Thanksgiving 2012

Tomorrow is birthday party day.  Closely followed by Jack's actual birthday.  And then Drew's.  And then mine.  And then Christmas.  And somewhere in there I'm heading to San Diego for a couple of days.  So yeah, lots of stuff going on here.  Which is why I need to hurry up and tell you all about our Thanksgiving trip to California.  Was that already two weeks ago?

Without further adieu...Thanksgiving 2012!

Somewhat unexpectedly, we received an invitation from my Uncle Matt in Los Angeles to join the entire Wagner family for a California Thanksgiving.  It took about 2.5 seconds for Drew & I to respond with a resounding "yes!"  And just like that we were off.

Jack has flown once before but it was just shy of his 2nd birthday so he has no memory of it.  This time, he was absolutely stoked to be flying "in a jet".  And fortunately, he looked (and behaved) like a seasoned traveler.

Our family gathering included 14 adults and 4 kids under age 10.  Needless to say, perfect California weather and a pool in the backyard was enough to keep all 4 kids entertained for the entire visit.

Jack, Sidney, Ian, Charlie

 

 

I was so proud of those kiddos.  They were instant friends and behaved so well.  Every last one of them.

Of course, the main event was Thanksgiving.  A pool-side Thanksgiving dinner?  Yes please!

In addition to the 18 members of our family, Matt & Lynelle hosted several of their California friends for the meal for a total of 30 people.  If anyone can execute a dinner for 30 flawlessly, it's Lynelle Wagner.  I bow to you my dear!

Heather, Lynelle, Matt...prepping

 

This was both Drew & Jack's first trip to LA so we managed to fit in a bit of sightseeing as well. 

Drew had an incredible time with my Dad, Uncle Matt and Cousin Mark playing golf at Bel Air Country Club.

We took a drive down Rodeo and through the Hollywood Hills.

We made a stop at a legendary West Coast fine dining establishment.

 

We introduced Jackson to the Pacific Ocean.

 

 

He loved the beach and walking out to the water...until the waves came crashing.  At which time he turned and ran away.

Every. Single. Time.

 It was pretty hilarious!

Of course, the best part was spending time with our family.  Unfortunately, I was too busy having fun to take many photos of our clan.

Mom, Heather, Drew, Steve, Meredit, Mark

Mother and Son

Steve, Nana Gwen, Mom, Drew, Hal, Meredith

As usual, we left wishing we all lived closer and these visits weren't so few and far between.

A million thanks to Matt & Lynelle for hosting the whole crew.  It was absolutely lovely in every way.

Summer Wrap Up

For weeks months now I've been meaning to get caught up on a few end of summer trips and activities that haven't made the blog yet.  Since I kind of missed the boat on those, I thought I'd just tell the story in (mostly) pictures instead of words this time.

Douglas County Fair
This year's fair fell right over the weekend that Jackson was scheduled to spend at Gram's house.  We had exactly one night between me getting home from a business trip and Jackson heading west to Gram's to take advantage of the petting zoo, rides, carnival and fair food.  We gave Daddy the night off (since he had been on solo duty all week while I was in St. Louis) and hit the fairgrounds!


Pony rides

Motorcycle - His Favorite

SUV

 

Bugs

Spaceship

Ferris Wheel with Mom

Aerial View

Colorado
Just a week or so later we loaded up in the truck and headed to Colorado for a vacation at Nana & Papa's house.  Drew & I got to do lots of grown up things while we had grandparents, aunts and uncles available to watch the little man.  Like a trip to Matt's bar and dinner at Del's with Mom & Dad, visits to Drew and my favorite stores, and an overnight trip to Vail.  Of course, there were lots of family activities too from golf (both real and miniature glow-in-the-dark) to swimming to movies to cook outs to dinner at Castle Cafe and lots of courtyard time. My kind of vacation!

Road Trip - I don't know how kids can stand that!

Little dude was pretty good at air hockey!

Skee Ball

The very scary animated tree that sent us running off the miniature golf course in fear never to return.

Vail

This cracks me up.  3 people.  3 iPads.

Our first ever trip to a photo booth.  I made him do it.

Lake Okoboji
Finally, our last trip of the summer took us to Lake Okoboji, IA for my cousin Todd's wedding.  Drew had to sit this one out so Jack and I made our way to Omaha where we connected with Mom and Dad.  What a great weekend!  Of course, the bride and groom were stunning (how do I not have pictures of them?!) and the wedding was beautiful.  But the best part was having the whole family together.

Doing the heavy lifting.

Morning coffee (or water)

Handsome in his new tie, but not thrilled about the photo op

I wish I had my fancy camera to zoom in on this moment.  Papa was fixing Jack's tie.

Blue-eyed Jack and his biggest fan

Me and my guy

The Fabulous Diers Girls - Nancy, Mary, Deb, Lori, Carol - Can you tell they're sisters?

 

My Nana & Papa.  Can you believe they raised 5 daughters and still look that good?!

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Remember the 2012 Summer Bucket List we started way back in June?  I'd say we did pretty darn good!  Originally, there were 17clothespins on the bucket and only 6 remain. 

As luck would have it, many of the activities we didn't get to are indoors so we can easily check them off the list this winter when we're fighting a case of cabin fever and looking for something to do.

And now we can officially put Summer to bed!

Washington DC Photos

Man I took a lot of pictures.  Here are just a few of some of my favorites.

Arlington National Cemetery.  Easily one of the most powerful places I've ever been.  Since Drew had never been, I was really looking forward to experiencing it with him.  Even though it was my 2nd visit, it was as profound for me this time as the first time I saw it. 


In perfect order.



The eternal flame at the Kennedy grave site.



Washington Monument in the distance



Tomb of the Unknown Soldier



Tomb of the Unknown Soldier



Changing of the Guard.  Incredible precision.  Powerful ceremony.



As far as the eye can see.



Incredible view of the city from Arlington.


Arlington is a pretty heavy place.  We decided a few beers were in order after that and headed toward Capitol Hill to mellow out a little.  On the way, I snagged this shot of the Washington Monument.

Washington Monument.  I love that you can see the slight color change in the stones from when construction stopped and then started again.



Night view of the Washington Monument later that day.

 Our plan was to wait until the sun went down to walk to each of the memorials.  We had seen them all from the street during the day and heard the night views are really spectacular too.

They are.

First stop, the Lincoln Memorial.

Lincoln Memorial



Abe

The view from the Lincoln Memorial across the reflecting pool is spectacular. 



Washington Monument and Capitol Buildling



The Korean War Memorial was next.  This one stops you in your tracks.  It was hard to get a good shot at night, but as Drew described, the simulatneous look of fear and determination on the faces of the statues is heart-stopping.



Korean War Memorial



Love this shot of the American flag on a cloudy night



The Vietnam Wall with all of those lost sketched into the stone.  It seems to go on forever.



Vietnam Wall



Drew at the Vietnam Wall



Our last stop was the World War II Memorial. 



World War II Memorial



Each state and territory from the period is represented with a granite pillar.



World War II Memorial



"Here We Mark The Price of Freedom"
There are 4,000 stars.  Each one represents 100,00 soldiers who gave their lives.



4,000 gold stars and the reflection pool

I've got to admit, we decided to go for another round of drinks after our tour of these memorials, too.  You just can't help but feel a deep sense of patriotism, gratitude and pride.  It's intense.

Really, if you've never been, book a trip now.  You won't regret it.

God Bless the USA.