We saw James's brother Brian, Brian's girlfriend Joanna and their dog Kyra on Wednesday, and the bunch of us played games with our friends John and Liz, and their dog Riley. On Thursday, we had Thanksgiving dinner with James's parents, and dessert at our house with my mother, my sister Heather and her husband Terry, and my brother Zak. On Friday, we hung out with my friend Eleanor and her husband Andrew who were in town from Colorado. On Saturday, we went to the Baltimore Aquarium with Heather and my mom. Vanessa loved the sharks (her daddy's favorite aquatic animal) much more than she loved the sea turtles (my favorite), much to my chagrin.
Seeing friends and family was fantastic, but I don't want to discount one of the other great parts about the holdiay -- that Vanessa and her daddy got to spend lots of quality time together (and I got lots of rest)!
Vanessa loves her daddy's glasses so much. She's not sure if her own shades are quite as chillin.'
Daddy gives Vanessa a much-coveted chance to play on the laptop.
When Vanessa and daddy read a story, they both get excited when the book is at its most thrilling parts...
But sometimes, they yawn when the plot gets a little thin... (or when the characters yawn, as in this goodnight story!)
Grandma and Vanessa got some good grooving done on the piano. Vanessa likes to play the piano by sitting down upon the keys repeatedly, but she does actually play with her hands from time to time!
Vanessa was SO excited to see Brian and Joanna's dog Kyra again. Vanessa's favorite things about dogs seem to be their barking and their licking. Even though Kyra wasn't too much into either of those things, Vanessa just loved hanging out with her. (Perhaps it was her tail-wagging she found so endearing!)
Vanessa was very gentle with Kyra (and of course Kyra was very gentle with Vanessa too).
Vanessa's newest favorite activity is making little lines of similarly shaped toys on every surface she can find in the house. Sometimes she moves her index finger as if tapping all of the shapes, the way I do when I count them for her. When I do manage to tidy up, I find that most of her toys are grouped this way (and all over!). 
Vanessa says, "Who me?"
Vanessa's obsession with the moon hasn't wavered in the slightest. Here she's pointing out the moon to Grandma (a position she held for several minutes). When I feed her oatmeal in the morning now, at first she's very interested in eating, but as the white oatmeal particles start looking a little thin against the dark blue bowls we use, I'm in for it then. "Moo'?" she asks, pointing to each miniscule white particle that looks remotely round. "That does look like the moon," I always say, but I do tire of this game and clean up her hands before she's finished pointing at every last one.
Vanessa enjoyed getting to know my friend Eleanor and her husband Andrew. They gave us a treat by inviting me and my mom out contra dancing. We all had a great time and danced energetically for hours (only getting the steps confused part of the time), and I'm slightly embarrassed to say that of all of us who went, I was apparently the only one sore the next day!
Vanessa was a little shy around Andrew at first, but warmed up to him really well. We all agreed that Vanessa would like to go rock-climbing when she's a little older, like Eleanor and Andrew do from time to time.
