Thanksgiving 2011

We just returned from a fun trip to Georgia for Thanksgiving.  Well, BEING in Georgia was fun, but getting there and getting back was not much fun.  I am not a road trip person.

The trip to Georgia was very smooth.  The new van makes things a lot more comfortable on the road.  The kids hardly fussed at all, and we only stopped once at Chick-fil-a (always a classic!) to eat and stretch our legs a bit.

My brother, sister-in-law and two nieces were also staying at my parents' house over Thanksgiving, so it was a blast to have everyone together.  I had not seen my brother, Brian, or Tori (my 15-year-old niece) in almost a year.  It was also great to see little Elizabeth (Brian and Mary's daughter), who is only about a month older than Miles and Vivienne.

On Wednesday, Jason, Miles, Vivienne and I drove down to Warm Springs to see our dear friend, Rusti, and her sweet little son, Daxton.  I have known Rusti since I was 8 years old.  She is such an awesome, intelligent, kind person.  I'm lucky to call her a friend.  It was great to catch up with her and finally meet her cute little guy.  Daxton has the sweetest face and seems so laid back and full of joy, just like his momma.

Back at the homefront, there was much video game playing.  Miles and Vivienne took their first spins at Gran Turismo with Granddad.  Miles was surprisingly good for a 16-month-old.

 On Thursday, my parents boiled and grilled live lobsters for all of us.  Of course, no Thanksgiving meal is to go off without a hitch.  The babies went down for a nap right about when the cooking started.  Just as we were sitting down at the table to eat, we heard Miles and Vivienne crying to be picked up from their nap.  So Jason and I went upstairs to get our sweet cherubs.  But when we opened the door, we smelled something not so sweet.  You see, Miles has a pretty constant issue with constipation.  We had been giving him prune juice for a few days, and I think it finally "hit home" (if you will) on Thursday right when we were about to eat our delectable lobsters.  This is probably too much information, but we're a cloth diapering folk, so we have to flick their poops into the toilet and flush them down.  Miles' "creation" wouldn't go down the toilet.  I literally had to get a toilet plunger to get it to go down.  He was such a mess that Jason just put him in the bathtub.  With our little guy finally cleaned up, we went downstairs to devour our shellfish friends.  They were worth the wait.

On Friday, we had another relaxed day.  We went to a nearby track and playground so that we could run and the babies could play.  We asked a passer-by to take a family photo of us to commemorate the holiday.

Friday night, Brian, Mary, Tori, Jason and I decided to go to the Thai restaurant nearby.  This meant that Grandma and Granddad were home alone with three children under 2.  I'm sure that they had a blast, but I'm also pretty sure that they were probably happy when the babies finally went to bed.

"We promise that we'll take good care of Grandma and Granddad while you guys go out!"

The drive home was a little less smooth.  Miles and Vivienne did fine on the first half of the drive, but they pretty much fussed all the way from Gaffney to our house.  The Laurie Berkner Band music did help a bit, but those kids were ready to get out of their car seats.  It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for.