Happy Birthday to Me

 Me had a birthday!  The calendar doesn't lie but to look at her you would never believe it.  We are glad she in with us in our family.  We love her a lot!

Hooray for presents! Matthew was very excited to see what she got.

Me had a blueberry lemon almond crisp with vanilla ice cream. (Sarah had to be part of the picture.) 

November

 Here are a few pictures from November.

The mega bird gym that Megan and Matthew created for Sunshine.

Sarah getting her COVID-19 test during her second quarantine from school. It was negative.

Sunshine

Megan and Matthew made balloon creations that could be used in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Matthew made Harry Potter (no picture). Megan made this bird float that is based on the birds in the book "The Wrong Side of Magic."

Megan lost her tooth right before we went to Vegas for Thanksgiving. She wrote this note to let our Tooth Fairy know where we would be. Our Tooth Fairy sent a Gnome friend to her cousins' home to collect the tooth.

Sarah had her half birthday!

Megan: I'm always so childish!

Thanksgiving

 We went to Vegas over Thanksgiving. The kids enjoyed seeing their cousins and we enjoyed visiting with my sister and Kiley. We saw Christmas lights, went walking, played games, made and ate yummy food, celebrated Liz's 7th birthday and even got to see Grandma and Grandpa.

We enjoyed seeing the Christmas lights at the Ethel M Cactus Garden and sampling the chocolate.

Kiley, Cheryl-Lynn, U and Me

U, Matthew, Sarah, Me, Megan

All the kids: Luke, Megan, Liz, Sarah, Ben, Andrew, Matthew

Me

Me and Cheryl-Lynn

Liz and Megan

Andrew, Sarah and Luke (we all wore masks most of the time but were allowed to take them off for photos; here the teens are being teens and leaving them on.....)

Matthew helping Santa out of the chimney.

Me, U and Matthew with 3 Eiffel Towers!

The whole clan: back row: Andrew, U, Matthew, Me, Megan
front row: Luke, Ben, Liz, Cheryl-Lynn, Sarah, Kiley

Thanksgiving Day feast

The aerial view

Sarah's turkey and mashed potato roll

Matthew and Ben

Liz and Megan

clockwise from the left: Me, Andrew, Viv, Kiley, Cheryl-Lynn, Sarah, Luke (not pictured: U)

On Saturday, we met Grandma and Grandpa A at Valley of Fire State Park for some hiking, rock scrambling and visiting.

Megan found a little cave.

Pretty scenery around the cave.

Matthew in a very little cave.

Matthew and Liz doing some rock scrambling. (It was Liz's 7th birthday.)

Grandpa and Me

Matthew and Megan

Interesting formations.

Lots of pretty scenery!

Grandma and Grandpa

Matthew climbed up this crevice around where we ate lunch. He loved all the rock scrambling.

See the kids way up high? They enjoyed exploring the area and Uncle Kiley accompanied them on their explorations.

Grandpa, Grandma, Me, Cheryl-Lynn. The four of us plus U went on a little hike while Kiley explored with the kids.

Walking through a slot canyon.

More pitting.

Lots of beautiful red rock!

We saw some Desert Bighorn Sheep (the Nevada state animal).

We climbed up some stairs to see some petroglyphs. It is amazing they were up so high.

More neat rock formations below the petroglyphs.

Big hugs for Grandma and Grandpa from Ben, Matthew and Megan.

Small arch we saw on our way out.

Legoland Discovery Center in November

 U took Megan and Matthew to the LEGO discovery center on Veteran's Day.  The plan had been for everyone to go but then Sarah got quarantined again.

Fireworks in mini land.

Once we got inside, Megan immediately said "Dad, your witch is still here!"  Sure enough, U's swamp witch was still sitting on the gallery table 5 weeks after we had been the last time.  He talked with some of the workers and they were all impressed with his build and said they really liked it so they weren't taking it apart.  Even the resident master builder came over and told him how much he liked it.  

Hello again swamp witch!

When U asked for LEGO blocks to build with, the lady handing them out said "You built the swamp witch? You need some extra bricks.  Make sure you show me what you build today."  U ended up building a couple models.

A dragonfly

An observation platform at a dolphin research center. (A special request from Megan.)

U with his models.

Matthew and Megan were playing in the play area but then came over to build their own things.  We spent most of the rest of the time building.

Matthew was so excited about building he made several things.

Getting ready to watch the Ninjago 4D movie.  Matthew stayed out to keep building.

Matthew with his pirate ship.

Megan built a beautiful park with a dolphin fountain.

Matthew and Megan got to ride Merlin's Apprentice several times in a row without getting off.

Matthew ended up building three ships, a car and a spacecraft.

One last shot of U's witch and dragonfly together.  Maybe we'll see you next time!