Happy Thanksgiving!



Fun at the waterpark





Our first flight- can you tell it is
only 5:45 AM?




A huge sweet roll for breakfast- YUM!




playing with Uncle Spyros-
or as Kate calls him Uncle
Meep Meep!




And he can still lift Brennan too!



We truly had so much to be thankful for this year! We were lucky enough to be able to use some travel vouchers and get three plane tickets to Wisconsin for the long Thanksgiving weekend. We felt bad about leaving Dave in Raleigh, but he understood that we wanted to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and other family. Luckily some good friends invited Dave over for a delicous meal and a fun afternoon. Dave was also happy to have some pretty good work days.

We left on Tuesday, November 22nd... at 5:45 AM! The kids were great travelers, especially considering how early it was! Kate couldn't wait to fly on a plane again! Both of our flights had pretty small planes with one seat on the aisle and then two seats across from it. I thought I'd sit with Kate and give Brennan his own space but he really wanted to sit with Kate!

They were very hungry by the time we landed in Milwaukee and we were all excited to see grandma and grandpa. After leaving the airport, we looked for a place for breakfast and found a GREAT restaurant! We all ate part of Brennan's huge sweetroll!

We traveled the rest of the way to Madison and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon visiting with family.

On Wednesday we decided to go to the Chula Vista Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells. We picked a perfect day to go because it wasn't very busy, the water was warm, and the waterslides were so much fun! We stayed most of the day and were exhausted when we left! Brennan barely stopped to rest all day and Kate went down the kid slide about fifty times or more! Both kids fell asleep on the ride home.

Our big Thanksgiving Feast was going to be on Saturday so we enjoyed a lazy morning and Brennan talked Aunt Wendy and Uncle Norman into fishing with him. They actually went a few times with him over the weekend and he was happy to catch a few small fish.

We went shopping in the afternoon at the few stores that were open. Late in the evening, I was able to talk Wendy and Dan into taking me out for some Black Friday shopping, which was really fun!

On Friday the whole family went for lunch at a great Chinese restaurant and then went shopping a little. It was great that we could all fit into mom and Steve's van! Being together meant so much to all of us.

Friday afternoon the cooking preparations began! Brennan, Wendy, and Norman were pretty much in the kitchen the entire time (except for sleeping) until the meal was served on Saturday at 1:00PM. Mom, Steve, Dan, and I took over Kate duty and cleaning duty. It was amazing how much food they made and how great everything looked. Wendy and Dan ended up with eighteen people for their meal! It was WONDERFUL!

We visited for awhile and then mom, Steve, the kids, and myself had to get on the road headed to Raleigh. We drove until about 10:00 PM on Saturday and then got on the road Sunday for the entire day. The kids were fantastic travelers and I relaxed the whole ride home since Steve insisted on driving the whole way. We were all happy to get home and see Dave and Zamboni.



Dinner for 18

 It was back to school for all of us on Monday morning, which came quite early. The best news was that mom and Steve were staying with us until we left for Wisconsin again on December 16th! We've never had them visit for so long and it was so much fun!