Thanksgiving

We enjoyed Thanksgiving week up at my parents' home. Things had kind of blown up at work for Andy, but finally late Sunday afternoon it was determined that we'd be able to go. The girls had the whole week off of school, so it's nice to be able to take advantage and enjoy a whole week up there. We ended up driving up pretty late Sunday evening. We debated waiting until Monday, but the weather was going to get colder and we didn't want to deal with icy roads. Plus, Andy kind of needed to be on his computer working Monday and Tuesday. So, it all worked out in the end. The first couple of days up there were really cold. We spent a fair amount of time inside. Grandma always has little projects and new toys for the kids to discover and enjoy. Ian, however, favors his papa. Here's what happens when Papa tries to escape for a little nap:

One afternoon while Ian was napping all the girls headed to the grocery store to pick up anything and everything we might need. :) The girls were thrilled that Grandma's store had little shopping carts. They felt like there were at the Children's Museum, but it was even better because it was the real deal and it wasn't super-crowded.

 

Rachel would bundle up and go outside to rake up leaves and then play in them:

 

While Rachel played outside in the cold Ian, Audrey, and I enjoyed the warmer temperatures inside:

Another afternoon everyone got to help Grandma with Thanksgiving preparations:

The Mackay family joined us later in the week. By then the weather had warmed up a bit and the kids had a lot of fun playing outside. There were enough bikes for everyone and they all enjoyed racing down the driveway:

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast, as always. Andy and Craig helped my dad with a few projects. I think a favorite project of everyone was gathering up the leaves. Lots of fun was had as the kids stopped riding down the driveway and started riding down the little hills on the lawn down to the piles of leaves. I missed the dads doing this, but supposedly they had a lot of fun riding the kid bikes into the leaves as well. On Saturday morning Ian woke up just not himself. My mom and I took him into Longview to an urgent care place. Everything checked out, but they still gave him some meds. Just gunky stuff... On the way back from Longview, Grandma stopped and bought a little car. Ian cried the last 20 minutes home because he wanted to be in the back, in the play car. Luckily he survived and enjoyed the car before it got dark that evening.

On Sunday we all packed up and headed back to Houston. It was definitely an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Lots of fun is had by everyone. The kids enjoy playing together during the day and the adults have fun playing games in the evening. We're hankful my parents live somewhat close and we're able to make these little trips a few times a year.