We've been very busy the last few days getting ready for the holidays and of course now with the holidays. Every year we travel down to southern California to spend time with our family. First we go to Ian's parents. Then we go to my parents.
Although it isn't time for a Thursday Thirteen, I'm going to use that sort of format to illustrate the highlights of what we've been doing.
Friday: After a busy week of work for me and a busy week of writing and studying for Ian, we took Friday to take Caligula cat to "cat camp" in Pacifica.
Caligula was happy to get to camp. She loves the horses but she hated the ride. She howled the entire hour drive. Harriet meowed along with her. |
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Along the way to Shamrock Ranch ("cat camp") we drove by the site of the future Devil's Slide tunnel. I wish I had managed to capture a photograph of the tunnel end on the Montara side of things. It's just started and so cool.
I did manage to get photographs of the bridge and the cranes at the Pacifica side of things. The bridge crosses over the tail end of Shamrock Ranch. Caligula will be able to watch the construction from her kennel. |
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| Here is Ian checking in Caligula. We've been taking her to Shamrock Ranch since 1999. If we move from the Bay Area, Shamrock Ranch will be one of the things I'll miss most. |
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| Before heading home we stopped for lunch at the most beautiful Taco Bell ever. It's right on the edge of San Pedro beach in Pacifica. We don't normally eat at Taco Bell but we make an exception for this one because of the location. |
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Saturday: With Ian and Harriet both suffering from a cold we got a slower than usual start for our drive down to South Pasadena. We arrived at Ingram Creek for breakfast at eleven and didn't get on the road properly until noon.
From looking back at last year's blog entry, we actually had an easier drive this year. We averaged 50 mph but in bursts of 80 mph and 0 mph. For the first couple of hours we were stopping because of accidents every half an hour or so. We ended up arriving at 7PM.
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Sunday:
Since we got in a couple days before Christmas, Sean's grandparents took him to buy a Christmas tree.
Although he's seen Christmas trees at school and at my parents' home, it was his first time of actually picking one out and decorating it. |
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| Sean and I had so much fun decorating the tree. It was his first time. The last time I helped decorate a tree was probably ten years ago. It's been so long I don't actually remember what year it was. |
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| Harriet did her part too. She picked out the ornaments from the bag. |
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When we were done with the tree, we had fun coloring together. Judy and Charlie found a fantastic giant sized coloring book and box of 196 crayons. Sean, Harriet and I have been having fun coloring in it.
The book brings back memories of the oversized coloring books Grandma Flora Mae used to have for me at her house. She and I would lie on the floor on our stomachs and color together for hours. |
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Monday: Today is Christmas Eve. Glenn and Krys arrived from their drive down from Canada. They spent last night in Sacramento.
We had prime rib, potatoes, Thanksgiving rolls and Brussels sprouts for dinner. It's the same lovely meal that we had last year.
Afterwards we exchanged presents. I got two pairs of silly socks and a lovely new blank diary.
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That sums up all our last few days. Tomorrow we head down to San Diego to spend Christmas. We'll be back to South Pasadena on Saturday.
