Thanksgiving Holiday - Part One

The day before Thanksgiving was a busy one in the Allen Household as we prepared to take off for the holiday. Wesley was still able to go to daycare. Mommy took Parker with her to church to help decorate the sanctuary for Christmas since Daddy had a last-minute graveside service at one of the cemeteries in town. We all met back up for lunch and then the errand running started: Staples, WalMart and CVS. Daddy dropped Parker and Mommy off to do some laundry and pack while he picked up Wesley and took him to get a haircut and then get the car washed. We were finally all loaded up and ready to go at 5:30pm. Our 90 minute trip home to Seffner though took an extra 45 minutes because of traffic and accidents on I-75. Fortunately we were still able to hang out some with family: Uncle Bill and Aunt Bobbie were here from North Carolina along with their granddaughter Courtney.

On Thursday we had a lovely Thanksgiving. In the morning Sam and Sarah came over to visit. They are here from Germany for a week and this was Sarah's first American Thanksgiving.

The kids spent some time trying to help peel potatoes in the kitchen and spread the Cool Whip on the banana pudding.

It really was a wonderful feast for lunch. There were 19 of us: our four plus Granddaddy and Grandmommy, Uncle Daniel's five, Grannie, Uncle Kelly and Aunt Barbara, Uncle Kelly, along with Uncle Bill, Aunt Bobbie and Courtney and Miss Joan. Afterwards the kids were insistent on getting in the pool for a swim! While it was about 83 degrees outside, the water was still plenty cold! The kids ended up playing around the pool and daring to be brave and jump in at times.
After forcing Wesley to take a much needed nap (he and Bubba had gotten up about 5:30am!) we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's and had yummy leftovers for dinner. The boys had fun playing all over the house (including on Grandpa's walker) but finally came to ask Grandpa if they could go back in the TV room and watch a show with him - they introduced him to Wonderpets!

It was late when we got back to Grandmommy's but most everyone was still up and Wesley wasted no time in snuggling up with Courtney.