Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we split time between Grandparents and had a fabulous day filled with fun and family. The morning was spent with the maternal Grandparents at Awesome Beach. A crew, including Mike, rode Segways along the bike path and took a tour of some famous nearby California beach locations. Here's a picture of the Segway Sextet:

Note Mike in the middle, flexing his bicep.

These were very fun toys, although Mike did laugh when someone shouted at him "What, are you too lazy to walk?" I stayed behind and played with Zeke - we played in the perfect Pacific for the very first time. He seemed to like it, but the water was too cold for him. I thought it was delicious and a perfect day for chilling at the beach.

The afternoon and early evening were spent with the paternal Grandparents, enjoying delicious Chinese food for the dinner part of Thanksgiving, and visiting and relaxing at home. Zeke crawled everywhere and got into everything and enjoyed all of Legoman's toys while he was away for the day. Good times were had by all.

Kooza

Thanksgiving started off with a wild night under the big top - Mike and I went to see one of the Cirque shows with Grandma, Grandpa, Betty Edit and friend Glittergal. Even more amazing - we sat on the very front row. A clown tied a balloon for me in the shape of a hair dryer and then another clown beat Grandpa over the head with it. Crazy times. Here's a picture of the circus tents from above:
It was an amazing show, although I will admit that I closed my eyes while the contortionists performed. There were some outlandish costumes and more than once I found myself thinking, "Kudos to whoever had to sew that."

Of course, Thanksgiving truly began with a 3 hour drive from CitybytheBeach to Hometown, a drive that can take as little at 45 minutes in light traffic. Zeke was not pleased with the drive and was very vocal about his opinion. I have decided that I will no longer travel anywhere, not even the grocery store (especially not the grocery store), on the day before Thanksgiving.

Family Portrait

After much debate, planning, calculating, and three re-scheduled appointments, we took our family photo for 2009. Here is the unofficial version (copyright Mike who pressed the button on our camera before hurrying to get in the frame during the 10 second delay):

I'm sorry it came through grainy - it looks great in the original file. You can still see Zeke's cute belly button and just how tired he really is. He was all smiles at 6:30 a.m. today when he woke up, but that energy wore off long before we got to the studio. We'll get the official version in two weeks.

Teeth x2

Zeke has two little teeth. On the bottom, in the front, just like the baby development books told me would happen. The first tooth broke the surface on November 3, and the second one became visible just recently.

Check out those devastatingly blue eyes:
Zeke's favorite teething toy would be paper. Or mommy's finger. Or one of the plastic containers for store-bought baby food. He can be right vicious to one of those plastic containers. We added teeth and gum brushing to his bedtime routine using a special toothbrush for babies that slips over a parent's finger. Mike tells me Zeke really just bites down on the thing while Mike tries to move it around to brush. Zeke is very happy the whole time, but he doesn't quite grasp the concept.