Thanksgiving Adventure, Day 3 (of 3)

Kinda a bummer to go out on a less-exciting day, but such is the nature of a shortened departure day.  We had to be out of the house by 2pm and, of course, between Christy the Consummate Cleaner...

...and Emily the Methodical Organizer [NO PHOTO AVAILABLE], we had some work to do to get it back to pristine!   Side note: the homeowner's review of me on AirBnB was positive so a) he must have been pleased with our efforts, and b) I will be allowed to rent future houses!

 I mentioned that the local toy shop was right across the street but at the end of that block?  A children's discovery museum!!!  Um-- PERFECT!  The dads took the 3 kids to the museum Saturday morning while C & I started packing up everything.   The kids had so much fun exploring all 4 floors of what sounds like a "typical" such museum but lots of excitement for the 8-and-under crew!

While there, the B-man apparently convinced the staff they should go ahead and open the rooftop area even though it was super windy. (As you can see, Miss O was not interested in venturing up there!)  Sure made for a scenic shot, though:

The girls enjoyed some final house-hanging:

And we all gathered for one more downtown lunch/walk:

And then I bullied everyone into the "fun" process of figuring out a self-timer pic:

Goodbye, stone house!

Thanksgiving Adventure, Day 2

I really thought I could do the rest of the trip in one post but it turns out there are just too many photos!

Part of the research I did in deciding whether this adventure location made sense was on the local visitors' website.  Once I saw that there were two fun things happening on Friday, I was IN.

The main event:

Plaid Friday is apparently a national movement that started in Oakland, CA to celebrate local merchants instead of big box stores. (And yes, that does make it right next door to Small Business Saturday, so basically two days of celebration in a town like this!)

We took the dress code seriously:

Fake Uncle E semi-matched our color scheme but the BG decidedly did NOT, so I didn't invite them to be in our pic.  This alternate photo of the BG and his kiddies cracks me up-- classic faces on both of the scamps:

Alas, I realize I've already gone out of order with the day.  A wonderful benefit to traveling with other adults is that said other adults can be "in charge" at home whilst the first set escapes.  (As it turns out, it's illegal to leave children at home alone.)  Since the BG and I are early risers--and since lots of businesses were opening at 6am to celebrate Plaid Friday--we had hit the streets by about 6:20am.

We got some warm bevvies at one local coffee shop, as well as picked up some highly discounted (25% off from 6-7am and then going down each hour!) adult bevvies for later from another store.  We then were standing outside a second coffee shop when it opened at 7am because we'd read about their bagel sandwiches.  We'd also read about another aspect of the store which turned out to be true...the pull-up bar:

Anyone from my childhood knows that I always failed at upper body strength challenges in gym class.  This place also had a taped-off area on the floor called The Dance Box, though, and I totally would have shaken my groove thing if I could have scored a free bagel sammie but that was a no-go...

(The other adults set out on foot sometime later to hit up a third local coffee shop so we all got to enjoy some walking-at-a-brisk-pace-sans-children, both on this day and the next.  Hooray!)

Scenes from around the house as we geared up for some shopping:

Some kids are ready to go explore!   Note, please, that directly across the street from our house was the toy store.  It's possible we went there a time or two!

One of our purchases at said toy store was a clip-on microscope.  Here are the fun parents getting it set up in front of delightful old stone building:

We met a friend on the main shopping street (which is a pedestrian-only road):

Tried a new look:

But settled on these:

Later in the afternoon, Chisty helped the kids make gingerbread houses.  You will be SHOCKED to hear that the next hours were spent listening to my children ask repeatedly to eat the decorations and/or walls:

After a dinner of Thanksgiving leftovers, we hit the road for a 7 mile journey to a lights display that opened up that evening.  We had bought these really cool glasses at the toy store and they made looking at all the lights an absolute delight:

The walk-through display went around a big pond.  We all loved it and it really did help us get in the Christmas spirit!

Spirited family!

There was talk of running over to the main street and ordering up some nachos for late-night eating once we got home, but that didn't transpire.  I can't remember for sure but there was probably another round of leftovers eaten.  Or wait-- fritos and bean dip!  That was it!   In any case, it was so nice to be able to stay up and chat for a few more hours after the kids were all snoozing.

To be continued...

Thanksgiving Adventure, Day 1

If you thought, "That furniture doesn't look familiar" in the pic from Friday, then you win!  Indeed, we were not at home.

I decided a couple of weeks ago that it would be fun to relocate Thanksgiving to some sort of other spot for an adventure.  We decided to give the whole AirBnB thing a try and ended up having a wonderful experience in a historic burg one state over but not all that far away.  (Ah, the north with its many little states!)

We took "adventure" seriously and rode a ferry across the river border rather than a boring bridge!

The view from our car on the ferry.  (Yes, I might have applied a few editing techniques but hey-- it's pretty, right?!)

Here it is!  "Our" home built in 1815!

While one couch fabric choice might have been a little scary, everything else was just perfect!  Tons of natural light, plenty of room, and some fun accessories like.... a deer head:

A drafting table:

A rowing machine for some quick exercise:

And even a barber's chair!

Pretty soon, these people showed up...

...bearing not only a cute almost 4-year old but also all the rest of our holiday meal ingredients.  We swung into action and put together quite a spread:

Only implement we didn't have?  A can opener!   OOPS.   BG's problem solving skills to the (very sharp) rescue:

Oh, and as delicious as my plate o' food was, I had a hard time eating it the first go-round because it's *possible* I gorged on this yummmmmmmy baked maple bacon brie appetizer:

Nothing that a brisk walk around town after dinner coudn't fix!

B-man is a very doting fake cousin to Miss O:

Nutcracker!

Young people in an old town:

More adventures to come...

Bunny Ears Train

That's what's keeping us busy right now. Much more to come!

Hope you all had happy days yesterday!!

Happy Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving From These Turkeys!

Don't forget to GOBBLE TIL YOU WOBBLE!

School Feasts Through the Years

'Tis another collage and I didn't mean for that repetition, but the Kindergarten class put on a program yesterday and I was struck by the fact that I now had photographic snaps from four years worth of such a celebration.

After the class sang a bunch of Thanksgiving-themed songs, the teacher called each student one-by-one to the front to read from and show to all the gathered parents a paper/drawing depicting thankfulness.  I'm not sure if it were happenstance that Miss C went first or if the teacher knew she'd get the ball rolling, but I was quite pleased to see my reserved daughter stride right up and very confidently give us her thoughts:

"I am thankful for my mom, my dad, and God."

[Brother was not pleased to hear of his omission-- ha ha!]

Presenting CJK celebrating Turkey Day at school(s), 2013-2016:

These Crazy Kids

Pre-bedtime hijinks:

Protected

All the 3rd grade parents rejoiced this year because our class numbers finally hit the point where the principal was able to add an additional teacher.  The fabulous result of this action was that the classes only have 21 kids each (B had 28-ish last year in his class); the interesting twist is that practically none of B's male friends are in his class and he really only knew a handful of the girls.

This is the B-man we're talking about, though-- he who makes friends wherever he goes, regardless of gender.  So I wasn't really surprised at all to learn that he was the only boy invited to a birthday party on Saturday.  Since the birthday girl is his closest (new) friend in the class, he was super excited to be able to celebrate with her.

But I had to laugh when I arrived to pick him up and found him outfitted like this:

Guess he needed to ward off all those girls!

Fall Foliage Friday

I didn't tweak the color at all.   It really has been this pretty around here!

We're looking forward to a brrrr cold change, though: sometime Sat night/Sunday, it could drop 20-30 degrees in just a few hours.  Bring on the fireplace!  Let's do this!

Hope you all have a colorful and/or snuggly weekend!

Thoughts on a Thursday

I had lunch yesterday with a friend whom I met more than 13 years ago.  We've probably only seen each other a handful of times since then but every time we get together, my worldview broadens.  She's part of my "Nerd Camp" history, the chapter(s) of my life where I was granted the opportunity to be surrounded by people much like me in many ways (the nerdy ways) but so different from me in many others.  [Thanks, Sheils, for these opportunities to learn through the experiences and stories of others that there is not just one way to think/feel/do!]

She is a couple years older than I, and had a child a few years ago.  We connected yesterday over the frustrations and stress of finding a new/re-finding the old identity after becoming a mother, of the challenges of making part-time contract jobs work with the schedule and expectations of stay-at-home motherhood, of all the ways that we see others hurting since last Tuesday (well, from before that, too, but especially in light of last Tuesday) and where that leaves us all.

We didn't come up with any answers.  But it is always so delightful to spend time with a friend and really listen to what (s)he has to say*.  That's all I've got this Thursday-- no old photo, only a friendly reminder about the power and joy that come from reconnecting with "throwback" relationships.

*Thinking about this now, shortly after first hitting "Publish," I realize another connection from yesterday: in my weekly Wednesday morning small group, we talked about (and even sang around the table): "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord; open the eyes of my heart."  I might not share a religious creed with my lunchtime companion but that matters not.  May we always seek to reach out to others with our whole hearts.

Just a-Jumpin'!

Our PTA organized an event last evening at a local trampoline park.  We got a discounted rate for 90 minutes of jumping and the place gave us a few dollars per kid who came.  Or something like that-- I'm still a little unclear about the details.

What is clear: the kids had a great time!   They were all over the place, and I was tickled that the BG was with us, too.  Hooray for the return of family time post-football season!  (Even though I know he was probably kinda wishing he had a conflict...ha ha ha!)  I was running around trying to take pics [have I mentioned I'm in charge of the yearbook?] but that was not great what with the whole "kids all over the place" thing.  Active kids = Blurry kids.

Battling some boy from her class:

And perfecting his flip:

Is the Day Before Hump Day....DIP DAY?

Well, it is here!

We went to an annual gathering on Friday evening and I remembered feeling like there are always an abundance of sweets so I decided to make a dip.  (I also found some fun flavored goat cheeses 2-for-1 at the grocery store, so I took those, too.)   And of course-- this year, there were no homemade desserts!  Oops!

Can't go wrong with this dip, though.   While I probably prefer a hot cheesy dip, that's hard to manage when going to a party rather than hosting.  

5-Minute* Cheddar Bacon Ranch Dip

 (*Clearly does not include bacon-cooking time!)

So Many Inanimate Objects!

So many places to pose!

The BG's team made it to the playoffs due in large part to a strange statewide ranking system, not so much because of their success/prowess.  Nonetheless, it's exciting to get to play an extra week (or "exciting" if you're the spouse who was kinda planning on things getting back to normal the previous week), and our game was on Saturday afternoon, about 50 minutes away.

Said location happened to be just a short hop down from the place where we've spent many a night-after-Thanksgiving over the years, so the kids and I went early to wander around that area and remind ourselves of adventures gone by.  But really-- it turned into a trail of photography with still life!

The game might have been the most gorgeous football-watching experience of the season:  we were right in the sun so we didn't have to wear coats but could still be snuggly in our sweaters and blanket.  The stands were big so we were up high and could look out on all the autumnal colors.  Just perfect, actually.

Well...except for the 62-6 score.  But whatever.  ;-)

Children of the Glow(ing Screen)

It was an interesting choice of location, but whatever.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

The Biggest Smile There Ever Was [A Throwback]

This pic is in a frame on the BG's dresser and it makes me happy every time I see it (when I'm not sad about all the perma-dust on the dresser...altho rarely sad enough to remove said dust.  I have a problem).

As you might know, this little girl is generally quite happy-- but she's not often exuberant in her expressions.  It's possible that it was the camera flash that resulted in this shot but whatever.  I love it!

It also cracks me up that there are turquoise smudges on my (oh so glistening) forehead.  It's something on the glass. I have tried to remove them several time and finally gave up.  I mean, it perfectly matches her bow and everything!

(If we're being honest, I also like how slender my face looks.  Gotten a titch puffier in the last few years....darn that getting older!  Or the overeating.  One of those.)