Thanksgiving Travels

We made quite the rounds over Thanksgiving!!

We travelled to Clemmons, NC to see my parents on Tuesday, Nov. 20th. As we expected, there was a *ton* of holiday traffic and it was not a pleasant drive. We left at 7 am and got there at 6 pm. Long day!

Wednesday, Greg & Poppy did a bit of pre-black Friday shopping and came home with 4 smart TVs! (3 for my parents, 1 for us to take home). The boys spent the day hooking those up - mostly Nate! - while the girls cooked and crafted for Thanksgiving.

Thursday/Thanksgiving morning, we got to Lexington, NC bright & early for the "Early Bird 5K." The boys were running the race, while Abby and I cheered them on.

And they're off!

Nate's calf had been hurting a few days, so he said he "wasn't going to go 100%," but yet he still managed to beat his old Dad and place 2nd in his age group!!

Nate got 16th overall!!

It was Poppy's 69th birthday, so he celebrated by grabbing extra *free* cookies after the race!

Happy birthday to Poppy!

Nate got 2nd in the 13 & under age group!

 After everyone got home & showered, we drove 2 hours to Raleigh, NC to see Lora's family. John did most of the cooking, so we just got to hang out with Porter (dog) and Otis (22 month old cousin) while we were waiting on the food. It was nice to get to bond and interact with Otis.....he is such a happy, fun little dude! It took him a few hours to warm up to us, but finally he decided we were okay. Especially Abby :)

John cooked an amazing meal - complete with delicious appetizers - and I am so grateful to Lora/John for hosting our family Thanksgiving!

Thankful for this crew!

 After-dinner shenanigans involved a homemade key lime pie for Poppy's birthday, lots of drinks & laughter, playtime with Otis (& Rhodes), and discussion of hall passes :) Never a dull moment!

 Friday morning, Otis was not in the best mood because he touched the edge of the fireplace grate and burned his hand a little. Nanny was able to calm him for the Puppy book (which he wanted to read 100x in a row)! 

Playtime on Uncle John's drum set

Mid morning, we all bundled up and headed to Durham, NC to the Museum of Life & Science. (We were supposed to meet Bec & her family there but unfortunately they couldn't come!! The kids were *so* disappointed to not be able to see their other cousins, but Bec was sick and unable to make the trip.) Otis had fun for about 30 minutes and then started fussing quite a bit, so Lora & John took him home. Such a bummer!!! We headed to the outside part of the museum to this amazing/massive treehouse. It looked so cool, the adults decided to give it a try too!

We brought a picnic lunch - and it was so cold we ate in the car instead of the picnic shelter - and then spent a few more hours at the Museum. It was 2 stories high and there was SO much to do. The kids literally could have spent all day there. 

We parted ways with Nanny & Poppy around 3 pm and headed to Chapel Hill, NC to show the kids our old stomping grounds!!! It had been 13 years since we'd been back and it was SO much fun to drive & walk around the campus and town. The kids were not as ecstatic about our walk down memory lane, but they humored us :)

It was fun to see what had & hadn't changed. (Sadly, a lot had changed!) One thing that hasn't changed......Cosmic Cantina!!!!! Nate said it was the best burrito of his life :)

After a long day, we made the drive back to Clemmons to spend the night at Nanny & Poppy's. Saturday, Nanny & Poppy took the kids to see "A House with a Clock in its Walls" at the movie theater and then out to Steak N Shake for dinner. That kept them occupied while Greg and I grabbed early drinks with friends & headed to my 20th high school reunion!! I was so excited about this, and it was the main reason we spent Thanksgiving in NC.

So good to catch up with my buds David, Jason, Zach, Kelsey and Colleen!

West Forsyth Titans, class of 1998

We left the reunion around 10 pm because we had an early morning/long drive home the next day (my birthday)!! What a great trip home and it was worth the drive....