Thanksgiving 2009 (finally!)

I know Thanksgiving was last week, but I've been busy since we got back and haven't had time to post! This will be a long one with a lot of pictures, so hopefully that makes up for it!

We headed down to Matt's mom's house after Matt got off work Wednesday afternoon. We took back roads because we knew the interstates would be packed with extra cars on the road. We thought it was pretty good to make it down in 5 hours.

Thursday morning, Matt, Barbara and I went for a nice walk on the beach. It was a little windy, but I figured it was the best way to start a day full of food! We went to Mimi and Gramps house for lunch. Patrick, Mariruth and Caitlin came up from their time-share in Naples for lunch as well. I was impressed with how well Caitlin did with so many new people.

After lunch we headed over to Barbara and Jack's house for dinner. It's so nice to be with family, though I don't think I had a real conversation with anyone! Jill brought her dog Max. He was stuck outside while we ate, but she brought him in after dinner. We were all impressed that Mia was brave enough to pet him (though it took a while for her to do it!) because she isn't a dog person. We went back to my parent's house to stay the night.

Friday we went to visit my grandma at her new place. It's nice and small and she knows several people there, so that makes it nice for her. She took us on a tour and we left her at the dining room so she could have lunch. She said she might go play Wii bowling in the afternoon. Apparently she has gone before because she said it's really easy. I love it! Then we went to Chick-fil-a to see Jonathan while he was working. Well, that's the excuse I used so I could get a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake. Yum!

After lunch we headed to Toys R Us to help mom Christmas shop for her grandchildren. It wasn't too bad for being the day after Thanksgiving. It's much more fun shopping when you aren't the one spending the money! And let's just say that the kids are going to get some awesome gifts soon!

We left for Jim and Jean's house later that afternoon. Brittany was also home for Thanksgiving. We all went out to dinner before heading to see a Lightning hockey game. It was the first one I have been to since high school and it was so much fun. Jean got us great seats just a few rows behind the Lightning bench. It was also nice that there were only 5 seats in the row, just enough for us! There were a ton of fights (that's what makes hockey great, right??) and the Lightning won, so that just makes the game even better. I think we all had a really good time and I'm glad we were able to do it.

Patrick, Mariruth and Caitlin came up for lunch Saturday. We had really good pizza and salad from a local place. We brought Caitlin's Christmas gifts because we won't see them at Christmas. We bought her a couple of puzzles and one of the Veggie Tales silly song DVDs. I know all kids aren't alike, but Mia loved to dance along to the songs, so I hope Caitlin likes it just as much. We left shortly after Caitlin opened her gifts and luckily missed a lot of traffic. It was such a good trip and we are looking forward to seeing even more people at Christmas!

I know this isn't about Thanksgiving, but last night Matt and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They are awesome! Of course, they played their two most popular songs "Christmas in Sarajevo" and "Wizards in Wonderland." They had the show divided into two parts, half for their Christmas songs and half for their songs on their new album. They had lights that blinked along with the music, laser lights, moving stage parts and lights, smoke, and fire during their show. I'm so mad because I didn't take my camera. It said that cameras aren't allowed on the ticket and I didn't want to get ours taken away. There were tons of cameras there, and I'm not just talking about ones on cell phones. And I totally would have videoed some of the songs. I guess we'll just have to go back again! :) We could have stayed afterward to get the band's autographs, but it was already 10:30 when the show was over and we just aren't as young as we used to be! Matt is sleeping on the couch now, and has been for about an hour. Simba is snuggling with him, too. We're both very tired, but it was worth it!