Day 334: Let's get the celebrating started!

We went to Wal-Mart today to get a few things, and Elizabeth saw this CD and wanted to get it. She's suddenly developed a love for Phineas and Ferb, and this CD is quite fun. We have it on in the car to help us get into the Christmas spirit.

Day 333: I did it!

I finished my NaNoWriMo novel on Thanksgiving evening. I'm pleased that I finished, but I'm not happy with the way the story turned out. I still like the idea, I still think it has potential, but I don't think I'll be doing any editing on this version of it. Finishing another 50,000 word novel is still a great feeling though!

Day 332: Au revoir Mum and Dad

Today Mum and Dad flew home. We dropped them off at the airport for their eleven hour journey. It was a little sad, as always, but I know they'll be back soon. The kids dealt with it very well, although the goodbye presents Mum and Dad got them probably helped!

Day 331: Train of Lights

Today we took our annual Christmas ride on the Train of Lights. The Niles Canyon Railway decorates a train each year with hundreds of Christmas lights, and you get a visit from Santa while you're riding it. The kids always love it. Well, Edward was a little scared at first, but once we got going he soon calmed down and had a great time. This year we took the earlier train, which leaves in the daylight and returns in the dark, so we got the best of both worlds - we saw the passing scenery while it was still light, then saw the magic of all the lights when it got dark.

Day 330: Children's Discovery Museum

We took a trip to San Jose today to visit the Children's Discovery Museum. When we arrived the place had been evacuated and was surrounded by fire trucks, which was exciting. We didn't have to wait long until it was reopened though, and the kids had lots of fun playing on all the exhibits.

Day 329: Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Today we celebrated in the usual way. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, then the National Dog Show, then stuffed ourselves with turkey. Dave did all the cooking as usual, and it was delicious as always. He also made the centerpiece, with a little help from Elizabeth and Edward.

Day 328: Watercolor art exhibit

Today we went to see a watercolor art exhibit at the Firehouse Arts Center, the same place we went to see James and the Giant Peach a few weeks ago. My mum is a painter, and I thought she would enjoy it. There were some lovely paintings there, very expensive! I didn't take my camera because I didn't think we would be allowed to take pictures, but they said it was fine as long as we didn't use the flash. So I took a few with my phone camera.

Day 327: Online fun with Grandad

Elizabeth and Grandad are playing kid games online. I'm not sure who is enjoying it more!

Day 326: Safari West

Today we took a trip to Safari West. It's a small safari park about two hours drive from here. We were all really looking forward to it. Unfortunately things didn't quite go as planned. First, it rained. There was only a 30% chance according to the forecast, but we got it. That wasn't terrible though, as we went prepared for rain. The worse thing was, Edward refused to ride on the Jeep. Ever since I took him on a roller coaster in the summer, he has refused to ride on anything that remotely resembles one. He wouldn't even ride the train at the zoo last week, even though he loves trains. I tried to force him to stay on the Jeep until he got going, hoping that he would calm down once he realized it was just a car, but he was having such a fit I was asked to take him off.

So everyone else went off on the tour, and I took Edward back to the car. The tour was supposed to take 2 or 3 hours, so we went for a long drive. Edward took a nap, and I tried to calm down. When we got back we sat in the car and I did some writing for a little bit. Then we went to use the bathroom, and ran into the others who had just got back. They got very wet, and didn't see many exotic animals because of the rain. I was, however, able to get a refund for Edward's and my tickets, so not all was lost.

I took this photo while we were still waiting for the tour to start, before all the drama started. It was the closest I got to the animals. Oh well. Maybe next year.

Day 325: Watching the Steelers

Edward and Dave watched the Steelers trounce the Raiders today, despite an obviously biased ref who had something against the Steelers. Dave gets quite caught up in the excitement, and then the kids start joining in, even though they don't know what's going on. It's cute.

Day 324: Fun with paper!

