Thanksgiving in Kentucky (it's that friendly!)

Monday of last week we were supposed to find out the gender of the baby. But due to some scheduling difficulties the imaging center would not see Nicole until this Friday. Apparently they thought Nicole had canceled the appointment. This new appointment is actually more convenient for Clayton. He will be able to come to the ultrasound and finally see the baby in action. Last night marked the first time Clayton felt the baby kick. It was very exciting.

Tuesday Nicole and Clayton traveled from the Baltimore airport to the Indianapolis Airport. It took, what should have been a one hour drive to Baltimore, 2 hours to reach the airport because of holiday travel. Thankfully Catherine, Nicole's cousin, had the foresight to leave an hour earlier than Nicole thought necessary. We made our flight just in time and arrived in Indianapolis to drive 2 more hours to Louisville. Thanks to David for going to such lengths to get us there for Thanksgiving. When we arrived we greeted Brittany, Reagan, Roxanne and Nicole's Grandparents, Fred and Kay. Fred is on a strict organic diet of sorts that allows him to eat mostly raw foods. We stayed up late chatting and got out salted nuts and chocolate to snack on. It was so sad to see Fred watch everyone else eating with out him. We felt like we were smoking in front of a drug addict (because we all know how it feels to smoke in front of drug addicts.)

Wednesday was a pretty casual day of hanging out with Nicole's family. We went to the park with Brittany and Reagan and Clayton taught them how to do some Tai Chi he picked up on YouTube. Clayton is trying to find more creative ways to make himself exercise. We just recieved a book about how to do all the Tai Chi moves. He likes it because it too involves meditation. We'll see if he goes back to yoga, but for now he's all about Tai Chi.

That night Roxanne was sick so Nicole volunteered to make dinner. She made Beef Dorito Casserole, one of her favorite dishes since childhood. Unfortunately this meal caused her to vomit and feel nauseated all night. It was a rough job to wake up on Thursday morning.

David had of course assigned everyone a thanksgiving task so that all would go smoothly for dinner. Nicole and Clayton's task was to make 2 peacan pies, but Grandma Kay thought that 3 would be better for the volume of people we had coming. Because of Fred's strict diet, we had one regular butter ball turkey and one organic coconut oil turkey. Clayton is a fan of organic turkey's so he was glad to help Fred eat his turkey. Fred was so happy to eat food that wasn't raw spinach and there was finally a big smile on his face.

Friday Nicole, Amanda, Roxanne and Brittany went to go see the first part of Breaking Dawn. It was Brittany's birthday wish. Afterwords Clayton and Reagan started a bonfire in the backyard. (The pile of wood scraps has been there for over two years.) Brittany and the girls made a rendition of Harry Potter butter beer to serve to everyone around the fire. By the time the fire had died down, Clayton had only singed his hand a bit. David decided to make a dutch oven peach cobbler to cook over the coals. While we were waiting for the cobbler to cool we played games and opened presents for Brittany's party. Finally it was time to eat the cobbler and David was so excited. Apparently, so was Reagan because he was the first to open the lid...and dump all the lid ashes into the cobbler. The result was a bit charcoal-ly, but no one was harmed.

Saturday David put all the boys to work putting up Christmas decorations. David was tasked to get all their old baby stuff for us out of the attic so why not get all the Christmas decorations out too? This is Clayton's most favorite thing about Christmas. He loves decorations almost as much as he loves exercising (NOT). Nicole will be hard pressed to get him to put lights on their own home one day. (He secretly had fun.)

The baby stuff included a crib and a "wonda-chair." This wonderful chair includes an assortment of attachments that will turn your chair into a fancy stroller, a car seat, a high chair, a baby bassanet, and an infant stroller. It was pretty amazing that it all fit inside the van, David was excited to get rid of it.

Sunday Roxanne made us delicious chocolate croissants to send us on our way. David and Roxanne gave us a mini-van. We've only been marred 2 years and we're already in a mini-van, but we are delighted to have a car that will be able to fit the baby too. The van drove smoothly and without a hitch. Thank you for all the preparations that went in to getting the car ready for us. We got in only an hour later than it usually takes due to holiday traffic and today we are adjusting to civilian life. Thank you for having us for Thanksgiving and Thanks for the car. Hope you all had a happy Holiday!

Peace and Blessings!