Thanksgiving: Reader's Digest version

I'm a little behind the times...

For Thanksgiving we had a full house and loved it. Cousins James and Cameo along with their two kiddos Jacob and Eli, cousin Heather, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Jeremy, and baby Gwendolyn joined us for our trip to Sea World. The day was really nice and warm and the park was a bit busier than last year. The shows were fun and we all had a great time.

Matthew and Melissa were ecstatic to have cousin Jacob over for a slumber party. They both love playing with him. Isaac and Eli were more rivals but I imagine they will be friends once they outgrow THE twos.

During the Shamu show we sat behind Muslim family speaking Arabic. They bought some dippin' dots ice cream. Melissa, ever the shy one, asked "What's that?" pointing to the ice cream. The lady patted her on the head and gave Melissa her ice cream. I was a bit embarrassed and politely tried to give it back but the lady insisted and smiled at Melissa. That girl is a charmer. While watching the show, Melissa shared her ice cream with Jacob. Later she chattered in her usual happy manner to the lady. I don't think the woman understood a word she said but she grinned, nodded, and patted her cheek.

Later that afternoon little ones played at a very busy playground. While there I had the scariest 3-4 minutes of my life. The playground had a lot of nooks to hide in and 3 places to exit. (Terrible, terrible design, I think.) Isaac managed to dart out of my sight and I couldn't find him. The place was swarming with kids making a search harder. After the first few minutes I concluded he wasn't in the playground any more. I started a sweep around the playground when I heard him crying above the general din. An elderly couple was carrying Isaac and saw my frantic face. "Is this one yours?" Isaac lunged into my arms. "We found him running towards the alligator pond and thought he might have come from the playground." My kids are determined to give me gray hairs before my time.

When the kids got tired we trekked back home for a big Thanksgiving feast. Everything was cooked the day before, but it still took many hands to get the tables setup and the food reheated. Thanks all!

After the meal (and dessert!), we were too tired from the day's activities to have our traditional cousin games. We lounged on the couches, full and satisfied.

We will miss James and Cameo when they move from Houston. :(

Houston and Cousins

Thanksgiving day we invited some friends of ours to dinner. They'd just moved into town the weekend before and were still in the midst of boxes and unpacking. Deja vu! We moved the same weekend last year.

I cooked everything including the turkey the day before so we could play all morning, and relax during the afternoon. It was nice to see them. Boy their four kids were wired after being stuck in a car for two days and then cooped up in the house with boxes! Naturally a good time was had by all and all the kids whooped it up all over the house. Everyone was tired at the end of the day and slept well. Whew!

Friday we got off to a late start to Houston to see James and Cameo with their two cute boys. Heather and Will flew in for Thanksgiving weekend too, so it was like an extended cousin dinner. I sure miss those monthly dinners... Matthew and Melissa were delighted to see cousin Jacob and play with him. And they got to have a sleepover in his room. I wonder how much sleeping went on...

Saturday James, Cameo, and Jonathan took the big kids to the park to run around while they played ultimate frisbee. Jonathan didn't bring sneakers or cleats so he opted to play barefoot. (Yes, it was that warm last weekend, in the 70s and overcast. Then the next weekend Houston got snow. Go figure.) Jonathan had a good time, but he managed to do something to his foot. What is it with that man and frisbee? James and Cameo caught the BYU game that night, while the rest of us took the kids bowling. Jacob was a real bowler, but Melissa got bored after the fifth frame. Matthew wavered between frustration and elation. He hates losing. Explaining that it's just a game and he's still learning hasn't had much impact. Fortunately for him, Heather and I are also really lousy bowlers, so he was right around our scores. "Gutter ball!" The bowling alley was sophistocated enough to have the bumpers only pop up for the kids. I was impressed. Regrettably, I probably could have used the bumpers too. Heh.

The evenings were spent playing games. Word to the wise, Cameo rocks Dutch Blitz.

Sunday Jonathan forgot his church clothes and I gave him way more harassment than he deserved. Poor longsuffering guy. Haha. He thought I put them in the car, and I assumed he'd done so. Oh well. James outfitted him and he just wore his black socks, no shoes. It worked well enough. :) Thanks James. After a delicious lunch of crepes and orange juliuses made by Will (Jonathan: Wow, Will mixes everything in a blender, and he's good), and a few more games; we packed up the kids and drove home.

