FINALLY I have a few minutes to skim through the past few weeks, which I once again have chosen to do with a picture-heavy entry (which is way more fun than reading my boring words anyway, right?).
So let's jump to the earlier part of November, before turkeys had been bought or pies had been made. We decided to take the kids to their first ever circus ("The Great American Circus" to be exact) . . . but since there were no animals, only one ring, no bearded ladies, and only a couple clowns, I would qualify it more as a trapezing/dancing/specialty-act type of event . . . but it was cool and fun nonetheless.
Apparently, however, this was still not enough to keep Zander entertained . . .
Around that time we also enjoyed the arrival of some old friends of mine, Jen and Justen, and their son Jaxson. We all go way back to my Montana days in Bozeman. I met them both right after I graduated from college, in '99, and then just a short year after that, Jen and I moved into together in Seattle. Justen was also going to school in Seattle at the time, so we all spent a lot of time together during my Seattle years. This was their first visit to Oahu, so we did all the usual things that are on the Palm family tour. Long story short, we had a wonderful time with them, and it was so great to just relax and enjoy the company of good friends.
They stayed with us for a week, and shortly after they left, it was time to participate in the preschool's annual auction that we spent months preparing for. The auction went really well, and the night was made even better when my friends decided to surprise me a with an early birthday celebration . . . and man, Risha can cook one mean cake. Oh, and of course there was wine too. ;)
We also had some other old friends from Oregon, the Smith family, arrive for a vacation that same weekend, so we enjoyed a day of lounging out at their beach rental, hanging out at the pool . . .
Eating an early Thanksgiving dinner . . .
And I even decided to take each of the kids out for a scenic canoe ride . . .
The kids got to hang with their good buddy, Conner (or "Corner" as Zander likes to call him) . . .
And we just enjoyed a nice long day catching up with the Smiths and all their Portland friends (and boy are they a fun group of people those Portlanders!). Shortly thereafter, my Dad arrived to share my birthday and Thanksgiving with all of us. He was even lucky enough to catch the preschool's annual Thanksgiving feast.
While my Dad was here, we did a lot of the usual stuff, lounging at the beach, swimming at the pool, eating a lot of food . . . you know, the usual vacation stuff. Can't help but love this place . . .
A local fisherman found these cool sea creatures for the kids . . . a sea cucumber and a starfish.
On my Dad's last day in town, we decided to go pay a little visit to Santa. As usual, the kids got their pictures with Santa done, but I'm going to save that one for my annual installment of the the Palm kids with Santa (coming soon!). But here is Santa reminding the kiddos about his reindeer . . . 
And, of course, we had to end the morning with the Christmas train ride. Since we were the first riders of the day, the conductor decided to take the kids on 6 laps instead of the usual 2 . . . guess that must mean they are on Santa's "Good Kid" list.
So, let's see, where does that leave us . . . ah yes, Christmas.
The next three weeks will obviously be primarily dedicated to Christmas and all its affiliated activities . . . children's Christmas parties (2 of them), adult Christmas party (2 of them), shopping, wrapping, cooking, decorating, eating, etc., etc. . . . and this year we have Grammy Bev (Brian's mom) to join in the fun. She will be arriving on Tuesday and staying for a whole month, so we are all looking forward to that. Oh, and I suppose I shouldn't forget to mention that we will also be squeezing a couple birthdays in there too, Brian's on the 11th and Charley's on the 23rd (with a co-Princess birthday party with Quinn, to-be-held in a couple weeks).
Wow, it exhausting just talking about all of it. Guess I better go take a nap . . . ;)
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