We've spent our fair share of Thanksgivings without family around. Many years we've invited friends over and have even enjoyed a few by ourselves. Curt and I are HUGE fans of the meal so we always have to make the whole dang thing. Being without family usually meant days of cooking and then days of eating but the good news is that I totally know how to make a turkey!
This year, my brother and his family came to visit us. We had such a fun time! The weather was absolutely perfect-mid 70's all week. They were here for 5 days and we packed a lot in:
1) A trip to the Beach Club. This is a couple of lakes and parks just a few minutes from my house. We walked/ran 3 miles and let the kids play on the playground and exercise equipment.
2) We drove to the hood for some top ranked Mexican food. We got lost several times and the kids were hysterical with hungar but the quesadillas and queso were fantastic! Here is a review I just saw of this place online: "really good basic Mexican food - very inexpensive - lousy, dangerous neighborhood." Information that would've been helpful yesterday (in an Adam Sandler voice!)
3) There was lots of swimming. Turns out that 65F water isn't a deterrent for my neices! :) It helped that we warmed up the hot tub.
4) On wednesday night we made 6 pies, brined the turkey and started the rolls. I still use my friend Melissa's recipe for "Icebox Butterhorns" and they are the best. But couldn't you tell by the name? We usually make our own pie crust but decided to just buy some this year. If I could do it again I would have made the crusts. They hardly take any time and taste SO much better. Note for next year...
5) I wanted to do the local turkey trot but it was super expensive and crowded so we just decided to meet a bunch of our friends at a local elementary on Thanksgiving morning. This turned out to be one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories ever. We played a huge game of kickball (such a perfect game b/c it's fun for 3 year olds and 40 year olds). Curtis was happy because he had the opportunity to peg me in the back with the ball when I made a run for home. There was a really great playground and the kiddos got to play on the swings, play basketball and throw footballs/frisbees. Seriously such a great way to start off the day.
6) We finished prepping the meal and had an amazing Thanksgiving feast that night. Everything tasted so good. I love this meal. I mean I love this meal. Oh and I forgot the cranberries! For reals. (Wow! I found the clip here.) Luckily Kroger was still open and Riche and I made a run for it. We also stocked up on lots of whole nuts for cracking, some subpar chocolates (dang- we should've planned and had Sees!) and a bag of Brock's candy mix that made all of us think of our grandmas. :)
7) We hit Dewberry Farms on Friday. It was meh. Actually Daniel got a huge goose egg on his head within the first 5 minutes. (I think he ran into a post) Then Maya's flip flop broke so she had no shoes (a little gross at a farm- even to me and I'm so not a germ-a-phobe) and then Lauren got huge blisters on her hands from the zip line. So we headed home and rested up until the adults went out for a special date. We took Rich and Steph to "Taste of Texas" which is hands down our favorite restaurant in the world. It has never disappointed. Everything was fantastic: stuffed mushrooms, onion soup, the salad bar and of course the steak. Oh and the wait was pretty long so we headed over the Cavenders to look at cowboy gear. Steph and I got boots. Red boots. Seriously a perfect date! :)
8) We saw several movies. Curtis kept wanting to see "Holes" again, so we rented it. What a great flick. The kids loved it. One night Rich and Steph and Curtis and I stayed up watching "Crazy Stupid Love." It made us laugh. We only hit the theaters once and "Puss 'n Boots" rocked. I'm a huge fan of that kitty. Even stole a little happy meal toy from Lucy recently because it's just SO cute!
9) Just hours before my brother's fam needed to be at the airport we decided to jump out for dinner one more time, just the adults. We went to Pappadeux and enjoyed amazing cajun seafood. Unfortunately I had eated my 4th or 5th plate of Thanksgiving only a few hours before so I couldn't eat much. But I did try alligator and yeah, it tastes just like chicken.
We have so much to be thankful for I hardly know where to start. Freedom, Food, Safety, Comfortable homes, loving families, Friends, Peace through faith.... too many more. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend too!
