Thanksgiving Roadtrip

We have a big break for Thanksgiving, almost as long as Christmas break.  The large break allows us to spend some time at home and some time with family.  We had a very good blend this year.

The kids had a 1/2 day of school on Tuesday.  I picked them up at 12:00 and we drove straight to a med check appointment for T.  After the appointment we went to another Children's Hospital location to pick up T's hearing aid.  It suddenly stopped working one day at school and had to be sent away for repairs. After that pick up we stopped at the library to pick out DVD's for the car ride.  The kids knew we were going to MN as they heard Brandon talking about it after church.  They were very excited.

Once we were home we had a friend come over for a quick playdate while I prepped the apple crisp for the Praise and Pie.  After the playdate we ate a quick dinner and headed over to church.  We had a lovely time hearing everyone share their stories of thankfulness.  After the service we gather for lots of pie and apple crisp.  We were some of the last people to leave and it ended up being a very late night.  We were all weary when we got home.

Wednesday:
I got up early to get in a walk before the long car ride.  After I got home we were in full packing mode, but we were slow.  The kids were not excited to say good bye to the cats.  We knew they would be in good hands with our dear neighbors checking in on them, but we were still sad to leave.  We finally got on the road at 11:20.  I was not excited about the prospect of hitting a metro area right in time for rush hour.  Amazingly it was pretty smooth sailing the whole way there.  We had two quick stops and no major traffic, even during rush hour.  We decided perhaps many people took that day off or went home early.  We got to my parents in time for dinner and then were able to play and unpack before bedtime. It appears we didn't take any photos on Wednesday.

Thursday:
Happy Thanksgiving!  I got out for a walk early in the day.  After doing the Whole 30 which was more like a Whole 40 I was finally going to incorporate non-compliant foods into my diet on Thanksgiving day.  In hindsight I added way too many foods back in in way too short of a time.  I am currently doing a second Whole30 and this time I plan to add things back in very slowly so I can see which foods are hard on my body and which foods are fine.

OK, back to the Thanksgiving day events!  There was a tiny bit of snow on the ground in MN.  My parents already had their bird feeders up and T was excited to watch.

T: I love watching all the birds!  They have so many more at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Cousin A arrived early and T was thrilled!  They had toast for breakfast.  T asked for "the usual" which is dry toast.  She loves eating bread when we are in MN!  Both kids really like doing Outburst Jr. while we are in MN.  The version they have is from my childhood so many of the categories have characters that my children haven't heard of, but it ends up being quite a fun game for all of us.

T: OK, tell me some famous rabbits!

After breakfast my mom asked the girls to help make place settings for the table.  This led T to want to do many crafty things.  Apparently they decided to tape their mouths shut at some point.  

T: We will not say a word!

While the girls were decorating, M was out in the shed with Grandpa Daryl getting a fire started in the wood burning stove.  He loves to do this!  I was helping my mom in the kitchen and making a batch of gluten free stuffing.

The kids were having a lot of fun posing on the back of the couch.  

M: I was wishing I had a boy cousin. 

M: My hair doesn't dangle like that. 

T: We sort of look like twins!

My grandma arrived in the mid morning.  She had little treasures from home for the kids.  She also gave them each $5.

M: She is a GREAT Grandma!

One more. 

T: I sure do love her. 

M: I can't get enough cuddles. 

After dinner T decided to style Bret's hair.  He was pretty fine with it.  A wanted in on the action too.

T: I was trying to decide which style would be best. 

T: This is the perfect place to stand and not invading personal space at all! :) 

After a very tasty very big meal we just relaxed the rest of the day.  I think that M might have taken a nap at some point.  We played games and even invented some.  We watched football off and on.  We chatted and laughed and at times fought and cried (thankfully that was just the kids).

M: We were just watching the bird, I guess we do look sort of funny. 

M: We usually beat Grandpa Daryl at Memory. (The Princess version is really hard) 

After dinner they invented this keep away style game and played it for a long time.  They all had fun with it.  For some reason Brandon held the kids up to pretend like they were walking on the ceiling.  We all got a lot of laughs out of this and the pictures look really funny too.

M: I was just walking on the ceiling. 

T: Hello friends. 

We ended up letting M stay up late to watch a football game.  He felt very important and it was easier to just say yes.

Black Friday:
We had a shorter trip to MN this time and Friday was our final full day there.  We packed a lot in.  We would have done even more, but the afternoon/evening were rainy so we didn't get to see the Christmas parade.

I did a walk first thing in the morning so I would be done for the day in case it rained later in the day. While I was walking the kids were all helping my dad start a fire in the shed!

M: There is something very fun about starting a fire with Grandpa Daryl. 

After they started the fire they played outside for a while.

M: We decided to ride the trikes instead of the bikes. 

All morning my dad was trying to convince M that they should build a snowman.  As you can see in the photo above, there was not much snow at all.  We were all pretty sure that it couldn't be done, but my dad scouted the area and found shady places with more snow.  He convinced M to go outside and they got to work.

M: We had to haul snow on the sled.

We did it!

Mom and I called to the girls to see if they wanted to join in the snowman fun.  All the kids worked  on the snowman details.

M: We need to hammer out holes for the eyes. 

M: Next we made holes for the mouth. 

M: Grandma helped us with the finishing touches. 

Happy Snowman and Happy People!

My dad wanted everyone to put their arms out like the snowman. 

M: I am glad that Grandpa convinced me to make a snowman!

I love this pic because it shows how very little snow there was to create this snowman. 

Since the sled was out, the kids wanted sled rides which is harder to do on the grass.

T: Faster Grandpa!

M: Let me see if I can pull them!

M: Daddy really got us going fast!  I ended up taking a tumble. 

After their time outdoors they came in to warm up while I read many many poems.  Both girls had to change pants because they sat in the wet sled.

T: Grandma has the best book of poems!

After lunch Brandon and I did a tiny bit of Black Friday shopping.  We read in a flyer that LEGO's were going to be a certain percentage off before a certain time so we went at the end of that timeframe.  We were able to find some great sets for the kids for Christmas a couple of other gifts too.

We were hoping that the kids could go to a movie in the afternoon, but we were unclear of the showings and ended up renting a movie from the RedBox.  Dad watched it with the kids.

After the movie the kids played more of the keep away game.  This time we remembered to take some photos.  It was so fun to see them work together and heartwarming to see A not so scared for Brandon  anymore. 

T: We know you have it Grandpa!

T: Daddy, where is it hiding? 

T: I never get sick of these poems. 

After dinner we drove to the town I grew up in to see their fancy light display.  We actually only took pictures of one part, but it is an extremely impressive light display for a small town.  The show is done to music and really puts you in the Christmas Spirit.  The night we were there the creator of the light display was there so we got to meet and talk with him.  It was quite warm so as we walked through the display we got pretty muddy.

So beautiful!

Lot of trees. 

Everyone inside the big tree. 

Looking up!

Looking up Selfie!

Our family!  What a special night!  

It was a slow going foggy ride home but we made it safely and managed to keep the kids awake so that they would sleep once we got home. 

Saturday: 

I got up early and walked on Saturday morning.  We noticed that something was very wrong with the water.  We did end up using it for showers and we had some time to play and pack and eat lunch before getting on the road at 12:20.  We made it home by 6:50 so we made very good time considering we stopped twice!  

We were all happy to get home and see the cats.  The cats did very well and we were grateful for the excellent care they received while we were gone.  

Once home it was time for a quick meal and then bedtime.  It felt strange that we were home on a Saturday night instead of a Sunday night.  We had a whole day of festivities before it was time to go back to school!