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What a wonderful Thanksgiving break. A gift, these 5 days off. We've been soaking up family time in all its (good, bad and ugly) glory... sleeping in!... enjoying sunshine and snuggling in at home... cleaning like crazy... watching a lot of TV. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you double your weekend time. Five days is really the minimum length a weekend should be, don't you think? |
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Here's what we've been up to on our break.
A trip to Kalahari! We surprised the kids on Tuesday afternoon with a Groupon-sponsored getaway and they had a blast enjoying the water park, the arcade, and the hotel room. Popcorn and TV in bed-- can you beat it? Getting out of the house is the secret to getting along for these two. They even went off and played together (without us!) a few times at the water park. So big!
Jack's favorite-- the wave pool. He body surfed like a champ...
I am grateful for the chance to laugh and splash and play with my children. Life is better when you participate... Also there is nothing like the general midwestern doughiness on display at Kalahari to make one feel much more confident sporting a swimsuit. It turns out that my suit shows some of my radiation discoloration, and a bit of my lumpectomy scar. And that is just fine. Because I was rocking that wave pool too, right along side my kiddos and that is all that matters.
Our Groupon deal came with far more arcade tokens than we would have bought for the kids. They enjoyed squandering them.
We stayed and played til 6pm, which may have been a mistake... as our overtired, wave-pool-water-ingesting boy was up sick in the night. Three hours awake with a pale and pukey boy made up think our Thanksgiving plans would be a wash... but he rallied! Woke the next morning with smiles, and as everyone else seemed right as rain, we headed to Strasburg.
A smaller group than some years, but still a lovely, warm afternoon. The littles played together in the magic toy closet...
..The adults gathered and talked in the comfort of Grandma Gertie/Aunt Pat's home... It is like a trip back to my childhood to be in this place.
We had, as always, three times as much food as we needed. The brocoli salad was amazing. Our version of Grandpa Jon's stuffing was well-received.
Babies were held. (This is new second-cousin Abby. Isn't she delicious??)
Annual playing in the yard and walking in the neighborhood was had. The weather was just right, November-cool and dry.
Here is Alex telling Jack that everyone needed to "find a buddy" for the walk. Here is Jack not knowing WHAT to do with little kids.
I am grateful for these kind, wonderful people. Family.
Me and my Aunts. They are the most wonderful women, funny and warm and irreverent and terrific cooks. Inspiring. I am grateful to have them in my life, to hear their stories and learn from them. I am grateful that our family was healthy enough to travel and spend the day with their relatives (who they don't see often enough.)
Friday- 50 degrees and sunny! Another gift. After spending a bit too much time inside (tired kids, trying to catch up on cleaning after being away, broken dishwasher... a recipe for grumpiness for sure!) we got out into the sunshine and life got better.
We raked leaves...
We went for a hike in Viaduct Park.
We took pictures of waterfalls, and of one another.
Then, off to our friend's house where we were lucky enough to be included in their family "Thanksgiving night 2" celebration-- complete with our kids' first Yankee Swap. They are fans. And we are the proud owners of a large sword labeled "Sir Jeffrey."
These girls were in full Hogwarts mode all night, including holding a variety of classes in their playroom before coming to the Great Hall for dinner. I am grateful that these girls are growing up together, in spite of distance. We treasure our friends.
Saturday: Winterfest! Managed to spend nearly the entire day downtown, walking and enjoying the decorations and the vibrancy of our city. Despite a forecast of rain, the day was clear and dry and not too cold. I am pretty sure the kids had a few moments of fun. I am grateful for kids who will troop along with me on days of explorations.
And I am grateful to live in such a beautiful city.
I am also grateful we don't spend a lot of time in malls at the holidays. This is me trying to make it back over to my family after purchasing some hot cocoa in Tower City. We barely made it out alive!
Stayed for the official lighting thanks to some help from light-up scepters... but we'll have to go back downtown to really look at it all again as it was pretty crowded there, and our kiddos were pretty tired of walking around...
And today-- catching up again on cleaning and cooking and then an afternoon with my mom and my daughter, shopping at Crocker Park for a holiday dress for Ivy and a few Christmas gifts too. I am grateful to live so close to my mom, grateful that we can do lunch together on a regular basis, grateful for her unconditional friendship and love.
It's kind of hard to NOT be effusively grateful after a five-day weekend, it turns out. Heading back to work and school tomorrow will probably be good for us ( do we NEED to sleep til 9 every day? probably not...and we could use a little space from one another. But right now, I'd rather not have this little vacation end.
