The Zoo With the Grandboys

The day after Thanksgiving we spent at the zoo with Sarah's family. Just posing at a photo op while the men were parking the vehicles.

First stop inside the zoo was the rental station. Sarah had forgotten to bring a stroller and I needed a wheelchair as I didn't think my foot could handle walking the entire zoo.

As we were going down a very steep hill, Glen pretended (I think he was pretending...) he was having a hard time holding me back so I didn't take off rolling full speed ahead down the hill.

Eli to the rescue!!! From that moment on, he became the wheelchair assistant. He held on to that thing everywhere we went. He wasn't about to let the chair holding his grandma get away from his grandpa. He would even stay back with us instead of moving closer to see the animals until we would insist he move up closer to get a good look.

His tender loving care touched us deeply.

Lincoln and Carson are enjoying a snack in their set of wheels.

Even better than the wheelchair ride was the bus ride. That way everyone got to ride. 

The pelican was my favorite animal this time. This one was having a fit whenever another bird would float by.

I decided to take pity on my pusher and walk up the hills. Someone was able to take advantage of the empty chair.

It was so enjoyable spending time with this bunch of people at the zoo!

Lincoln loved the baby polar bear.

The adult live versions were pretty entertaining as they were lumbering around their habitat.

Eli patiently waiting for lunch to be brought to him.

The kid lunches were served in these cute bags and these two boys found another use for them besides holding their food.

As much as I enjoyed my wheelchair ride, the bus ride was my favorite. Especially when we moved to the top, open-air level and could see everything at the zoo so much better than in the window-enclosed bottom of the bus.

Looks like someone got tuckered out in the late afternoon hours. On the other hand, Carson is like the Energizer Bunny who keeps going and going and going...

Since the San Diego Temple is right on the way home from the zoo, we stopped there just as the sun was going down and the lights were turning on.

The next day was a work day for us. We sat down to watch some videos in preparation for our upcoming MLC and the little boys came running to watch them with us. They were so cute to watch each one intently and then we sang our favorite songs in between videos.

That day the Excell family went to watch the sea lions and they hiked the inactive volcano which is nearby. We have not even seen it yet. We had dinner together at Texas Roadhouse. YUM!

The men are all dressed up because

1. this is how Glen dresses 99 1/2% of the time anyway, and
2. they were going straight to the temple from the restaurant.

Lincoln pulled all the books out of this cubbyhole and had a fun time putting himself inside it instead.

Sunday morning was a sad day because that meant the Excell family was leaving to drive back to Utah.

We absolutely loved the time we got to spend with this adorable family.

Glen is right. Eli, Carson and Lincoln are definitely grandboys, who are being raised by grand parents who have grandparents who love them and also love their parents.

Sarah and Family Come to Town for Beach/Thanksgiving

This was a cute sight to behold as I looked out the mission office door one afternoon. Sarah's family had come to town for the Thanksgiving holiday.

I took them on a tour of the church building and let the little boys run wild and crazy around the gym while Glen was busy finishing up a training session for the missionaries who had been out 8 weeks.

Lincoln and I had some bonding time in the entryway of our home. There are two steps going down to the living room and he was having the best time playing on those two stairs.

Carson and Eli had gotten new Lego sets to assemble when they got here. They both played so cute together with their Legos whenever they were home.

A very kind grandpa wanted to take his grandboys (as he calls them) to a fun place. Turns out it wasn't very crowded, so it was awesome.

Once back at home, the meal planner got us busy making the delectable desserts she envisioned had to be made to qualify the meal for the next day worthy of the title "Thanksgiving dinner."

Ignore the two bags of candy. They were not part of the ingredients of our delicious dinner.

Look at these cute boys!!

Jeff got in on the cooking action Thanksgiving Day morning. He loves to make his specialty cheesecake.

Glen got the turkey in the oven and then we were off to spend the morning at the beach!

Lincoln got sidetracked with some birds.

He's still getting sidetracked with birds.

  There seems to be a continuing bird theme going on with Lincoln.

Eli spent so much time out in the water enjoying the waves that he missed the crazy car parade going on up on the coastal road.

It was fun watching the three boys playing in the sand.

 

We old folks enjoyed sitting on the bench...

...watching the Excell family playing together on the beach...

...until one of us got so tired he decided to trade in the bench for the grass. Where is Lincoln when we have a bird so close???

We had a great time at the beach until we started craving our Thanksgiving feast.

Both Jeff and Glen were not as keen on the traditional cornbread stuffing as Sarah and I were, so they decided they needed someone to stop at a store on the way home to get some Stove Top stuffing.

We volunteered to go to the store. Lo and behold, we saw a Spanish store and in we went to find this blessed sight. One lone box of Stove Top stuffing! Hallelujah!

(Don't anyone tell Sarah and Jeff that there were actually 4 other boxes next to the mashed potatoes and that I removed them to stage this dramatic photo to text to them.

But honestly, this is the view I saw when I first glanced down the aisle and I just wanted to recreate the excitement I felt when I saw the one lone box and felt like we were the luckiest people in the store to have gotten the last box.)

The cooking turkey smelled so delicious when we walked into the house.

It wasn't long before we had all our food spread out on the table and everyone was ready to dig in and eat the feast.

But first, a family photo. Minus Sarah. She was taking the photo. We should have had Eli take the picture because he was purposely busy hiding behind Jeff for the photo.

We have many things to be thankful for this year as in years past. Glen and I were very thankful we had the Excell family here with us.