Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. I love all the traditions and the family time and the FOOD. Our weekend as FILLED with activity.

Saturday we went to the Pumpkin Patch with the niece and nephew. Pictures to come tomorrow. We had an awesome time and the weather was amazing. We were definitely thankful for that!

Saturday evening we had dinner with the BFFs. We hadn’t seen them in forever. Once the school year gets going Elise is so busy with coaching and marking and all that fun stuff, but it was nice to finally get a chance to sit down and enjoy their company. What I love about us is that we are casual enough with each other that Elise and I can tap out of the evening at any point with out seeming rude. I passed out on the couch for 2 hours after dinner and she went to bed shortly after that. After my late night nap Colin joined us and we ended up staying till almost 3 watching the Rugby World Cup live. Talk about a random evening! Touch. Pause. ENGAGE.

Sunday I was exhausted and slept most of the day before getting ready to head out to Chads Sisters house for dinner. She made all the traditional Thanksgiving food that I love so I was super pumped. Plus free flowing wine and hilarious stories made for a most enjoyable evening. I even got to spend some quality time with the niece, though our sillyness tends to get her a little hyper, but it’s my fault entirely. I am a big kid that likes to egg her on and we laugh and are silly until something breaks or someone gets hurt haha. Thankfully neither of those things happened this time around! In the theme of Thanksgiving, I must say I am super thankful that I married Chad and his amazing family. You always hear stories about the psycho Mother in Law, or the family from hell and I can happily say neither of us have those.  The Ciavarros/Heagles are the nicest, warmest, most entertaining family on the block! And of course, my family ain’t that bad either ;)

Monday there was more sleeping. Eating and drinking and entertaining is hard work and our bodies needed to recover. We went over to my parents house in the afternoon for the start of our 3rd Thanksgiving dinner (if you count Ryan and Elises as a pseudo one). More food and wine and family. It was good times as always, with the occasional Italian loudness about the garbage bag leaking and the dog licking the plates in the dishwasher and the wanting to go home to watch TV at 7:30. Standard issue really. It’s not family night at the parentals with out it.

And the best part about Thanksgiving weekend? A week filled with amazing leftovers!

We pressed the grapes all day Sunday.

Yes, buying juice and making wine that way would make life easier but would it be this much fun? No, of course not.

This is tradition. This is what we do. This is life.

We are the Italian Stallions.

It’s that time of year again.

I only see Pia once a year, but it always feels like I’ve visiting with a relative. Someone who has been in my life for 26 years. A constant. A reminder of the old country. I love seeing her face.

We got a new de-stemer this year. Dump everything in, grapes go to one side, stems go to the other. I was skeptical but that thing works like a million bucks.

 Now everything gets to sit in the basement for a week while it ferments. Pressing might happen this weekend or next Monday. The smell will permeate the entire house. Mom will hate it but I will love it.

This is my favorite time of year.

A couple Sundays ago we had our Family Picnic.

A game of wiffle ball is always in order.

Zia Maria showed us her Frisbee skills.

We ate lots of good food.

Ma and Pa Ehman provided the best photo op to date.

Uncles were in the garden gathering veggies.

I had garden envy.

Elise started a game of Ultimate Frisbee because she can never sit still.

Chad did a good job of running like a dinosaur.

This use to be us, but now we are all grown up.

We spent the weekend in White Rock, this past. Well, essentially the whole weekend. Saturday was my cousins wedding, with the ceremony out in Burnaby at my Uncles Church (like all the cousins do) and then the reception out in South Surrey/White Rock. Strangely enough I was in a no picture mood, so I didn’t take any photos of the wedding despite carrying around my bulky DSLR all day long. Oh well, enough people took pictures that I didn’t really need to.

Between the ceremony and reception Elise and Ryan joined us for drinks on the In-Laws patio. We were spending the night, since there was no way I wanted to drive home from White Rock at 2 in the morning, plus we had birthday festivities in the area on Sunday.

It was a lovely afternoon of wine and sun shine on their beautiful patio. Mama Ciavarro does an amazing job with her garden and I love spending time on the patio taking in all the beauty.

Sunday we spent most of the day relaxing after doing some shopping at Grandview Corners Shopping District.

The Niece and Nephew came over and we indulged in some fresh local blueberries.

Emily just got her hair cut and officially became the cutest thing ever.

After blueberries and photos and relaxing we all headed over to Grandma Heagles for Jonas and Moms Birthday Party.

Jonas was pretty pumped over the Pirates of the Caribbean Lego Game for Wii that we got him.

Emily and I went exploring in the cat shed. Yes, Grandma has a shed just for her cats. It’s full of cozy blankets and toys, with a few gardening tools. The cats are adorable but I would probably die if I were to ever be locked in a cat shed, given my allergies.

It was a lovely weekend in White Rock. We don’t spend nearly as much time as we should out there. I’m  glad we caught it on a sunny and warm weekend. It was absolutely perfect!