Long Overdue Post #1: Thanksgiving

I am aware that it has been more than 2 months since our last post, but all I can say is....soccer season started. Keeper has been busy with school (and doing great!) and I have been coaching; some weeks both varsity and jv, as the head coach's wife just had their first baby on December 12th. I am having a lot of fun with the girls and as usual, soccer season makes my teaching experience in general more fun.


We only had Thursday and Friday off from school for Thanksgiving so we opted not to travel. On Thanksgiving, I ran a 10 mile Turkey Trot out in Peoria. The race took place at the baseball spring training facility where the Mariners and Padres play. The picture to the right is of "Spike", the mascot for the 2008 Super Bowl. I thought it was pretty neat that he graced us with his presence. The picture to the left is of me finishing the race on the field. It wasn't a very exciting course (out and back) but I really like the 10 mile distance and any run on a holiday where much pigging out will follow the race is fine with me. We didn't actually do much else on T-day after the race because our guest wasn't getting in town until Friday.

K's mom flew on Friday and we went out to lunch and then relaxed the rest of the day. Our Thanksgiving feast took place on Saturday and Keeper did an excellent job with the cooking (with a little guidance from Mom). Gayle and I did some shopping while Keeper slaved away in the kitchen.... my kind of holiday! Sunday we took Gayle to the Desert Botanical Gardens. We decided to get a yearly membership so any of you who come out to visit can expect a trip there since a) it's a really cool place and b) we now have tons of guest passes.
We enjoyed the gardens again, and Gayle's visit in general. It was my first Thanksgiving not spent with my family and my grandparents' house and that was very hard for me. It was nice to see some family.