Thanksgiving 2018

Thanksgiving was in Iowa this year, which meant we had to squeeze a lot into a short amount of time. Initially, we thought we'd need to spread the drive into two days owing to a storm heading east. But the weather gods were kind and we managed to make it in one day with only a few rest stops (and one beer stop when we dropped John off at Ken & Helen's).

Arriving Saturday night, we pretty much crashed on Sunday (though the boys did get in a sledding expedition at the Pond). On Monday, Nora, annoyed that due to her absorption in Harry Potter she'd missed the sledding invite, got in a few runs with Daddy before we were visited by Uncle Bernie (who we yet again neglected to get a picture with), after which we managed to fin it a play date at Leanna's with Grace & Grant, followed by dinner at Ken & Helen's with all the Fawcetts present. Tuesday we headed to the mall where we enjoyed the Coral Ridge food court, followed by a viewing of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, ice-skating, the Coral Ridge food court desert round and then a Mexican fiesta with Grandpa & Grandma Z.



Wednesday, the rest of the family started to arrive which meant that the preparation, eating, cousin time and film production portion of the holiday began in earnest. This year in lieu of plays, the kids have decided to create short movies which they then edit before their premier. I cannot tell you how much this approach has improved our enjoyment of the next generation's love of theater, but that's ok because now you too can experience Island Adventure, U2's Dad, and Sponsored by LaCroix (Not Really) from the comfort of your own home.

After a lovely Thanksgiving meal and post-meal snacking, we left Friday morning and headed to Pittsburgh to hang out with the Mettenburgs. It was arguably our best visit ever -- lots of games, lots of good food, no one got sick and we actually made it out of the driveway on our first attempt -- until we got home and realized that we'd stolen Hugh's winter coat (happy birthday, little guy) and left some coats of our own. Maybe next time...



(To see all the pictures, please click here.)