A Family Thanksgiving 2018

Ever since my family moved to Tennessee in 1990, I have always loved Thanksgiving.  Growing up, it usually meant that my Michigan family would come visit - under the premise of seeing us, but we all knew that my Uncle Paul also wanted to get in that one last round of golf thanks to the "warm" Nashville weather.  I have lots of memories as a middle-schooler and high-schooler going Black Friday shopping with my aunts and cousins, getting primarily anything I wanted since we saw each other so infrequently.  I specifically remember scoring a fabulous pair of Doc Marten boots from an aunt when I was a teen and thinking that I was super cool, haha.  Oh, man, and there was also that one Thanksgiving when Justin was introduced to most of my extended family - including my grandmother, the matriarch (and Felicity's namesake) - and she totally made me cry when she basically wanted to tell me all about the birds and the bees, as we walked around Opry Mills, nonetheless.  Good grief.

But my absolute favorite Thanksgiving occurred later when I was a little older, maybe even post-college but when I was still living in DC.  Justin and I both came down for the holiday, along with a huge gathering of aunts, uncles, and cousins.  It was the year of Texas Hold' Em.  Uncle Paul, still in his prime, taught us all how to play, and we stayed up for hours winning, losing, laughing, and just having the best time.  It really was the.BEST.

In the years that followed, we lost our dear Uncle Paul and Uncle Tommy.  The cousins, of course, all got older and now have our own lives and families.  Thanksgiving felt different.  There were a few years in the mix when my cousin Tim came down since he was in college in Louisville, but even that didn't last long.  Most of the time, Thanksgiving was a super low-key event with just us and my parents, some times even lower than low-key when Justin would be working the holiday.  

This year, though, the tables turned.  We decided to go up to Michigan for a change primarily because we had found out that my Uncle Cay's interment ceremony would be that weekend, but also because we hadn't been up in ages.    We drove up Wednesday afternoon since Justin had to work that day and arrived at Auntie Florence's at 3:30am.  After getting a few hours of rest, we woke up on Thanksgiving morning to go to Mass and have a Filipino breakfast back at the house.  The rest of the day was happily quite lazy with naps, games, and a hybrid Filipino-American Thanksgiving dinner with all of my favorites!  On Friday, we checked out Frankenmuth - Bronner's Winter Wonderland and Zehnder's for lunch - before we headed back to Rochester Hills to see Christmas lights and play more games.  The kids learned a family favorite, Spoons.  We also played lots of Uno and a few other card games, too.  And, once we put the kids to bed, we channeled Uncle Paul and relived the "glory days" and played Texas Hold 'Em.

Xavier's late-night car reading while Lissie is late-night car sleeping.

They were so excited to wake up and see snow!  A (sorta) white Thanksgiving!

A Filipino Thanksgiving, for sure:
Dinuguan, pancit, turkey, chicken wings, potatoes, corn caserole, and gravy.

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the pies....
and suman and empanadas, haha.


Kare-kare - yum!


At the Silent Night replica chapel in Frankenmuth


Posing with a 500 lb. brick of cheese at Cheese Haus in Frankenmuth


One of many reflective moments that I caught Xavier in throughout the weekend.

The Gingerbread Train at Royal Park Hotel - 

a concoction that Chris helped create!

With the cousins

A rousing game of Spoons

Saturday we trekked to Flint, my birthplace.  We drove through the city, showing Lissie and Xavier the places that were important during my first five years of life.  It is crazy how a city can change.  It truly was unrecognizable, and it made me grateful for how God worked his life plan for us to move to Tennessee.  We ended at the cemetery, where we visited my sister, my cousin, Uncle Tommy, Uncle Paul, and said our last goodbyes to Uncle Cay.  As sad as the occasion was, it was good to see family members whom I haven't seen in ages.  It truly was a reminder that life is short, and family is important.  In fact, some of them are quite insistent that we make another trip back up at Christmas time.  Whew!  We'll see....

Meeting my cousin Tim's newest addition, sweet sweet Sunny.

With cousin Liza

Anyway, after going to vigil Mass on Saturday evening, we went out for pho (again channeling Uncle Paul who introduced us to this tasty Vietnamese soup years ago) before heading back to Rochester for one last night.  We played another round of kid-friendly games before whisking them up to bed.  However, this night was not as easy - they cried so many tears, knowing that we would be leaving bright and early the next morning to head back to reality.  Eventually, of course, they calmed down and went to bed so that Texas Hold 'Em, Round Two could commence.  As always, with my dad in the mix, it made for lots of entertainment and good times.  

Silly Auntie Cat and Xavier

Pho!

We woke up early today, Sunday, to make the 8+ hour drive back home.  Thankfully, the kids are good travelers and only got antsy during the last stretch.  We made it home safely in the late afternoon, with time for me to unpack, start laundry, write this blog, and procrastinate reality just a tiny bit longer.

I guess the point of this post is, of course, a recap of events so I can remember and reminisce later.  But also I just wanted to briefly write about my gratitude.  During this Thanksgiving, I had much to be grateful for.  First and foremost, for my family - our livelihood and health; for my extended Michigan family - for their hospitality and love;  for my faith; for the gift of life.  And, of course, for all of the food.  My tummy will be full for weeks to come, I'm sure.

