Thanksgiving, First Solid Food, Christmas Trees and more

So, my parents came out to spend Thanksgiving with us. They arrived on Thanksgiving afternoon and I had somehow managed to prepare a passable holiday feast...although Mike is still upset that I didn't make any stuffing. Luckily Mom got there in time to prepare the gravy, which was DELICIOUS as always. We had a turkey breast stuffed with sausage and raisins, among other things--not sure why more people don't make turkey breasts, they are delicious and dead easy. Also had gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, salad, apple tart-cake (a la Orangette). Had to cut out the sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry relish and pumpkin pie--no time, maybe next year.



Walt observing Thanksgiving dinner from the jumperoo:



Of course, it's not Thanksgiving without the A&M-Longhorns match-up. Walt had fun watching with Mike.



Saturday-Monday we rented a house in Sea Ranch, up in Mendocino County. Sea Ranch--doesn't it sound lovely? And boy, was it. On the way up we hit the Anderson Valley wineries along 128, including Goldeneye:





Sunday and Monday were full of lots of relaxing and exploring the gorgeous trails at Sea Ranch.



























At lunch in Gualala...too bad, not scenic at all.



On the way home we cut through to Healdsburg, stopping at one of our favorite wineries, Ferrari-Carrano. Walt enjoying his tour of the grounds:



Last week, Walt started solid food! Well, if you can call super-runny rice cereal "solid"...

We were so excited and recorded the event with cameras and video cameras--Walt clearly could not see what the big deal was and acted as though he'd been eating solids his whole life. No big messes, no stubborn refusals. Yesterday I made him some carrots and he gobbled those up, too. So far a good eater! Phew!











We also had fun selecting our Christmas tree:











And some more pics, just for fun...