the family. (Yeah. We're that bad).

My mom drove back down here with us so that she could come with me and the girls to see "Tangled" at the El Capitan in Hollywood. Traffic was A-MAZ-ING! Seriously. Who knew that Black Friday @ 8 AM was the most ideal time to drive on the Hollywood 101 Fwy? It took us only 25 minutes to get there (It has taken me almost 2 hours on other days). So we wandered around the walk of fame, and then went to our movie, pleasantly surprised it was in 3D (not sure how we didn't know that). They even had little baby glasses for the girls. We got "free" popcorn and soda with our "VIP" reserved tickets. ($30 = We'd better be "VIPs"). It's a cute movie. I recommend it. :)

Yes. That's a huge macaroni noodle in front of the Kodak Theatre. The money from advertising is just that important. The thing is hideous. (You can see our movie theatre in the background).

Ah. Julie Andrews. About every 15-20 stars, I would say to my mom, "Ok. Now this person actually deserves one." Julie Andrews was one of those.

(Ok, listen. I can't tell you how many times I've uploaded and deleted this photo. No CLUE why it wants to be sideways. So turn your head). When Malia was little and her curls were more dominant, strangers used to call her Shirley Temple. Hence the picture.

I know. Another hand-holding photo. Can't help it. Love 'em.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now - on to Christmas, 2 birthdays and a party, entertaining at 4 Church events, and directing 2 more.

I'll see you in 2011...