Thanksgiving 2009

I mentioned previously that we made the trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving this year.  It was such a nice, relaxing, much needed get-away for us.

We arrived early in the morning (2am) Wednesday morning and the boys were completely wound up.  They slept in the car and were so excited to be there, I truly did not know if we would get them back to bed. But we did and they even slept to a decent hour (meaning they didn't wake the whole house up at 6:30 am our time, 5:30 am Grandma & Grandpa time).

Wednesday, we just visited most of the day with G&G & Kristin & Josh and kiddos.  We all bundled up later and hit Bass Pro Shops where they were having a "Santa Wonderland" set-up with games and activities for the kids.  It was quite the place and we ended up spending a large chunk of time there.

After dinner, we went to G&G's gym where we walked, shot baskets, played passing games, played DDR and ping pong, etc... It was a lot of fun.  We opted to stay out of the pool due to AJ's double ear infection in addition to how to meds affected other....um... bodily functions. That night we rented Angels & Demons, but I only made it through the first half hour before calling it a night.

Thanksgiving day was a very nice, lazy, relaxing day.  Other than helping prep dinner and clean-up, there wasn't much going on and I loved it.  Of course we had the complete Thanksgiving dinner... turkey, mashed potato with gravy, sweet potato with marshmallows, green bean casserole (my job), stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, corn and rice, Snicker Salad (which is not really a salad despite it's name) and pie. (and I even feel like I'm forgetting something else.)  Amazing... and just as good for the next three meals as well.

We later had our "Christmas" where were blessed with gifts.  We watched The Proposal that night over popcorn.   It was a really great day.

Andrew traveling back from Sheffield

Friday, a few family members got up super early to do a bit of Black Friday shopping, but I was not one of them.  We then all packed up and headed north to spend a day with Great G&G along with an Aunt C & Uncle K in Sheffield.   We simply ordered pizza and visited for a while before heading back for the evening.  We rented the new Star Trek moving, but again, I last a whole half hour before going to bed.

The Guys

Saturday, we just hung around in the morning for a while before hitting a local park.  The boys played on a playground and we all got to walk a bit.  Then it was back to Bass Pro Shops.  They have a restaurant and bowling alley in the store.  So for the first time, the boys got to go bowling.  It was a lot of fun.  We only had the lane for an hour and it's timed, so in order to get all six of us in (us four and G&G), it was like speed bowling.  Andrew was hilarious and AJ just seemed to dance with excitement the whole hour. 

Santa + Bass Pro = ....heaven?

We then had a late lunch at the Bass Pro restaurant, then.... THEN.... the boys got to meet Santa, before heading back to pack up.  We left for MI around 6 and made it home early Sunday morning in order to have a day to unpack and regroup.   It was a very blessed trip and we truly enjoyed ourselves.

Andrew sleeping on the way back to MI