Our Thanksgiving tradition is to load up the car and drive to my sister's house in Virginia. Depending on how many stops, and traffic of course, it takes us around 11 hours. Thankfully, we've got two little great travelers on our hands which made the trip a lot less daunting. (Check out my post with our must haves when traveling with kids!)
We left Tuesday morning and only had to stop once until we got to our hotel for the night. We like to break up long drives at hotels with a pool. The kids can get a lot of energy out and then they aren't in the car all day. We got all checked in and the kids were bouncing up and down asking if we could go find the pool. The look on Redmond's face when the woman at the front desk said "Our pool is closed"....it was heartbreaking. Tears welling, bottom lip quivering. Poor guy! It was a huge disappointment to say the least, but Jason saved the day by suggesting we go find a park.
The kids even declared it was 'the best park ever!'
After lunch, we got back in the car and finished the trip to my sister's house. The kids slept the entire way. Phew! That was easy!
The kids were so excited to see their cousins!
On Thanksgiving, my sister, brother-in-law, mom, step-dad, my nieces, nephew and I went and did the local Turkey Trot 5k in my sister's town. It's been a tradition since 2009 and I'm happy to report I beat my time from last year by about 35 seconds! Woo-hoo!!! It was the first year that my nieces ran the whole thing and they did great! We celebrated with complimentary Krispy Kremes while we waited for everyone else at the finish line (we were the only ones that ran it - everyone else walked).
After the race, we headed back to my sister's house. My sister and I got busy inside getting all the good food ready while the guys hung out around the infrared fryer outside. We had the most gorgeous weather all weekend!
Redmond is obsessed with inflatables and he quickly convinced my brother-in-law to set up their Christmas inflatables. Our favorite is this nutcracker. Beer belly, tattoo, trucker hat - hilarious!
The rest of the day was spent drinking, eating and laughing. It was a great, low-key Thanksgiving!
Friday morning I went out shopping with my sister and mom. I found a few good things, but I was out more just to hang with my sister and mom. Later that day we had "early Christmas" as the kids have named it. Since we live so far away, we always do the kids Christmas gifts over Thanksgiving. Always a hit!
That night, we headed outside for a bonfire and s'mores. Great end to our trip!
When we woke up the next morning, it was Saturday already! We got the car all packed up and hung out for the morning and through lunch. Shortly after lunch we loaded up and hit the road. Originally, we were going to stop and stay in a hotel and finish the drive home Sunday, but we decided that we would just drive straight home. We got home a little after 11 pm and it was so good to sleep in our own beds! We had a great time and can't wait for next year!
~ Sara :)