Giving Thanks

Since we had lots of people in town we decided that we would live it up a little and visit Leavenworth, a Bavarian village about 3 hours away from where we are. I pulled Thomas out of school a little early yesterday and we then made the drive with Grandma and Grandpa, Zach and Olivia, and Auntie Hayley. The other two men would have to drive up later when they had finished at school and a work Christmas party. The drive was slow, but pretty uneventful. Grandma did a great job of keeping Zach entertained most of the way and no one even asked to stop and use the bathroom.

Of course it couldn't be all plain sailing. That just wouldn't be our families luck. When we arrived the code that we had for the key lock box didn't work so we had to sit outside in the car for almost an hour before someone came. Once they did though it was definitely worth it. The cabin was beautiful and the kids had a lot of fun running around. The only downside for me, the girl with the weak stomach, was that Leavenworth was a good winding drive over the mountain and as I found out that night when I went out to get food my constitution didn't like it. Let's just say that I ended up pulling over a couple of times.

Front of house

Back side

The basement (game room) where we slept.
Pull put beds were not so comfy.

The family room where we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving
Day Parade, some football, and danced.

The kitchen where we prepared
gourmet meals!

Outside upper deck. We will definitely have to go
back in the summertime.

Thanksgiving morning we hung out playing games and mum and I got a start on making the food. We decided that this year would be a little more low key so that we could actually spend time together instead of time in the kitchen. We still had quite the feast, but I did get a few more store bought things - shame on me!

Playing dominoes

Elaine did a beautiful job of the beans!

Poor dad was pretty sick, but he managed to make it out of his room to play some Diego dominoes and checkers. We didn't see a whole lot of Josh and Hayley until dinner was served (pretty typical) and when we did Hayey appeared with tissue paper hanging from her nose so that she didn't have to keep wiping it!

The clan (thankfully Hayley took out the
tissue paper for dinner!)

Some people weren't too interested in the food as you can see!

At dinner we exchanged the things that we are thankful for. Of course some people took the easy way out and said that they were thankful for their spouse (that wasn't me by the way, although I am!). Being up in the mountains really does make me appreciate the great beauty of the outdoors and I wish that I showed that appreciation more. I guess that I just need to get over our last fateful camping trip and buck up and try again. Unfortunately, it doesn't come all that naturally to me! We all agreed that with the recent economic downturn that we are all truly thankful for the employment that we have (and that we know Josh will have whatever his doubts may be).

Before pie we drove into Leavenworth to look at the pretty Christmas lights and look around a little. It was bitterly cold so we didn't end up staying too long before heading back.

A Christmas store

Downtown Leavenworth

Olivia thought that the pumpkin pie was great and Thomas ate it simply because it was Thanksgiving and so he thought he should. After pie we decided to help it all go down nicely by jamming out to some of grandpa's music on his ipod. It was fun to remebering how we would

do that on the weekends at home when I was younger and dad would get out his vinyl record collection and dance with mum to their favorite songs.


To end the evening off a few of us got into the hot tub. Hayley said that she didn't want to get cold, but said said that he really thought that it helped to sweat his cold out! Before we went to bed I asked Thomas and Olivia what they thought Thanksgiving was all about. Olivia said that it was all about the pumpkin pie, and the ever wonderful Thomas said, "No, it's about spending time with your family and the people that you love." I was glad that I got to do that today.