Thanksgiving 2008: Fast and Furious

It was fast, but only "furious" in a fast sort of way. (Read: everyone got along really well.) It was great to be with family, but believe me when I say it was a lesson learned. 824 miles is waaaay too long for 3 kids under 7, two adults and only 4 1/2 days. With that said, I loved seeing my family!
But I'll never do that again. Don't take that the wrong way!
Christmas break, plenty of time. Spring break? Sure. But Thanksgiving?
Nevah. Eveh. Again.

But, hoo boy! Do I have a lot of pictures!
So, if you're not family or not up for looking at some random person's family pictures, I won't take offense if you just skip through this post, or skip it all together. Just don't tell me.
Kidding!

I did these all in black and white because we had our family pictures taken and we were all in brown. It looked great for the portraits, but we look like nerds in every other way.
Except for my Grandma. You can't call your grandma a nerd. And, anyway, she wasn't in brown.

Owen teaching my Grandma the basics of the Leapster.

The little girls. Sorry Hannah, I realize you're not "little" anymore, but that's how I'll think of you till you're 24 or so.

An all-too-familiar sight: Jon making coffee.

Serious financial conversations.

We even got to see Uncle Mike, Adam's brother. Hi Mike!

Didn't Carrie do a pretty job with the table?

If you haven't read a SkippyJon Jones book, get to your library and check one out.
They are too funny!
Maybe that's just the 824 miles talking, I'm not sure.

What could be more comforting?
A mother's shoulder and a Diet Coke.

My Dad and his mom.

My Mom with two of her grand-babies. Oops, there I go again, showing my age. You're not babies anymore, are you?

After the turkey had been demolished, dishes tossed and hugs given (not to mention a few tears on my part), we made our way to my parents house. My Grandma came with us.

She taught the girls how to play Solitaire. They were intrigued.

A trip to my Mom's wouldn't be complete without a pancake breakfast.

We decided to head home a day early and stay the night in Kansas. I just love that state. All the wind, the tumbleweed, the nothingness for miles and miles and miles and...sigh. It's just great.

Sunday, our last day on the road started out with crazy wind. Wind like I've never experienced before. And I lived in Iowa, for Pete's sake! Of course, eastern Colorado is no different.
Then we hit Denver and started to experience this:

And some of this:

And every now and then, this:

But mainly this:And so, necessarily, this:

I hope everyone had a truly marvelous Thanksgiving with loved ones, ate too much and is now ready to decorate the Christmas tree!