Thanksgiving, etc.

This year for Thanksgiving we made a trek to Northern Michigan (Traverse City) to visit my Mom and meet her new husband.  The trip was nine hours and so we decided to leave at night and hope that the kids would sleep most of the way and, miracle of miracles, it actually worked!  They slept about 7 of the 9 hours and were pretty well behaved when they woke up. 

We took the northern route through Canada which necessitated 2 boarder crossings each way.  I haven’t figured out how they decide what to ask at customs.  I was asked what I did for a living, where I grew up and Scott was asked if his company moved him around a lot.  The questions were different at every stop and our theory is that they just want to make sure you can answer them quickly and without stumbling over your answers.

We arrived at my Mom’s house around 7 am Monday morning.  Our master plan was to get Adam and Jane to take naps so we could; that didn’t work out so well.  Jane slept but Adam was a bundle of energy.  We napped a bit on Monday and slept like rocks Monday night.

On Tuesday we were discussing the menu for Thanksgiving dinner which included a massive quantity of desserts.  Scott had the genius idea of getting a head start.  So, we made an apple pie on Tuesday and it was gone by Wednesday morning.  One dessert down; literally.

Traverse city is right on Lake Michigan and Adam had a great time at the beach.  Scott is a master stone-skipper and Adam kept him busy.

Jane enjoyed some tasty sand.

After the beach we headed to Culver’s; sweet, sweet Culver’s.  If you ever find yourself in the Midwest, make your way to a Culver’s and order a butter burger and a chocolate custard.  Mmmmmm.  We had one in our home town growing up and it’s total comfort food for me.

If you can’t read Jane’s bib it says, “I’m as cute as a Butter Burger is delicious.”  So true.  She even gets bitten occasionally based solely on her delectableness.

We decided to check out the Traverse City Children’s Museum while we were there.  It is really small, especially compared to Strong Museum, but it has some fantastic exhibits and Adam has talked about it several times since we got home.  They had a great play/climb area (which I think Strong is lacking).  Jane needed a little help to navigate it.

The best exhibit by far was this modular water table.  The water flows through it and the walls are all removable.  So you can make all sorts of different configurations with the current.  Very cool.  There were several times when I looked around and it was just a bunch of adults playing with it.  That was the other nice thing about this museum.  It was small enough that no matter where the kids were, they were always in sight.

Thanksgiving day was great and full of delicious food and lots of family.  I was so excited to get a four-generation picture. 

From the left: my sister Stephanie, Jane, me, my Mom and my grandmother.  I have reconciled myself to the fact that I am gigantic and will always look so when surrounded my normal-sized people.

Dinner was yummy.  It doesn’t hurt that my sister, Stephanie, is in culinary school.  She made everything look so pretty and had any possible kitchen gadget we needed in her car.   

The week was full of fun and activities and,  at one point or another, each of the kids collapsed in exhaustion.  Jane will rarely sleep in our arms, so this was a rare treat for Scott.

I am coming to the realization that Adam is all boy and my attempts to civilize him will only go so far.

Adam had a great time getting to know “Grandma Kim” and was completely comfortable with both her and her husband, John, by the middle of the week.  That’s huge.  It takes Adam a while to warm up to new people.

On Saturday we turned the festivities to semi-nude tree decorating.  What?  Doesn’t everyone do that?

We did eventually get the tree decorated despite Jane’s best efforts to thwart us.

On Saturday night we headed to a delicious Mexican restaurant to celebrate my Mom’s birthday.  Then, it was into the car and on our way back to NY.

Thanks to everyone in Michigan for hosting us and showing us such a great time.  We love you!

*Note: That last picture is one of the few I have of my Mom’s husband, John.  I realized as I was doing this post that I didn’t get a single picture of my brother James.  Sneaky, sneaky.