Palm Springs

We flew to Palm Springs for Thanksgiving break, meeting up with Carl, Kim, and their girls. Sunday was a packing and travel day for both families - we arrived late in the day to our rental house in Desert Springs. And then everyone slept badly, so Monday was a lazy day. We grocery shopped - I bought a pineapple to remember last year in Hawaii - the girls played in the pool - the boys watched NCAA volleyball and World Cup soccer.

And then in the afternoon we gathered ourselves up and went to Palm Springs. We got ice cream and toffee, did some window shopping, and then had dinner at a really wonderful Mexican restaurant, Tah/Quila.

learner's permit!

Watch out, world! Sebastian successfully passed the knowledge test and earned his driver's learners permit on Thursday. I would say he's been waiting for this moment -- the opportunity to drive -- since about age 4. 

Sebastian turns 15!

We celebrated Sebastian's birthday on Friday with a few presents and cards and a weekend-long smorgasbord of his favorite foods: cinnamon buns, Hawaiian pizza, chicken pot pie, cheeseburgers and Caesar salad, French toast, black bean nachos, and strawberry shortcake. He hung out with his friends at the field every day -- soccer on Friday, basketball and bike riding on Saturday, and football on Sunday. It was a good, low-key celebration weekend. Happy 15th!

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Liesl's birthday party

On Friday, we celebrated Liesl's birthday with three friends and a sleepover party. The girls had so much fun - Ella, Fiona, and Elia. We kicked things off with bowling and arcade games at Kingpin's.

Dinner at McMenamin's

 

And then home for some karaoke and disco dancing.

Presents!

Chocolate cupcake decorating: whipped cream, caramel, various sprinkles, raspberries, chocolate chips, pecans. And eating.

After cupcakes there was more dancing (they choreographed and filmed themselves doing some Tiktok dances) and then they got changed into pajamas and curled up on the couch to watch a movie. We made them go to bed at 11, and then we went to bed, but apparently they stayed awake talking for hours. Typical tween girl "sleep" over. :) They slept until nearly 10 and then came upstairs for a lavish breakfast spread: waffles, bacon, berries, scrambled eggs.

 

And then there was the one and only, world famous, amazing and spectacular, annual birthday scavenger hunt, created by Steve. 

C'est fini. Girls went home, tired and happy.