Thanksgiving Roadie 2.0

We made our second annual road trip to Lisa and John's house in Seattle for Thanksgiving this year. Last year it was kind of a last minute sort of thing, so there wasn't really time for anyone else to react or to make any plans - and we had a great time. This year, the trip was planned out enough in advance that Kim/Bill/Abby/Aidan and Cori were able to make the trip as well. Lisa and John (Saint Lisa and Saint John?) had an entire houseful for several days over the holiday weekend. The trip was a lot of fun, but it is easier to recount if I group certain parts of it together, so:














1. Getting there (to and fro) - For whatever reason (stupidly and gluttony for punishment I think) Marisa and I decided to leave from Boise at 3:00 AM and drive straight thru to Seattle, arriving at 11:00 AM. This actually worked out well. Aside from throwing everone's sleep patterns off, the drive was a breeze. The kids all slept for portions of the drive. We hit a personal record best of three McDonalds in a 9 hour time frame and got to Seattle will still a lot of the day left to enjoy. On the way back, we did the reverse (again, who knows why?), leaving at 6:00 PM and driving straight thru, arriving back home in Boise at 3:00 AM. Again, great move. The kids slept, I got to listen to my music as whatever volume I wanted (I was so wired on Red Bulls, I was rocking out to the Ramones as we hit the Idaho border) and it was a very low impact drive. We stayed up for about an hour when we got home to give Faith a bottle and unwind and went to bed about 4:00 AM. Everyone slept until about 9:00, and we got up and went about our day.

2. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (no not the one on TV) - We went last year the day after Thanksgiving and had a really great time, so it was on the docket again this year. This year we ended up down at the Macy's where the parade ends and it worked out really well. It was no where near as cold as it was last year. Tanner really enjoyed the display window with the trains and airplanes going round and round. The older kids really enjoyed the parade, especially the portions where candy was thrown, they watched the entire hour and a half sitting on the curb. Faith enjoyed sleeping in the snuggly inside my jacket. The balance of the grown ups enjoyed popping into Macy's to; use the bathroom, buy chocolate, shop etc. I personally enjoyed the stop at the donut shop afterwards (another running tradition).

3. Thanksgiving Dinner (actually the food in general) - For those of you who have never had Lisa cook for you, let me just say you are missing out. For those of you who have, you know what I'm talking about.....The Thanksgiving Dinner was amazing. There was so much food and it was all so good that it went on for days and days afterwards. As you can imagine with 7 children under the age of 8 at the kids table, it wasn't a very relaxing meal, but it WAS delicious. Additionally, there was the aforementioned donuts (we had some left over hee, hee, hee...), the traditional trip for the boys to The Wingdome for wings and beers, and really great take out Mexican food. Yes, we made four trips to the grocery store in four days, but again, there were SEVEN kids.

4. Random Thoughts - Sleeping in the same room with all three of our children was so FUN (yes, sarcasm intended, it sucked bad). Not a one of them slept thru the night and Marisa and I split the night into shifts with either Faith or Tanner sleeping on one of us, or out of the room on the couch etc. Jake planned to sleep in the room with the girls (and then didn't) and then planned to sleep in with Grandma Cori (and then didn't). Naps were more frustrating than anything. I think the best the kids slept the entire trip was in the truck on the way back home. Tanner had a blast on his birthday (Marisa is writing that one), but really enjoyed vacuuming Lisa and John's house with the toy Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner (sorry guys, we totally accidentally and not at ALL on purpose forgot to pack that when we loaded the car) in Jessa's patent leather pumps (if the kid wasn't such a bruiser I would be worried). Very little, but very necessary and nice adult time. I think that we were all in the room together, before Bill fell asleep in the chair each night, for an hour or so. That is what made the trip last year so great and held true again this year, it's just really good to be able to talk and catch up with the people you care about. (Oh yeah, VERY CUTE puppies!)

5. Bad news for Lisa, John, Quincy and Jessa - I think this is becoming a tradition, and one that won't stop until you tell us not to come anymore. See you next year for version 3.0!