This is a game I used to play with my brother and sister when I was little, and has now been passed on to the next generation. My dad gets hold of unused till rolls, which you unroll and then roll around in. It's amazing how much fun that can be! The more rolls you have, the better. We only had four, as Edward wanted to keep a couple for his 'treasure truck', but the kids still had lots of fun with it. Even us adults had a go :)

Day 323: School Thankful Feast

Today Elizabeth's class had a Thankful Feast. Everyone brought some food, and all the family was invited. It was fun.

Day 322: It's too nice not to go for a walk!

It was a beautiful day for a walk today. Not too hot or cold, and all the trees look amazing. I took this walking along the creek near Elizabeth's school.

Day 321: Knitting

Mum is inspiring me to get my knitting out again. She's making a blanket out of different colored triangles.

Day 320: Oakland Zoo

Today we took a trip to our local zoo. We go there most years, the kids always have a great time. And the weather was fantastic.

Day 319: TV addicts

Never underestimate the power of the Backyardigans.

Day 318: Grandad's here!

My Dad arrived today for a two week visit. It's been a year since he was last here, so it is really nice to have him here again. Once again I'm happy how quickly the kids took to him. They were fine with him right from the start. Yay for web cameras!

Day 317: Goodwill hunting

Today we made one of our regular trips to the Valley to do some bargain hunting at the Goodwill stores in Cupertino, Moutain View and Sunnyvale. We all came home with armfuls of goodies.

Day 316: Look what I made in school today :)

I co-oped in Elizabeth's class again today, and this is the project I was working on with the kids this time. I got to make one myself to figure out the process. We made them by placing some leaves on some wax paper, sprinkling some crumbled crayon over them, covering them with another piece of wax paper, then ironing the whole thing to melt the crayon. It's a very cool effect!

Day 315: Walking, riding and scooting

Elizabeth had the day off school today for Veteran's Day, so we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Elizabeth took her scooter out on the streets for the first time, and had a great time. And we saw a fire truck in the Lucky parking lot so Edward was happy too.

Day 314: Pretty

This is how most of the streets look at the moment. So pretty.

Day 313: My latest project

Mum is working on a knitting project, and it inspired me to dig out my own knitting project. I started this years ago when I was still living in England, and haven't done any work on it for a couple of years now. It's quite relaxing though, so I'm going to pick it up again. It's going to be a blanket of some sort :)

Day 312: Mum's here again :)

Mum's back for another visit. Dad will be here too in a week. I'm always so happy to see how affectionate the kids are with her. They see her quite often on the web camera, and it really seems to make a difference. They both ran up to her and gave her a big hug at the airport, and were immediately perfectly at ease with her.

Day 311: RCIA team

Today we had nine new people go through the Rite of Acceptance and join the RCIA team. Afterward I took head shots of the entire group that will be posted on boards outside both the churches in the run up to Easter. They all came out really well. I also took this group shot of the other team leaders and me.

Day 310: It's never too early for the Polar Express

Edward is still crazy about trains, so I put The Polar Express on for him today. He loves it. Between you and me, so do I, which is why I don't mind watching it this far in advance of Christmas!

Day 309: The leaves are turning

I love this time of year. The colors of the trees are so beautiful. Time to break out the polarizing filter!

Day 308: "A present for you Mommy"

Elizabeth likes to give me little flowers as presents to keep in the car. This is the latest one. She's so cute.

Day 307: My novel has given me whiplash

I've got a really stiff neck today. It started on Monday. Yesterday it felt a little better, but today I can hardly move it. I think it's from sitting and writing in long stretches in uncomfortable positions. I bought a reusable heating pad, but it's not helping much. I'm going to try and take a day off writing today and hope it's feeling better tomorrow.

Day 306: Birthday celebrations at our writing group

Tonight we had cake at our writing group! Tom, the guy who started the group, turned 30, so we thought we should celebrate.

Day 305: A month of noveling madness begins!

National Novel Writing Month began today. This is my fourth year attempting the challenge, but I've only succeeded once, in 2008. I'm very optimistic about this year though. I have a good plot and a good outline. I started writing at midnight last night, and wrote 2000 words in an hour before going to sleep. If I can keep that kind of pace up I should have no trouble finishing 50,000 words by November 30th.