California McMillans

 Had a great Thanksgiving in Utah.  As usual, we drove all night after work on Wednesday.  The van was running well and the kids slept predictably.  Our tradition is to stop at a Wendy's near Sacramento, and then do the drive in thirds.  I went to Fernley, NV, and then Heidi drove a few hours.  Winnemucca is the halfway point, Elko is the next major point.  The last half we had to split up a few more times. Thanksgiving day was nice.  My parents made bacon and had doughnuts and chocolate milk for us.  That was always a favorite growing up.  On Friday we did professional family photos, so all the cousins were there.  The weather was record-breaking warm and it was nice. Scott's fake teeth from ebay. Action shot of Tyler throwing the football After pictures, we went to this fun center in Kaysville called Boondocks.  It was better than expected.  Tyler and I drove the go-karts and they were faster than the ones in Bear Lake.  

I had a day off on Saturday so we decided to celebrate and go to San Francisco.  We loaded up five bikes and insta-tandem in the van, plus four radio controlled cars.  Minivans--ultra practical, luxurious and spacious.   The weather was beautiful, not just for the season, but San Francisco is notorious for its thick fog.  We enjoyed 72 degree weather all day. This was before we crossed the bridge and Kira was in good spirits.  She quickly burned out and had a melt down.  Admittedly, the northbound side was pretty uphill and there were some intense, overbearing bikers in their expensive spandex.   Scott got some comments on White Lightning and Kira got some approving smiles on Little Bike.  I found a bike on craigslist just like Little Bike for $200.  It was in super shape, as though it had never been ridden.  Ours is pretty beaten up but does the job.  Hey, Little Bike's been teaching kids to ride for over 30 years. We finished the afternoon at Crissy Field.

We had a good Halloween.  The kids had some fun events at the school, like door decorating, costume parade and class parties.   Mrs. Wheeler's 2nd grade class Mrs. Whiteneck's 3rd grade class  I went with Tyler on his field trip to the Smith family farm.  They let the kids pick out a pumpkin. I made a new set of fake teeth since the kids lost my old set.  I started them in July and finished them about two weeks ago.  It took a few minutes here and a few there.  People aren't sure how to treat me when I have them in.   Who'da thunk teeth made such a difference? We trick-or-treated in our neighborhood and the kids wanted more, so we went to Shadow Lakes with the stroller.  Tyler sat in it and complained that he was tired.  Heidi said, "Oh yeah?  Should we be done trick-or-treating?" "No!"

For the latter half of the second week of October break, we went to Southern California.  I worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and we woke up Thursday at three and left at four.  We had planned on doing two days at Disneyland and one at the beach.  We weren't sure whether to do the beach first or Disneyland, so we decided that when we arrived in LA, we'd see how we feel.   The ride was pretty smooth.  In fact, we were making great time until after the grapevine and then all of the LA traffic started piling up, even in the carpool lane.  But we still made good time and decided to go to Dizzyland first.  We unloaded the kids, packed lunches, and entered the happiest place on earth.   I like Disneyland because of its cleanliness, friendly staff, and impressive engineering.  The kids like it for the cool rides.  Heidi had stocked up on junk food and I was excited for that, because we usually do boring sandwiches and the kids talk us into a four dollar churro.  This tim