Thanksgiving, 2010

(finally...)
(hey, at least it's still November...for a few hours...)

Last Wednesday, we headed up to Portage, WI for a "locavore" Thanksgiving, hosted by Aunt Dee Dee and Uncle Michael. We traveled half way on Wednesday night, spending the night in a hotel (Adele had a "countdown turkey" that she would take feathers off of each day counting down the days until we got to go "to the hotel and then Dee Dee's"...it was pretty exciting!). Interestingly enough, Aunt Jenny had an event in the same area as our hotel (outside Chicago) and ended up staying just a floor above us. We woke up early (some earlier than others, ahem, Anna...4:45...AM....!!!!) and caravaned up to Dee Dee's house on Thursday.

We arrived at Dee Dee's much earlier than she had anticipated (I blame Anna...) so we ended up with several hours to chit chat and help out in the kitchen before the big, locally grown meal. You can read all about the food at Dee Dee's blog if you're interested. For all intents and purposes, it was an excellent meal. (As it would have been if it had come from Kroger...or California...or in cans (well, maybe not the turkey), in my humble, not the least bit "foodie" opinion...) I don't exactly buy into the whole "locavore" movement, but, hey, it works for Dee Dee. (And just because I'm not a locavore doesn't mean that I don't want to have a garden of some kind with my girls some day....I think gardening is a PERFECT activity for little hands...but don't tell Daddy, especially since he's not exactly what you'd call a "vegetable eater." My "problem" with it is more in the practicality rather than the philosophy of it all...)

Anna wasn't exactly a fan of sleeping in her pack-and-play, wanted to rise way way, WAY before the sun, and then stay up even later than the grown-ups, but she did take a few cat naps in the sling. Big sister, Adele was absolutely in LOVE with being in the kitchen with Dee Dee, and it was VERY nice to have her occupied while I walked/bounced/swayed/willed her baby sister to sleep! All the cooking seemed to do well for Adele because she slept fine on her princess air mattress (well, she did fall asleep in "our" bed with Daddy, but transferred easily to the air mattress as soon as she was asleep). It just goes to show that I should never think that I have the girls figured out-I thought for sure that Adele would be the one with problems sleeping "on the road" but it was Anna this time. Go figure.

I took surprisingly few pictures (probably because there were a billion OTHER cameras flashing constantly throughout the whole weekend...) so I don't have many to post, but the highlight of the trip was the lighted santa parade on Friday night (well, that and the Pizza Hut Dee Dee allowed into her house for our benefit...kidding.) It was dark and VERY cold, so we left Anna home with Daddy and Bapa (which worked out well since she was actually sleeping in the pack-and-play when it was time to go...) while Memaw, Dee Dee and I took a very bundled Adele to the parade. We didn't tell her that Santa was coming in case it was too cold or she was too fidgety/bored, etc. She's so in love with "decorations" right now that it probably wouldn't have mattered if Santa hadn't been there. Some highlights were an "Oreo", a "Polar Express" "train" and a snowball made of "real" (well, really, "fake" snow from a nearby ski hill) snow (which I brought back to Dee Dee's house in my pocket). And who could forget all those candy canes and tootsie rolls thrown at our feet! It was neat to watch Adele's eyes light up when Santa went by.

I know I'm missing lots and lots about the weekend, and I promise a separate pictures post later (I'm working on getting pictures from Memaw) but I'm worn out, and if I don't post this now, I'll probably ramble on incoherently for several more pages, and I won't actually get this posted while its still November...