Isaac didn't nap much on the way to or from Houston, but at least he tolerated his carseat better this trip. He can be bribed with M&Ms now.

Cousins

I am woefully behind on SP posts. (Still need to put up some pictures from Melissa's birthday party 3 weeks ago...sheesh.)

Last weekend James, Cameo and crew drove from Houston for the weekend. It was so fun to see them again.

Matthew on the morning they drove in: When are they coming? This is taking too long! Can Jacob just stay with us a week and his parents can go back if they need too? Pleeease? I just can't wait until they get here!!!

Melissa was excited too: Can I play with the cousin Jacob? We will play lots of games!

James and Cameo are both looking great. And their kids are so cute. Jacob is very articulate now and very happy to run around playing boy games with Matthew. Elijah is just a content, cuddly baby.

We went to the wildlife safari which was rained out, but the kids still seemed to have fun. We primarily saw deer and antelope. I guess a lot of the other animals must have been taking refuge in the trees. Matthew and Jacob rode with James and Cameo and they lucked out and saw/fed a few more animals than us. Melissa rode with us, and having no preconceived notions, she wasn't disappointed in the least and enjoyed herself thoroughly. For his part, Isaac wanted to stick his head out of the window in the rain as we tooled along at 3 mph. He really liked playing with the knobs and buttons in the front seat of the car as well, but really could care less about the animals roaming. Maybe we'll try the safari again another day or maybe we'll check out Natural Bridge Caverns located next to the safari- those look really interesting. (I'll have to see when we can get photos off of the camera phone- Jon's phone broke, but that is another post entirely).

After dinner Cameo bathed the boys who were quite pleased to take a bath together in the BIG tub.

Matthew, Melissa, and Jacob all bunked in Matthew's room for a "slumber" party. We heard noises well past bedtime and I had to break up a marble game in progress. But eventually they went to sleep. As long as the lights were off and the giggles and chatter relatively quiet, we figured no harm done. After all, cousins were in town! Speaking of which, James and I both stayed up later than we should have playing video games. Heh.

Despite Matthew's pleading, they had to leave after church on Sunday. Alas. We'll have to plan some get togethers in the near future.

Houston pictures

Matthew, Melissa and Jacob dying eggs the Saturday before Easter. Guess what color Melissa chose?
Later we ate dinner and played at a park with lots of sand. None of the kids were particularly interested in dinner- go figure.
Even James got into the act with the sand. "Just keeping Jacob busy." Righhht.

Houston (Reader's Digest Version)

We had a lovely Easter in Houston. James and Cameo blessed their baby, Elijah, and we made the trip out to see them. It's our first road trip with the kids and *only* a four hour drive- however with children you have to add the a multiplier for each kid. So a trip that is four hours feels more like 6. Kind of like wind chill factor only it's "kid car factor." "Are we there yet!? This is taking too long. I have to go potty. Mom, mom, mom!!! Dad, dad, dad!!! Isaac's crying again! I'm thirsty!" You get the drill. So we survived. Actually it wasn't too bad.

Matthew and Melissa were pleased to play with their cousin Jacob and we stayed in the Marriott Residence Inn to give us a little more space. (And to make up for the truck-stop cramped motel we stayed in when we went to WA). It was NICE. It had two bedrooms and a joint living/dining/kitchen area. I could easily get used to staying there.

James and Cameo both look great and their kids are so cute. Jacob really took a shine to Matthew and had fun hanging out with a "big" boy. Matthew to his credit was good with the little kids and took him under his wing. So we played games, dyed eggs, went to the park, and had a good time. Summer and Bob were there, and later Cameo's parents came. Sunday we went to the blessing: 8:30 church, ugh. Afterward we had a luncheon, hunted for eggs, told the Easter story, and then drove back. A good time was had by all. And I have to mention that I'm way impressed with the public reststops in Texas. There were playgrounds, fully landscaped grassy areas with mature trees, flowering bushes, internet access, CLEAN restrooms, and vending machinces. Wow!

Oh and Matthew lost another tooth. He will write all about it I'm sure when he gets back from school.

Pictures to come as soon as I can convince Jonathan to download them from his phone.