Early Thanksgiving Dinner at Aunty Laura’s House

Makai, Rachelle, Aunty Glenna

Brad, Uncle BB

Aunty Gail, Dallas, Tommy, Jeff, Doug

Aunty Laura and Bill hosted their annual early Thanksgiving dinner at their brand new house this year. The house is gorgeous, but now they live 1.5 hours away! And Google does not know that there are houses in what used to be an empty field. So it was frustrating to get out there and find the place! But once we were there, it was all good!

 Rory, Carter, Tyler

Chris, Doug, Tommy, Dallas

Dallas showing Makai how to play pool.

Hana, Danny

Kenji, Tyler, Eddy, Makai

Naoko, Heather, Rachelle

Makai eating dessert.

Aunty Laura’s new house has a huge rec room in the basement where the guys played pool and the kids played a lot of air hockey and the basketball game. I mostly sat at the “bar” and drank wine with Heather and Naoko! 🙂

Our hosts, Bill and Aunty Laura. 

 Aunty Laura, Makai, Hana

 Makai, Hana, Naoko

Hana + Makai’s Plates

All of the plates.

Makai and Hana drew on their plates, which is kind of a Fukuda rite of passage. Some of the first kids to do this are now the parents of the latest kids to do it! Makai drew a monster and a zombie and his name and the year.

 Rory, Hana, Johnny, Makai, Kenji

 Hana, Makai, Rory, Kenji, Eddy

Makai, Hana, Rory, Johnny, Kenji, Eddy

 Tyler, Rory, Johnny

Carter, Makai

Funny. Even though there is plenty of room and plenty of TVs in the new house, all the kids ended up on Aunty Laura’s bed horsing around and watching a movie!

Celebrating Laura and Bill’s Marriage

Aunty Laura and Bill got married earlier in the year. Danny and Caroline threw a big party at their house to celebrate.

It was mostly a fun party with family and a few close friends. Cory, Scotty, and Miko flew in from Vail, San Francisco, and Houston.

Caroline got a special gluten-free “wedding cake” from Flur, a gluten-free local bakery in Riverside, and Laura and Bill cut it in the traditional way!

It was also Uncle Neil’s birthday, so we had a Portillo’s chocolate cake for him. Always sooo delicious.

Naoko made three different types of parfaits and they were sooo tasty. I tried the coffee one with cream on the top. She also made an orange/citrus one and a berry tiramisu one. Naoko really outdoes herself every time!

In the music room Makai loved to bang around on the drums and the piano. The guitars were off limits. Kenji surprised me by sitting down at the piano and really playing. And Tommy took his turn at the drums.

Everyone’s favorite time, family photo time! (Photo by Heather)
Back: Aunty Glenna, Dallas, Caroline, Johnny, Danny, Scotty, Aunty Gail, Cory, Rory, Mitch, Jeff, Uncle Sonny, Aunty Karolyn, Doug, Evan, Uncle Neil, Hanako, Naoko, Tyler, Brad, Uncle BB.
Front: Rachelle, Tommy, Aunty Peggy, Bill, Makai, Aunty Laura, Eddie, Kenji, Charlotte, Aly, Heather, Austin, Miko, Amanda, Carter.

Aunty Laura and Bill with Laura’s kids, Scotty, Cory, Danny (+Caroline), and grandkids, Rory and Johnny. (Photo by Heather)
 In the playroom! Carter, Austin, Makai, Rory, Mitch, Tyler, Rory, Kenji, Hanako, Eddie, Tommy.

Christmas Dinner at Aunty Gail’s

img_1206Makai and Hanako – Hanako is one day older!

fullsizerender-42 Jeff, Kyle, Dallas (Photo by Heather)

fullsizerender-43Back: Brad, Heather, Danny, Jeff, Johnny, Caroline, Kyle, Chris, Winnie, Ben, Brian, Evan, Scotty, Krystyn, John, Mitch, Doug.
Middle: BB, Glenna, Tyler, Peggy, Kate, Neil, Sonny, Tommy, Gail, Eddy, Hideto, Aly, Kenji, Laura, Bill.
Front: Dallas, Makai, Rachelle, Derek, Carter, Amanda, Rory, Miko, Austin, Hanako, Naoko.

img_1217 Gift exchange. We took the last gift, a bottle of wine, to end the game.

fullsizerender-44 Aunty Glenna and Makai

img_1219 Aunty Glenna, Heather, Rachelle, Aunty Gail, Naoko, Krystyn

img_1220 Aly and Evan are expecting a girl in February!

fullsizerender-2 Most of the cousins – Chris, Makai,Tommy, Mitch, Rory, Kenji, Tyler, Eddy, Hideto, Hanako, Ben, Johnny, Austin, Derek, Kate

fullsizerender-4Makai opening a present.

This was the 12th year in a row that we have gone to Dallas’s Aunty Gail’s house for Christmas dinner. The last two years in a row my parents were staying in Chicago, but not this year. Several people asked about them!

Makai is old enough to run around with all the kids now. I didn’t even know where he was most of the time. He was also getting very brave about sliding down the steps, even head first at times. Makai also discovered the M&M dispenser, and discovered he could reach it on his own when I told him to lay off of them for a while.

Every year Aunty Gail makes beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and her mom’s lettuce/mayo/crab/pea salad. It never varies. Makai ate a whole piece of steak himself and a roll too.

I made a tray of cookies to share for dessert. There were a few other desserts too. Naoko made a chiffon cake to celebrate Aly and Evan’s baby.

Makai got several gifts from people and in the gift exchange Dallas and I came out pretty good with a box of Big Island shortbread and a bottle of wine.

