This year for Thanksgiving we spent a week in Flagstaff, AZ with my family. None of us live in Arizona, but that is where my parents got a time share this year. In years past we have always gone to Oregon, but these last couple of years we decided to mix things up and try out some different locations. Shilo and I had the shortest drive out of everyone. We only had to travel for 9 hours while my sister had a 16 hour drive and my parents and brothers had a 12 hour drive. Lucky us! Eli did great on the drive. I think we stopped every few hours to stretch our legs, get a bite to eat, or fill the car up with gas. When Eli got fussy I would try to distract him with toys or snacks, but when that didn't work we turned on a movie and all was well.
Our week was packed full of fun and the weather was awesome! Everyone expect for Grandma Jean and Nathan and Kaitlyn arrived on Friday. Grandma Jean flew in on Saturday. She was supposed to fly in on Friday but her flight got delayed because of weather. She even got sick and spent the next few days recovering. Luckily she was better by Tuesday and was able to join in most of the fun. Nathan and Kaitlyn got in on Sunday night and had to leave on Thursday. But we were so glad they were able to make it.
We thought since we were in Flagstaff we might get a little snow, but it was warm and sunny all week. The 11 cousins had fun running around outside, watching TV, playing video games at the rec center, putting on plays, and playing board games. The adults had fun stuffing our faces with too much food, visiting, doing puzzles, playing pool at the rec center, and playing the awesome card game Bang. Seriously, we were addicted and would play at least 3 times a night :)
*On Monday we took the kids to a park and I chipped my tooth while eating a Mentos. Luckily my sister was visiting with a friend that recently moved to the area so she was able to recommend a dentist. After the park we put the little ones down for a nap and left the older kids to babysit while all the adults went out to lunch at Freddy's to celebrate Shilo's birthday. The original plan was to go to Outback (Shilo's favorite), but they didn't open until 4pm and we had other plans for the rest of the day.
After lunch everyone except for my mom and Grandma Jean headed out to explore the Lava River Cave. It was basically a big hole in the ground that led down to a rocky tunnel that was pitch black and about a mile long.
It was a fun adventure. But I don't think I would recommend it if you are 7 months pregnant and have an almost 2 year old who wants to be held all the time.
After the Lava Cave we had a 'Meager Meal' for dinner. My sister's kids did a presentation about how some people aren't as fortunate as we are and don't have a lot of food to eat. She purchased pre-packaged meals from Friends Against Hunger. Basically everyone got about one cup food which was rice, beans, and vegetables. And that was it. But in reality we got to eat more food because the people who receive these meals don't get anything else to eat that day. I am very thankful that I get to eat more than a cup of rice and beans everyday.
*On Tuesday we celebrated Thanksgiving! We celebrated early because we had to leave the time share on Friday and wanted to have leftovers for the rest of the week. And oh boy did we have a lot of leftovers :) But before our big meal Shilo and I went to see a dentist about my chipped tooth. It wasn't causing any pain. It was just really annoying to have a chipped tooth and I didn't want it to chip any more. The dentist was really nice. He took an x-ray and then I waited for probably about an hour while he was with another patient. When he finally came back to see me he took about 5 minutes and put in a temporary filling (which was basically just some putty like stuff that hardened). And that was that. I don't know why he didn't just fix it all the way, but I guess he wanted to let my dentist have a look at it and see if I need a crown instead of a filling.
After our Thanksgiving feast we played a white elephant gift exchange. All of the gifts were provided by my mom. Just random items she brought from her house. The game was pretty slow at the beginning and no one was stealing gifts. But after about 10 gifts were opened people started getting brave and started stealing from others. The most popular items were a package of Smart Wool socks and a Willow Tree figurine. Other people weren't as lucky and ended up with a can of sardines or an ironing board cover. After the game was over there was a lot of trading, mostly between the younger kids and I think everyone was happy with the end result.
*On Wednesday we piled into the cars and headed to the Grand Canyon! It was about an hour and a half drive, but it was worth it. We started off at the watch tower on the South rim, stopped at a lot of view points and a cool little museum with some old ruins, and ended up at the visitor's center. The weather was perfect and we didn't have to deal with any big crowds of people. The only bummer of the day was when I forgot about my temporary filling, chewed a piece of gum, and my filling fell out :(
That night after the Grand Canyon Eli and Elsie took a bath together. Aren't they just the cutest?!
*On Thursday Shilo and I took it easy while the rest of the group went to look at some Indian Ruins. It sounded like fun but Shilo had been fighting a sore throat all week and my back and feet were pretty sore and tired from all the walking we did earlier in the week. I think being pregnant had something to do with it also. When everyone got back from the ruins we ate more leftovers, started packing so it wouldn't be such a mad rush the next morning when it came time to leave, and of course played our new favorite game ... Bang!
And just a couple more pictures for fun.
Eli absolutely LOVED playing with cousins Kaimi and Hank!
Four generations. We also loved having Grandma Jean with us :)
I'm thankful Shilo was able to get work off this year , even if he did spend most of his time playing video games (but, hey, it was his vacation too). It was such a fun week and I'm sad the fun had to end, but I am already looking forward to the next reunion in 2 years :)
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