This Thanksgiving we had a change to our usual Thanksgiving routine. This year Jonathan and I got to spend all Thanksgiving Day at my Dads house, when usually we are bouncing from one dinner to the next. We arrived at my Dads house just after 12 noon and spent the day with Dad and Carols family.
Talk about busy. Our family is beginning to outgrow it's gathering point. There are now 6 small grand kids that cheerfully add to the excitement of the day. Also, this was the first Thanksgiving for the newest arrival, Max. Of course he doesn't get what's going on, just that he is being passed around and meeting people for the first time.
We were sufficiently stuffed really glad to see everyone.
On Friday morning, we were up early and heading to Oakland City, Indiana with Polaris in tow. We were off to have another Thanksgiving with Jonathan's brother Steve and his family along with Jonathan's parents. I was so excited the whole way there because we were meeting Steve's wife, Sylvia, for the first time.
When we arrived, we were met with smiles and big hugs from all. Once we all got acquainted, we were treated to a pizza lunch. We were then off for our first 4-wheeling trip. I wish we had taken the camera because the trip was quite interesting. We went 16 miles around the coal mines of the area. I can honestly say that I have never been that close to a coal mine before. Through out the weekend we could hear the blasting that the mines were doing from the house. And of course when you have coal mines, you also have trains. TRAINS TRAINS and MORE TRAINS!! Steve's house has train tracks in front across the street and in back of the property line. These trains seemed to run a lot through the day while we were there. It's funny because they usually didn't notice the trains, but Jonathan and I jumped up to see every time they came through. It's kinda like when you grow up in Vandalia and your plates rattle across the picnic table when you have visitors over because Emery cargo planes are flying over your house. My family didn't notice the planes anymore, but our guest looked at us like the sky is falling. (true story)
We spent the rest of the weekend just enjoying the family and eating LOTS of food.
We also got to meet two of Sylvia's kids. James, who was very welcoming and Winter Dawn who arrived on Saturday for dinner with her husband Roy and toddler son Andrew (what a character). Winter brought lots of food for dinner, one of which were some awesome Chicken 'n' Dumplings. Winter--- can I please, please, please get that recipe?????????????????? I have been forced to turn to the Internet to find something only close to what you made!!
After we all had our fill and then a later refill, we headed up to the video store for some movies. Wouldn't ya know it.........we stumbled across the local Christmas Parade. We got stuck at the video store while the parade passed but managed to score a bag full of candy that was thrown out to the kids on the street. (no we didn't steal from the kids, they had there bags full too)
On Sunday morning we met everyone at the Denny's in town for breakfast then headed back to the house for the afternoon.
At about 3pm on Sunday, with the truck cab loaded down with left overs and the trailer safely secured, we gave our hugs and said good bye to everyone.
I have to honestly say that we had a really great time. You never know what to expect when you head into a situation and meet new people for the first time. I guess I was excited and nervous before we got there, but any nerves that I had were quickly put away. We were made to feel welcome as soon as we got there.
Thanks Steve and Sylvia for the hospitality. You guys were great!! We hope to see you both with the kids around here soon.
Jonathan's Parents on the left. Steve and Sylvia in the Middle. Jonathan and I on the right. with Benjamin in front and Elizabeth in the pink (she's taller then me now!!) Daniel is taking the picture, who is now 17!!
Max with Grandma Carol
Max and Grandpa making faces at each other
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