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img_1165.jpg(null)fullsizerender-3This year, before going to Aunty Gail’s house, we stopped in at Damian and Vanessa’s house. They live literally 8 minutes away! It was a short visit, but Makai had a great time playing with Dylan, Derek and Davin. And petting Miles. Damian and Dallas finished setting up this crazy electronic mouse trap game that Derek and Dylan got for Christmas.
Christmas Dinners Past:

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Christmas Dinner at Aunty Gail’s

IMG_0218_editMakai loved Aunty Gail’s Christmas tree

5Hanako, Naoko, Laura, Makai, Mary, Carter, Amanda (Photo by Heather)

1Ben, Kate, Mitch, Eddy, Makai, Derek, Chris, Hanako, Alexia, Austin, Miko, Tyler, Maddie, Carter, Kenji (Photo by Heather)

IMG_0248_editAly, Amanda, Uncle BB, Aunty Gail, Hanako, Mitch, Chris, Maddie, Kyle, Doug, Naoko, Tommy

IMG_0204_editTop: Ben, Alexia, Tyler. Middle: Eddy, Derek, Tommy. Bottom: Kenji, Makai, Hanako.

3Back: Brad, Miko, Glenna, Chris, Hanako, Laura, Kate, Neil, Austin, Mitch, Jeff, Ben, Kyle, Peggy, Dallas, Derek, Maddie, Winnie, John, Heather, Doug. Front: Carter, Amanda, Aly, Evan, Alexia, BB, Tyler, Tommy, Eddy, Gail, Kenji, Naoko, Makai, Rachelle, Mary, Rick. (Photo by Heather)

IMG_0241_editTyler, Derek, Tommy, Kenji, Kate, Ben, Austin, Chris, Carter, Maddie, Eddy, Mitch, Alexia, Hanako, Makai

IMG_0244_editMakai + Hanako. Makai is one day younger. They’re starting to even out in size! Makai used to be so much bigger and now they’re just about the same.

IMG_0256_editOutrageous dessert table!

This was the 11th year in a row that we have gone to Dallas’s Aunty Gail’s house for Christmas dinner. My parents are visiting from Wisconsin and we dragged them along, like we did last year. It is so nice to see all of the family, including some who fly in and we don’t see very often. Of course, everyone made my parents feel right at home and they had a great time.

Makai, having mastered the stairs last year, was all over the place. Upstairs swiping snacks, downstairs playing with the kids and watching a movie. Always running! He was right in there with all of the kids this year.

Every year Aunty Gail makes beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and her mom’s lettuce/mayo/crab/pea salad. It never varies. Dessert varies because other people always bring different desserts, but Aunty Gail always makes her signature cookies. My parents and I each made a tray to share and a lot of people brought a lot of other treats. The dessert table was out of control this year!

Mitch, Chris, and Chris’s girlfriend, Maddie, joined the adult gift exchange this year and were warned by their parents that if they get any “bottles” that they would be confiscated. Surprisingly, I don’t think anyone got any booze for gifts this year!

Christmas Dinners Past:

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2014christmasdinner
2014
2013christmasdinner
2013
2012christmasdinner
2012
2011christmasdinner
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2010christmasdinner
2010
2009christmasdinner
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2006christmasdinner
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2005christmasdinner
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Easter Celebrations

In addition to the Palmer Square Easter Egg Hunt that we attended with Dallas’s family, we also went to Dallas’s cousin Jeff’s house out in Schaumburg for more Easter celebrating. And we also celebrated with my family a few weeks ago. My parent’s got Makai candy and he didn’t even know it was for eating! He just played with it. Spoiled Easter Boy!

Christmas Dinner at Aunty Gail’s

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Photo by Heather

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Photo by Heather

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Photo by Heather

This was the 10th year in a row that we have gone to Dallas’s Aunty Gail’s house for Christmas dinner. My parents are visiting from Wisconsin this year and we contemplated not going, but in the end we did and dragged my parents along. I’m glad we did because it is so nice to see all of the family, including many who fly in and we don’t see very often. Of course, everyone made my parents feel right at home and they had a great time.

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couch
Photos by Heather

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kids

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Photo by Heather

Last year Makai was just a baby. This year John was the smallest baby. Makai was running around and trying to get right in there with the bigger kids. That was fun to watch. He and his pal Hana are getting to the age when they can finally play together. When they were hugging I almost died. Cuteness!! Also, we keep Makai away from our stairs at home as much as we can, but at Aunty Gail’s tri-level home, there are a lot of stairs and they’re carpeted with VERY plush carpet and Makai would not hold back on going up the stairs. He’s a pro now.

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kitchen_crew
Photo by Heather

Every year Aunty Gail makes beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and her mom’s lettuce/mayo/crab/pea salad. It never varies. Dessert varies because other people always bring different desserts, but Aunty Gail always makes her signature cookies. Someone made brownies, my parents brought a tray of their homemade Christmas candy and Naoko made a delicious yule log.

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everyone
Photo by Heather

Every year Aunty Gail reminds you a hundred times to bring your grab bag, “no junk!”. The gift exchange was a little more lively than it had been in the past couple years. Maybe because with my parents and Marty’s new wife, there were a few newbies. I just wanted the bottle of wine, dangit! My gift ended up including a bottle of wine, though, so that was nice.

Christmas Dinners Past:

2013christmasdinner
2013
2012christmasdinner
2012
2011christmasdinner
2011
2010christmasdinner
2010
2009christmasdinner
2009
2008christmasdinner
2008
2007christmasdinner
2007
2006christmasdinner
2006
2005christmasdinner
2005