Thanksgiving 2013

Figured I should post Thanksgiving pictures before Christmas came around. :)  The weekend before Thanksgiving, we loaded up my parents' big 'ol van and headed to Ohio.  We stopped a little before dinner and stayed the night in Illinois somewhere.  At that point, we had been on the road for about eight hours. Enough for all of us. :)  The girls actually did REALLY well.  After we checked into the hotel, we put our swimsuits on and let the girls splash around the indoor pool for a little while before we went to dinner and hands-down, had the worst meal I've ever had.  Horrible.  All I can equate it to is gas station food served on a plate and being severely over charged for it.  It seemed like a normal enough restaurant from the outside with plenty of cars parked in the parking lot so we figured it'd be fine.  Hmm, not so much.

The next morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel and got back on the road.  We stopped in Indy to see our friends.  They made lunch for the girls and grabbed Jimmy John's for us.  It was so nice to see them and catch up for a little bit before getting back in the car for our last little stretch.

It was a great week spent with family.  It's a lot of people.  It can be chaos.  But it's family and it's always so great to see everyone. :)

The first couple of days, it was just our family at Dean's grandparents' house.  On that Tuesday, Dean's grandpa got to come home after being in the hospital for nearly three months.  We were all so thankful to have him home...especially in time for Thanksgiving.  He's continuing to work on getting stronger every day. I'm sure it's frustrating and there are good days and bad, but we all know he can do it!

Once Dean's little cousin Amber (who is also five) arrived, Ayla was off playing with her for the rest of the week.  They played much better with Aubree this year.  She still had trouble keeping up with the big girls and would shriek and cry out of frustration, but they did well for the most part. :)

The day after Thanksgiving, Great Grandma got the girls each a gingerbread house to decorate.  It was a fun project that all three of them loved!  And they turned out so cute!

On the way home, we stopped in Coralville, Iowa.  We had dinner at our friend's brother's restaurant--we just by chance, booked a hotel right by the restaurant!  Speaking of, Dean picked the best hotel ever.  It was soo nice.  We had a suite with a living room, kitchen, and two separate bedrooms so we were able to put the girls to bed in one room and then we were able to enjoy the rest of the night.  It was great to be able to unwind with a couple drinks and watch some tv before going to bed without worrying about disturbing the girls.  Great end to our trip!