Thanksgiving was in Los Angeles, hosted by Julia Hine. The weather was amazing. Highlights included running the Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot, Venice Beach, touring UCLA, hiking Griffith Park, being together with family, and meeting Ella Emhoff. We had many laughs sharing an Expedition and VRBO with the Sarrges. Julia flew home with us and is staying until Friday. Yay! We are so thankful and blessed.
Kathryn turned 18! The last of the grandkids is officially an adult. Wow. Julia arrived mid-afternoon and joined us for the party; unfortunately, Benjamin's flight arrived ~9 pm. I'm sharing some pictures from mom's adventure--what a fantastic trip! First, she made friends with the tarantula, then she ate it (deep-fried).
While the kids were here, we had Emma (Julia's step-sister), Cecily (from the Holton sisterhood), and Elizabeth over for various dinners. It was so much fun and heartwarming to spend time with them all. Booberry rekindled her love for Benjamin (sleeping with him and hanging out under his sweater). All cats were happy to see Julia, of course. The flowers are from Elizabeth and Carrie.
Mom and I went to see my dear friend Vera and her gorgeous baby girls--Victoria and Margaret. Little Maggie and I bonded--so precious. We can't wait to go back for another visit when Julia is in DC. I know she'll enjoy meeting the babies, but she will be WOWed by Vera's Coca-Cola room. Stay tuned...I'll try to get a picture for the blog next time.
Julia published another paper (second author), "Ice Core Constraints on Past Sea-Level Change." The preprint edition of Julia's other paper (first author) is available, "Change in Antarctic Ice Shelf Area from 2009 to 2019." Check out the steak dinner she had with friends Hannah and Sam--my kind of portions. :) Also pictured is a salmon bowl. It looks like Julia will not be needed for the Antarctica trip--and unfortunately, her advisor's trip is a bit uncertain. He was on route when they declared no more travel to/from Antarctica unless medically necessary. NBC covered the story.
Steven and I went to Toronto for the weekend--we hadn't been in a very long time. We walked around a lot and really enjoyed St. Lawrence Market (lots of unique shopping). But, it didn't hold a candle to Quebec City and we probably won't be going back anytime soon. In St. Paul, Julia went with her friends to a Halloween party as one of the Powerpuff Girls. On Halloween night, Magda brought the kids over to trick-or-treat. It wasn't the best weather, but they were troopers. So cute. Check out mom on an elephant in Laos. She's kept in touch, which has been wonderful.
