Thankful for Thanksgiving Season

I've been breathing a deep sigh of relief since Thanksgiving Eve.  The craziness of fall work and travel officially subsided at that point and our family has since settled into the swing of enjoying the holidays, and each other, at a much more reasonable pace.

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving with all of Zac's family as is tradition.  This giant ham provided three delicious turkey breasts for the big meal:

We enjoyed the special time with family but also spent parts of the beautiful weekend at the zoo ...

... and in the park.

Everybody was happy to get some extra time outside.

We began to deck the halls which Cael had been talking about for weeks.  He couldn't wait turn on the exterior Christmas lights and gladly started pulling out all of the decorations.  He began by decorating his own little tree and making the tough decisions like which star should top his creation.

We moved onto the big tree ...

... as our monster truck-lovin' little guy carefully played with and placed the ornaments.

We just added to the holiday fun with a trip on the North Pole Express this weekend.  After getting his ticket punched by the conductor,

receiving his "I Believe" bell from Mrs. Claus,

and walking through the North Pole snow,

Cael finally got to meet the big guy in the red suit.

He still needed a little back-up from mom for his visit with Santa but he did share his Christmas requests:  "monkey slippers with brown on them and a monkey costume with brown on it."  Not sure what the inspiration was for his gift ideas but he has remained consistent when discussing his planned conversation with Santa over the past couple of weeks.

Cael did warm up a bit once Santa suggested they break out some reindeer antlers.  I love Santa :)

It was a great night spent riding the train, meeting Santa, hanging out with Grandma,

and taking in the beautiful sights of the season.

We've had a lot of holiday fun but the most special pre-Christmas moment came for me a couple of weeks ago.  One of the organizations that I support annually is Operation Christmas Child which provides Christmas gifts to children in need around the globe.  I thought Cael would be old enough to help me put together the gifts this year and so we started talking about the items we would purchase and who would receive them.

We spent quite some time working through the general idea of giving to others and not expecting anything in return.  We talked about how we feel when someone does something nice for us and how we wanted a few other little boys to feel just that way at Christmas.

The discussions we had were so special and my heart bordered on bursting as I saw him grasp the idea of giving.  He excitedly came up with ideas for our gifts and happily shopped for the items without asking for any of them for himself.  The morning finally came to assemble the gifts and he simply glowed as he placed each item in the little boxes.

I could not have been more proud of our little guy, especially as we prayed for the children who would receive the gifts.  I just melted into a giant puddle as he eagerly handed each gift to the woman collecting them ... I hope that image always stays in my mind.  Cael's Christmas gifting was definitely the cap on a beautiful season of thanksgiving.

The Adventures of our Mountain Man (AKA Iron Man)

Cael has always had an adventurous spirit and a love for outside activities.  At the age of one he became quite obsessed with Zac's outdoor gear, especially the kayak (and its oars).

As Cael closed in on year 2, he received his first tent and quickly fell in love with the whole concept of camping.

His third year marked his initial interest in hiking and "mountain climbing" as seen in this shot of his first summit (on a giant dirt pile in the back of our development).

Zac, of course, has loved stoking our little guy's interests in outdoor adventures so in between Cael's current interests and activities ...

... we decided to add in a camping adventure before we ran out of warm fall weather. 

The guys fit in a little time fishing.

Cael fit in a lot of time organizing the tackle box.

We wrapped up the evening with soccer and tag, hot dogs and marshmallows on the campfire as well as cuddles and movies in the tent with Cael's iguana buddy.

Cael stayed busy in the morning investigating what neighboring animal decided to snack on his marshmallows and giving his friend (and sporting equipment) one last ride around the campsite in the wagon.

We wrapped up the adventure with one last hike through the prickly pear fields ...

... and returned home to a ton of Halloween fun.

The little man loved the pumpkin farm and found joy at every turn:

Inflatable fun.

Hay ride fun.

Pumpkin fun.

I was even able to get my hands on the little guy for a second or two ...

... before he disappeared again into the piles of pumpkins.  In the days that followed, Cael had an amazing time trunk-or-treating at school and then cruising through the neighborhood on Halloween night for all of his candy collecting.  I'm still enjoying all of Iron Man's hard work :)

We had many, many good times this fall but we're ready for the winter fun that lies ahead.  The lights are up on the house and Cael is anxious for Thanksgiving to wrap up so that we can turn them on.  We're all ready to start singing Christmas carols.  Our tickets for the North Pole Express are booked.  Cael talks daily about decorating his Christmas tree.  Lots of fun ahead!

End-of-Summer Sprint

July vacation was wonderful but we were met upon our return with a mad dash through the rest of the summer.  I would like to think that the rapid pace was just a result of lots of fun but regardless, we woke up one morning and Cael was suddenly heading off to his first official day of preschool!

The end of Cael's summer was filled with several other "firsts" including his first visit to the circus.  He loved the show but the cotton candy was a close second.

 

 

Cael also completed his first round of swim lessons.  He was very proud of the wristband that he was awarded ... until he lost it in another pool, of course.

 



Cael also did a great job at his first dentist appointment on his own (I've held him at every other appointment up to now).  He had such a good time that we've continued to "play dentist" since the visit.

The little guy's most exciting "first" had to be his first fish that was caught while fishing with Zac, Grayson and Uncle Cody.  I'm not sure whether Zac or Cael was more excited about this experience but it was special to see the guys having such a great time together.

All of Cael's firsts were pretty exciting but we fit in a few adventures too.  I enjoyed time visiting one of my dearest friends during a trip to Napa ...

... and San Francisco.

Zac headed into the Alaskan wilderness ...

... where he enjoyed a little time in the mountains.

Cael fit in his own adventure on the very last weekend of summer as we spent time with Zac's family at the Gaylord Texan.  The big excitement was the waterpark ...

... but he found fun at every turn.  As he explored the resort he visited with fish along the River Walk,

checked out the big boots from the glass elevator,

inspected the train displays,

and marveled at the Gaylord Texan replica made from Legos.

He also enjoyed the weekend's culinary offerings including a delicious sampling of his breakfast favorities,

a relaxing, poolside lunch,

and dinner with some very interesting creatures at Rainforest Café.

He loved the time with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles but also made a new friend or two during his visit.

 

We were sad to see summer go but are looking forward to lots of fall fun.  Cael has already moved through 3 different Halloween costume selections so we're excited to see "who" or "what" we'll be trick-or-treating with in just a few weeks!