Wouldn't you be curious too?

I was at the grocery store yesterday and I spotted some tourists. I'm not sure where they were from, maybe Europe somewhere, but they were definitely grocery store tourists. I observed them wandering in the produce section: a dad, a mom, and a 20-something son with no shopping cart. They were dressed nicely, like Thanksgiving day nicely, and were perusing the variety of produce. They would comment to each other here and there about this cabbage or that kiwi, but I couldn't quite get close enough (without being rude) to hear an accent or language. They then meandered to the baked goods where they viewed the pre-made birthday cakes (and the dad said something like "ich"--that German throaty chokey sound, so maybe they were German, or maybe he just doesn't like cake). I said hi to the mom as I passed her, and she answered hi back, but it's hard to tell an accent from hi. The son picked up and examined a small frozen turkey from a bin, as if he couldn't read the sign and was trying to figure out what this frozen package contained. I later saw them leave the store without purchasing anything, and I can only surmise that they were visiting their sister/in-law who married an American and moved to Brentwood and they wanted to see what an American grocery store was like. I regret now that I was not more nosey--that I did not pretend to need produce or cake or turkey near them to find out the truth. Now I will always wonder if I was right about their tourist status.

So I'm finally getting to blog about Thanksgiving, now that it's almost Christmas! We spent Thanksgiving day at my family's house with the Milburns and my grandparents and Joah's mom. After dinner, most of us went for a walk (to look at a house that's for sale, of course!):

Jack does not enjoy holding one person's hand when he walks, but he loves to hold two people's hands. Maybe it's the possibility of one, two, three, swing! (here with my dad and Uncle Pete)
A nice lady on the trail offered to take our picture:

On the day after Thanksgiving, we made our annual BART trip to San Francisco for the lighting of the Christmas tree in Union Square. The Milburns, minus Jodie and Drew (who were in Oregon), plus Jamie's boyfriend Josh, the Storrers, minus Josh and Lindsay (who were in Hawaii, poor things!), the Browns, minus Matthew and Pamela (who had to work, really poor things), and the Widmans went.


This was kind of an experimental day for Jack because we left before lunch, so there was not a chance for his afternoon nap. We've never gone a day without a nap before, but he did great! He did not fall asleep in the car on the way to the BART station as we had hoped, nor did he fall asleep on BART. He lasted through the jam-packed muni bus ride and the crowded sidewalks on the way to the restaurant. (He rode in his stroller.) He did amazingly well in the Rainforest Cafe (what a perfect place to keep his attention!), and then finally fell asleep at about 6:00 in my mom's arms on the bus back to the Christmas tree lighting. We transferred him to the stroller when her arms grew tired, and he stayed asleep through the lighting (which we couldn't see very well anyway).
Here is the Christmas tree in the background. See how far away we are. I don't think there has ever been that many people at the lighting before. The sleeping Jack in the stroller almost got trampled a couple of times by people who didn't look down when they were trying to push through the crowds. I finally picked him up out of the stroller (which woke him up) because I was worried that someone would walk or fall over him.

In other news, it looks like we finally have a house to buy. Our offer has been accepted, reconsidered, and accepted again, and we've already signed a million papers, though I'm told we're just getting started. Our close date is elusive. The contract says 45 days, which puts us to January 10, but our loan lady says it's going to take longer--60 days--which puts us at January 23. We hope to clarify it soon so we know when to start packing!
In still other news, that Matthew and Pamela Brown are full of surprises! They announced to us recently that they are expecting a honeymoon baby, due at the end of June! We are all very excited for them and I am kind of just realizing that I'm going to be an aunt now! Somehow in the shock that my brother is going to be (is) a dad, my aunthood didn't really occur to me right away...
So life lately is full with holidays and new houses and babies coming. God is good.