Hanukah with the family

We flew to southern California to have Hanukah and Christmas with grandma Gloria, (in Ontario), grandma Linda and papa Marvin (in Carlsbad), Amos, Thuy and baby Spencer, and Eve, David, Zoe, Elliot and Ian (in LA).

It was so nice to see everyone! Ruby played very well with everyone, especially with cousin Zoe. She loved to be in her big girl room. Cousin Zoe even let Ruby share her new set of colorful beads.

Ian's loose tooth was pretty fascinating.

We sang the prayers and lit hanukah candles all eight nights. Ruby really got the hang of it.

We walked the dogs with grandma Gloria, played in leaves and picked oranges.

At Amos' house Ruby felt very relieved to discover that there would not be an elephant in the white elephant gift game.

At Eve's house we had a big Christmas, which was a first for Ruby Paul and Heidi. We had breakfast all together while everyone opened presents. The funniest gift was "Handerpants", underpants for hands,(running gloves). The funniest sign was on Zoe's bedroom door. It said "ELLIOT NOT ALLOWED!" The sign on Elliot and Ian's door had been edited. It was just a happy holidays message.

When we returned home we had an extra night of hanukah so we could see our neighbors and Ruby's friend Aaron. He is older (8 years old) but we always enjoy seeing he and his family. Aaron and Ruby share a deep love of cats. And today they also liked playing the marble game together.

A visit from cousins Mitchell, Ann Mari and Julianna

Mitchell, Ann Mari and Julianna Ratner stopped by on their way u to meet Harriet. They flew in from DC. Ruby showed them the hopscotch squares she made with daddy and how to ride around the block collecting good rocks and leaves.

Decorating our Hanukah Ficus

Ruby asked for a christmas tree like she saw at Lauren's daycare and at her friends houses. So we decorated our big "Hanukah Ficus" and a very small christmas tree for the table. Ruby made a lot of the decorations herself. It was beautiful. I especially like the hairbands she put on it.

Aidan's 3rd Birthday

Aidan had a great party in the yard in front of his house. Ruby waited her turn in a long line of kids. Then she really hit the dragon pinata hard!

Aidan got to choose any kind of ice cream he wanted for his cake. Nobody had ever seen orange sherbet cake before. Some kids weren't to sure about it, but most of them ate it anyway. Ruby said it was sour, but still ate half her piece. The blue frosting was good.

Ruby saw lots of her other friends at the party too, including Niko, Ava, Clara, Auggie and Aurora.

Thanksgiving in Mendocino

We took a family trip up to Mendocino to stay with Harriet and Larry at their beautiful house for Thanksgiving. Ruby did very well on the long drive.

There we saw our friends Junie moon, Sarah, Tim, and Kamala, Jack and their 3 year old son Aaron.

Ruby and Aaron enjoyed playing together.

Once when Ruby walked away from playing (she went with daddy to go to the bathroom) Aaron said "Where's my little girl?"

Ruby made her specialty, "hot-choc-mock-bliver" (mock chopped liver) as an appetizer and everyone loved it.

At Harriet's house we picked raspberries and apples. And Ruby learned to use a maddox (a flat ended pick axe) to help dig pathways to drain the big puddles. Our friend Kamala said she was playing with "country toys".

After dinner we all went on a walk to look for mushrooms. Larry showed Ruby and Aaron how to find edible ones. We also heard lots of frogs. We stopped by another person's beautiful garden house along the way and Ruby sampled the rolls and butter over there.

The next day Jack and Aaron took us in their big pickup truck to visit Glass Beach. Ruby liked picking the tiny, colorful glass pebbles out of the sand. Aaron liked running up to the waves and then running away. Ruby thought Aaron was very funny.

I think Ruby will fondly remember splashing in those fantastic puddles with Aaron. Mendocino has great puddles.