It absolutely was a happy, happy Thanksgiving.

P.S.  And here are some pics of one of the greatest dogs around, Toby!  A dog who can run on the treadmill, ring a bell to signal to go out, and understand way more words than any of my dogs ever did, it's no wonder that Lissie and Xavier kept singing "All I Want for Christmas is a To-o-by!"

Halloween 2018

Given that the weekend prior to today was one of our busiest weekends to date, I already warned the kids that we were going to have a low-key actual Halloween.  But, as is pretty typical with us, it was still celebrated in style!

Aside from all of the fall-ish activities that have been done already,  the Halloween festivities really began the Friday before with our church Trunk or Treat.  We decided to have a trunk this year, and as per usual for Justin, he went all out.  It had been a while since we had done a theme, and since the Disney Cruise had been on our minds, we decided to go with that.  Xavier originally wanted to be Goofy or Donald, but (unlike Justin) I wasn't about to put any effort into making costumes, so we went easy with Mickey.  And, while Lissie has a trunk full of Disney princess costumes, she had her mind set on Minnie.  I lucked out and already had a Snow White costume in my stash, and Justin was (easily) convinced to be my Prince Charming.  He spent upwards to a week crafting and designing his ship, and even I was starting to get a little irritated with his focus on details when I still had a laundry (literally, laundry) list of things to do during his off time!  But, I must admit, that his efforts did draw a pretty amazing cruise ship and was a hit of Trunk or Treat (which had to be held indoors because of the wet and icky weather).

Saturday morning, we donned our costumes yet again (although Lissie did a costume change and wanted to be a witch like her friends) to head to my favorite festival - Franklin's PumpkinFest.  I love it because the weather is usually pretty decent and it's all free!  The kids could bounce, pony, ferris wheel, and maze all for nothing!  We even got our picture in the newspaper! 

I found my Disney friends!

After coming back home to rest for a bit, we all put on our costumes one more time for a costume birthday party!  And, while that was the end of the costumes, Sunday continued to be busy with yet another birthday party followed by our neighborhood picnic. 

So, as you can see, because of all of the events of the weekend, I was not keen on dressing up AGAIN and having a big to-do - especially with Justin working nights AND having to be up and at 'em bright and early for not just school, but a Holy Day Mass!  And, while Lissie was a little upset because she was the only one in her class not trick-or-treating on actual Halloween, I did manage to make it worth her while.

After school, we (finally) painted our pumpkins (please, I'm not about to carve them!).  The kids watched "It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and took advantage of the 50 cent corn dogs from Sonic for dinner.  We made pumpkin rice krispie treats, and I let them raid their already overflowing (hence another reason why I was not interested in trick or treating!) candy buckets.  Even better, they were still in bed by 7:30, and I still get a chance to catch up on the latest "This is Us" before a decent bedtime for myself.  Win-win for all!

She made a black cat!

He opted for a poop emoji turned poop ball (seriously, boys!)

Happy Halloween!

Fall Break 2018

Fall Break 2018 can be summed up in one word: friends.  When we were recapping all of the fun we had during the vacation, Lissie came to the realization that we hung out with friends every single day.  What can you say - you get by with a little help from your friends!  (You could also sum up the break with two words :wooden bridges.  Somehow we found bridges everywhere on our outdoorsy break and had to have pictures at all of them!)

We started the Break with the annual camping trip with church friends.  It was the first time in a long time that rain didn't hinder any part of the camping experience!  The kids enjoyed creek playing, pumpkin patching, and s'moresing.  And I enjoyed hiking and hanging out by the campfire.  Win-win for all!

The best sleep I've gotten in ages!

We spent one day at the movies watching Smallfoot and eating all.of.the.candy.  We burned the energy off by riding bikes and hiking at a nearby park.

Another day we went to the zoo and rode all of the rides and petted kangaroos.

Then we realized that Lissie's godfamily was coming to town and we managed to squeeze in a hike and brunch before we drove to the Smokies to round out our break.

As always, we started the trip with BBQ at Bennett's.  The next day we got to Dollywood bright and early and stayed until just before it closed.  Lissie was finally tall enough to ride the big rides (much to the chagrin of slightly shorter little brother), and she loved every minute of it.  The Pumpkin LumiNights exhibit was pretty neat, too.

I love this picture.  Lissie was the photographer who caught us not quite ready at all.  Haha.

We spent Saturday lounging at the waterpark.  It was a bit of a bummer that the indoor slides were closed to maintenance, but that didn't stop us from having fun at the wave pool and hot tub.  We even ventured outside for a bit, where X enjoyed the waterslides but Lissie was pouty because she realized she was only big enough to do the "cool slides" if she is wearing shoes.  We ended Saturday by inviting our friends to our place for dinner, movie (for the kids), and a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity for the grownups.

Luckily the weather held out for us to enjoy a hike to Laurel Falls.  We stopped at the Sugarland Visitor Center on our way out and, on a whim, decided to follow the nearby trail to Cataract Falls, as well.  It made for a long day and even longer trip home, but it was a great way to round out the trip!

Now it's back to reality.  School's back in session, but it's a good thing we all love being at school!  However, it's not stopping me from counting the days to the next time we're back in the Smokies.  Christmas Break will be here before we know it!