Two Days of Thanksgiving

Normally on Thanksgiving, Jeff and I try to fit in multiple family visits into one day.  This year though, with Renee in tow, we decided to go a bit easier on ourselves.  Well, that was the plan anyway :D

To start our two day holiday celebration off we packed up the car and headed to Briones Regional Park in Pleasant Hill on Thursday morning for a hike.  The weather was beautiful and the dogs had a great time running around on the trail and chasing the ball.  Renee also enjoyed the hike, she just loves being outdoors for any reason, especially if she gets to watch the dogs run around.  I wore her in my front pack and zipped my fleece jacket up over her legs so she was nice and cozy warm.  

After the dogs were tired, we drove up to my parents house for my family's Thanksgiving dinner. There were a ton of people (19) and a ton of food (enough to feed a small army).

Renee is pretty comfortable at my parents house now, and even though she only sees them about once a month, I can tell she recognizes her Grandma and Grandpa.  But when everyone else arrived she was a little overwhelmed.  It took her a while, but she warmed up to the idea of getting to know all those relatives and ended up having a great time.

Playing with cousin Credence.

Hanging out with Uncle Dave.

Chatting with cousins Olivia and Loren.

The next morning we just relaxed and let Renee play and practice crawling.  She has been working on it for a while now and about two weeks ago she figured out how to push herself up from laying on her tummy to sitting up on her butt.  So we knew she was close.

Look at that concentration.  Tongue out, just like her Daddy!

She's also been practicing her standing lately, of course she always needs something (or someone) to hang on to for balance :D

Then for lunch on Friday we went to Jeff's parent's house in Dublin. 

Grandpa Earl and the kitty, Ted 2.

Grandma Karen was so happy to see her.

After spending the afternoon with Jeff's parents we went over to my step-mom's house in Pleasanton for dinner.

Grandma Lynne and Lacey dog.

Uncle Sam.

While we were there, we let Renee play a bit on the floor.  She REALLY wanted this metal pumpkin decoration that was on Lynne's coffee table, so we put it on the floor just out of her reach and....

SHE CRAWLED!!!!!!

It was really slow, and not very far, and she looked more like a lobster than a baby, but she crawled for the first time :D  It was very exciting!  Of course Renee was just happy she got to the pumpkin.  

We went back to my parents' house to spend one more night and then came home Saturday afternoon.  It was a tiring 2 1/2 days, but very fun and well worth all the driving to see our family for the holiday.

In other Renee news, she is also getting very good at waving and saying "hi", although it sounds more like "haaaaaaa".  But, she's working on it :)  Oh, and Jeff put up some more pictures and a movie on her gallery page, so go check them out.