We had an extended Turkey Time this year. We started out in Sacramento for a couple days and then headed up to Oregon...nothing beats a tractor ride in 35 degree sunshine!
In honor of the multi-household travels, we did turkey dinner twice. Scott is VERY serious about his gravy. Don't mess with the giblets (at Wendy's parents' house)!
The post-dinner ice cream-ball rolling game is sure to become traditional. Seeing Jared and Brenda up in their new habitat was killer, even though Jared seemed a bit worn out from all his hard work in law school. Brenda just seemed svelte from living right next to a gym.
Somehow, Wendy's dad always gets stuck cleaning up all the dishes. He refused all offers of help so we just had to sit around in the living room and roll the ice cream ball (see above). The barbecued bird was excellent and more than compensated for the lack of drippings for the gravy (hence the essential giblets).
"Chicks dig me, because I drive naked."
Quinn couldn't get enough of Grandpa Lee's electric go-kart. We drove that thing all over the place and on our first trip we had so much fun we ran out of juice with about a mile (or three if you ask Scott who was doing most of the pushing) from home. Oh well, part of the adventure. After making it most of the way up the big hill, Wendy got out and helped push the rest of the way back. Whew!
We also did a turkey in Sacramento, the traditional juicy way. It was delicious, too. Scott got serious over this gravy because the turkey came without giblets! We couldn't believe it, we were just too shocked. Don't tell Grandpa Lee but we put some sweet potatoes in the bird pan and used them for the gravy. So good!
Most importantly, Quinn got to eat pumpkin pie both times. Heaven! Grandma Jean came home to Sacramento after a crazy-busy week in Las Vegas and it was great to check in with her. They also introduced Quinn to Shrek. Hee.
Quinn was fascinated by the barn that housed the tractor at Grandma Jan & Grandpa Glen's Christmas tree farm. He especially enjoyed climbing the ladder to the hayloft and peering out the doors. Grandma Jan was, understandably, quite paranoid about him tumbling down and maintained a secure grip on him at all times.
What farmhouse is complete without a cat? Not this one, here is the Little Kitty, of whom Quinn was terribly fond.Before we got to the Farm, we spent a few frenetic days with Uncle Scott, Auntie Thea, and Cousin Cyric who are tons of fun and have 2 (count 'em, two!) golden retriever pups full of boundless energy who are just big enough to reliably knock Quinn down. They also have sweet old Cheyenne (big old girl, 14!) and kitties Gypsy and Bumper. I'm sorry to say we didn't get any pictures there because we were too busy! However, we did go out one night and all get our pictures taken and when those show up, we'll throw them up here. Photo shoot with 2-year-old: challenging, not recommended, you couldn't pay me enough to do it for a living.
Quinn LOVES being with his Cousin Cyric and regularly took 3 hour naps recovering from the car chases and tickle monsters.
The best part is that Quinn's memory is continually improving (although his time scale is not; all activities that he remembers at any time are "last night" or "this morning", interesting) so even after we leave one friend or relative, he often mentions them later and looks forward to seeing them again soon.
October was a month of visits. First in the queue were Auntie Stephanie with lovely Cousin Matea. Matea is one month younger than Quinn and quite a bit bigger. The two of them played side by side pretty well, especially in the bathtub but conflicts arose over sharing. Huh, surprising behavior for two-year-olds. Most conflicts actually had to do with sharing space on the couch: Quinn wanted to drive cars across the couch and Matea wanted to put the pillows on the couch and sit on it. At one point Wendy actually divided the couch in half and forbade them from intruding on each others' sides.
