Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2020 November

My sweet father-in-law finally moved on from this difficult life. He was always so good about getting down on the floor and playing with the grandkids. My kids enjoyed playing pool, marble hockey, chess, Wii, uno, and more with him. They loved his Donald Duck voice.

This summer, when we spent a lot of time in Utah, we enjoyed a lot of meals around the table with him. It’s been many years since he made such an effort to get to the table while everyone else was still eating, but we had a lot of enjoyable family meals this summer. He was also very appreciative of the food I made, which made me feel good.

Covid finally drove us to do one thing we probably should have done years ago - we finally moved to a bigger house. We moved less than half a mile away to a house nearly twice as big. The older two kids get their own room, we have an office/exercise room, and just more space in general. The kitchen has smooth countertops. There’s an open stairway so Wally doesn’t feel trapped. The laundry is upstairs. There’s lots of storage space. There’s a driveway and we can park on the street. There’s a big patio and bbq in the back. We are slowly getting pictures hung, adding a few pieces of furniture and otherwise making it home.

There are a few complaints - the 5 button and the start for the lower oven don’t work. The stove igniter clicks randomly. The neighbors smoke and try to take our parking spot. But overall it’s been a great change.

Today we scootered to the nearby plaza for dinner. It was a quick ride, the temperature was great, the food was delicious. A nice evening spent with the family.

I don’t often say much about politics, but I feel the need to complain about what a baby our current president is. Politics aside, I could never vote for Trump. He’s a terrible leader, so selfish and narcissistic, he is divisive, he treats people abominably, has no self-control, is entitled and rude. I’ve been embarrassed about him for over 4 years. I want a presidential president, one with an aide handle his or her social media accounts, please. Someone to unite and lead, or at least not spout off and embarrass. So much cringe.

Arthur, giving me a big hug before bed time: “I’ll miss you for 12 hours.”

So sweet. Also, 12 hours? Yeah right. Even if he miraculously sleeps in his own be the whole night.

This morning we woke up to a surprise 1/2” of snow on the ground. We went outside to play around for a bit, and ended up taking a spontaneous sledding trip to the park. We were practically in our pajamas, and four out of the five sleds ended up with broken handles, and we were the only people there - silly Californians enjoying a tiny bit of snow. But we had a blast, and got just as much speed as we do when there’s 6 inches. Wally wasn’t a big fan, but he tolerated it. Once Sienna started crying about how cold and wet she was, we headed home. It was a fun, impromptu, pre-breakfast, Thanksgiving activity. Next time: snow pants.

We are back from a trip to Utah for Thanksgiving, and took full advantage of everything California (currently) has to offer. Aka sunshine. We took the kids hiking at Quail Hill. We scootered and rollerbladed and played with chalk and frisbees in our awesome, big driveway. We enjoyed our outdoor space in the hammocks, and John set up his new weight bench to workout outside. We went for a walk around the neighborhood. John and I biked to a nearby shopping center and ate dinner outside. It was a glorious sunshiny day.