Kickin' It

Alex really likes to kick his legs.  So much so that we made up a little song:

Alex is kickin' kickin' kickin'
Like a chicken chicken chicken
Bawk a bawk a bawk a bawk a bawk

Pretty good lyrics, huh? You should hear the tune!

Anyway, since he likes kicking so much Evan's old Kickee Bear is the perfect toy for him:

Drawing Cars

Evan got a new Cars drawing tablet from our friend Loren at our post-Thanksgiving brunch, which he absolutely loves.  And what does he spend most of his time drawing on his new tablet?  Cars of course:

Brunch at Penny's

The day after returning from Newport Beach we went over to our friend Penny's for a post-Thanksgiving brunch. Since there were plenty of other hands about we thought we might be able to pose ourselves for a suitable Christmas card picture, but the stars did not align themselves. We did get a passable family portrait for posting here, though:

We also took some pictures of the next generation of boys which turned out pretty well (given the difficulties of getting three boys under the age of 2½ to sit still).  To Evan's right are first Penny and David's son Zach and then Shannon and Lindel's son Justin:

Cheerleading Practice

Not that we really want Alex to become a cheerleader, but if that's what he chooses to do he's got a head start in his training:

Burrito Boy

One repercussion of having a little baby around is that Evan every so often wants to be treated like a baby himself.  This usually involves swaddling him in a soft blanket (or wrapping him up like a burrito -- the act is the same, the terminology just depends on the context), carrying him around the room, and sometimes burping him:

Evan thinks it's hilarious, but carrying a 30+ lbs. "baby" is not the same as carrying an actual baby.  I think my arms are still recovering.

Thanksgiving Day

So as you know, the whole point of our trip down to Newport Beach was to be there for Thanksgiving.  Steph's aunt and uncle and their kids (and their kids' kids) who live around L.A. all came to Melissa's for the day so there was quite a crowd (it ended up being more people than attended the Metz family festivities back in Columbus).  Instead of trying to setup folding tables and such inside Melis arranged for us to sit on the back patio, and fortunately the weather cooperated with a beautiful 80° sunny day:

Never a slave to the weather, Evan insisted on wearing the new race car sweatshirt Aunt Lisa and Uncle Bob gave him despite the fact that it put him at risk for heat stroke:

As you can see from the makeup of the kids' table, Evan had his work cut out for him representing his gender this day.  In a year or two Alex will be able to lend a hand, but they're still going to be sorely outnumbered for the foreseeable future:

I don't think any of these other pictures actually occurred on Thanksgiving day, but I don't really have a better place to put them and I wanted to include them somewhere since they're all good pictures (or in one case, significant to me).

First, here are Steph and Alex hanging out with all three girls the day after we arrived:

This picture of almost all of us (Megan chose to steal some time to herself) walking down to the beach is not that great of a picture, but its significance is monumental.  Never before has a moment of community exercise occurred at a Goetsch family get-together since I've been going to these things (which is about 10 years now)!  Sheilagh even took off running at one point!!  I almost passed out from the shock.  I have no explanation for this radical turn of events.  None whatsoever.

Last, here are a couple cute pictures of Alex, first sitting with his Grandpa Jim:

and then enjoying his bouncy chair:

Chuck E. Cheese's

We were planning on going down to San Diego while we were down south and stopping by Legoland along the way.  When we realized how much it was going to cost (over $600 just to get in if we all went!) and balanced that against how much of the park Evan was going to be too small to enjoy we decided to abort that plan and instead go to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch.

Evan was a little unsure of several of the louder and flashier games, but he did have a good time riding in a patriotic car with Delaney:

watching Mommy play a horse riding game:

and marveling at the magic that is Chuck himself:

Watching Chuck perform inspired Evan to run, although I'm not entirely sure if he was running towards the stage or away from it... you be the judge:

The Pillow Series

We took a whole series of photos of Alex smiling at everyone while he was lying in someone's lap (can't remember who):

Dad Came Too

I basically included this picture just to prove I went on this trip too:

Puppy Towel

Just because you go on vacation is no reason to take a bath without your puppy towel: