Belated Thanksgiving

Okay, now that we are well into December, I can finally get around to posting about our fun Thanksgiving celebration. (Although for anyone who reads Alison's blog this will most likely be a repeat. ) Alison and Mike and their kids were all able to join us from New Jersey and we were so excited to see them again so soon after their last visit a few months ago. We are so glad that our kids have at least one set of cousins that they know so well. They really are such good friends. Jonathan was also out for a visit and is was wonderful to have him back. As luck would have it, our furnace quit on the very day of his arrival and he was able to fix it for us! Thanks again Jonathan. We really miss having him around and not just for all the help he gives us when he's here.

Anyway, the weather being a bit chillier than it was when last we saw everyone and Bentley not feeling well, we didn't venture out quite as much, but I think we managed to have just as much fun staying indoors. We did make our usual trip to the kid's museum. That was lots of fun and it helped to work off some of their energy too.

The kids all had fun on the new play structure acting out an elaborate pirate tale.

We also spent an afternoon at the movie to see "Bolt" which is a really funny show and I think we all enjoyed it.

Of course Tripoly was an essential part of the visit as well. We may have left the children to their own devices a little more than we should have but that game is so addicting. Alison and I even decided to forgo our planned scrapbooking night in favor of another Tripoly match. And if we hadn't done that I would not have gotten the most amazing hand in Tripoly history. We were actually down to three players: Kalen, Mom, and me. Kalen was winning by a long way, Mom had barely enough chips to play with, and I had enough to play but no hope of catching up to Kalen anytime soon. And then I got "The Hand"! For all you Tripoly players out there, you can imagine the struggle I had to keep a poker face when I saw my cards contained the 8-9-10-Jack-Queen and the Ace of hearts! The only thing missing from the perfect hand was the King. As it was, I won the poker hand with my straight flush, and swept the rest of the board with the exception of the K and KQ . We should have taken a picture of it but none of us thought of it at the time. We did think about re-inacting the scene but thought it would be too difficult to portray my utter excitement and the shock of everyone else (including the cracker that sprayed out of Kalen's mouth when I put down all those cards!) so you'll just have to trust me, it was a very fun scene. I still didn't win enough chips to win the entire game, but I think we all know that with a hand like that, I really was the winner!

We also made a trip to the Sweet Tooth, our favorite ice cream establishment, that was great fun. It's been awhile since we've been and I rekindled my love affair with Denali Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream...mmmm...chocolate paradise. The kids had fun playing the games they have on hand and Kalen, Mike, Jonathan, and Timothy (who after all the Triploy had Poker on the brain) played a round of poker using sugar packets as poker chips.

Our actual Thanksgiving dinner was scrumptious too. Kalen made his fabulous turkey (I love that he loves to make the turkey!) and fruit salad, Mom made a delicious ham and her heavenly rolls, and I made the side dishes and pies. It was a fabulous meal.

We just had a great time and are so glad that we were able to spend the time with family--our greatest blessing ever!