The Thanksgiving Gump

I really like this swing and playing in the sandbox outside.

We just came home from a really fantastic Thanksgiving trip.  For the past few weeks, we've been very excited about going to Pennsylvania to see Grandma and Grandpa and all of our other family there.  We could hardly sleep Tuesday night.  On Wednesday, we packed up all of our bags and headed to the airport.

Since it was just before Thanksgiving, the Austin airport was pretty crowded. Fortunately, Hazel and I were on our best behavior so we all got checked in and through security pretty easily. I was especially interested in some of the security people doing the extra security checks.  I even walked behind a security desk to see what they were doing. Fortunately, Dad grabbed me and pulled me away before anyone noticed where I had gone.  Our flight was delayed a little bit, but Mom packed lots of fun food and toys, so we had a good time at the airport, especially watching planes out the window.

When it was finally time to get on the airplane, we tried to get a whole row to ourselves. Turner took one window seat with Mom next to him; I took the other window seat, with Dad in the middle seat and Hazel on the aisle.  It was a really full flight though, so eventually someone sat in the aisle seat between Mom and Hazel.  After some shuffling around to make sure everyone had the right seats, the person who took the seat turned out to be a really nice, funny college student who was really interested in kids. He talked to Mom, Dad and Hazel the whole flight and turned out to be great company.

Hazel and I had a lot of fun on the plane. Takeoff was really cool. I really liked my window seat. It was fun looking out the window and seeing all of the clouds and little houses on the ground.  We spent a bunch of time on the plane playing with our iPods.  I got a new favorite app on my iPod that has various people singing one of my favorite songs -- the Star Spangled Banner -- and the song's lyrics and history. Even though I was wearing headphones, I sang the Star Spangled Banner at full volume on the plane. The flight attendant laughed and was impressed that I knew all of the words.

When we landed at the Washington DC airport, we walked a long way to get to our rental minivan.  It was a great car (a Chrysler Town and Country - Dad was pleasantly surprised).  After getting all of our car seats installed, our bags loaded, and everyone situated, we started the drive to Pennsylvania, roughly an hour after our flight landed.

We drove right past the Capitol building, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial.  It was really pretty. Then we hit traffic -- a TON of traffic. We were on the George Washington Memorial Parkway.  There were lots of signs that abbreviated it GWMP.  I read all of the signs and kept laughing and telling Mom and Dad that the Gump was going to be closed for construction.  In fact, all week long I was sure to tell people how much traffic was on the Gump.  After another three hours, we finally got to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Even though it was late, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Amy, Uncle Tate and our cousin, Mianna, were excited to see us. Grandma had loads of toys set up for us, had lots of fun clothes and pajamas ready for us to wear, and we got to see their giant dog Bruiser again. Turner and I think Bruiser is great. Hazel is a little scared of Bruiser. She's going through a phase right now where she's scared of a lot of things.

Anyway, Grandma had some snacks for us when we got to their house, and then we put on our fun new pajamas. Then Grandma showed us where we were sleeping.  Turner had his own room with lots of toys and a crib.  Hazel and I got to share a room. I had a giant bed. And Hazel was super excited - she got a race car bed, which she ran over to and jumped right in. She later asked how Grandma had been able to drive the race car bed into the house. We were also really excited to learn that Mianna was also spending the night at Grandma's.

Wednesday morning was really fun.  Hazel was the first one up.  She was the first one up every morning.  She came into Mom and Dad's room and announced that she was hungry.  Dad took her upstairs and got her some breakfast.  Pretty soon everyone else was up too.

There was so much fun stuff to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We spent the morning outside exploring the yard with Grandma.  Bruiser came with us too.  There were bikes for me and Hazel, and a cart for Turner.  Turner loved pushing his cart, but Hazel and I weren't interested in the bikes - we had more fun running around the yard, swinging on the swings, and playing in the sandbox.  Then we all went to lunch at Rocco's.  We got some delicious pizza, and then went back to the house.

Hazel and Mianna played together a lot in the morning.  Mianna is really nice.  She played a lot of games with us.  She played Memory with Hazel.  And then they played a drawing game.  Hazel would say an  animal, and Mianna would draw the animal by tracing Hazel's hand.  She drew turkeys, alligators, and birds.  Hazel and Mianna also made pumpkin pies together.

Wednesday afternoon, Hazel went down for a nap and I helped Grandma make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving. Grandma was impressed at what a good kitchen helper I am. That's because Mom gives me lots of practice at home.

Wednesday night, Grandpa came home, and Uncle Ryan, Aunt Lauren, and Uncle Daniel also came over.  We all went to the Famous Hot Wiener for dinner.  It was great.  Mom, Hazel, and I all got delicious milkshakes, which Dad kept taking giant sips of.  Mianna also shared her fries with us, which was really nice.  We even saved our leftovers to give to Bruiser.  It was a really fun dinner.

When we got home, Uncle Daniel lit a fire in the firepit out in the yard and Hazel and I went out with Dad to roast marshmallows and make s'mores.  It was our first time roasting marshmallows, but we had read about it a lot in our Curious George goes camping book so we knew what was going on.  The marshmallows were delicious!  Hazel even roasted her own marshmallows.  It was surprising to Dad, but neither Hazel or I were crazy about the s'mores.  I think we just had enough sweets on the trip.

After we got our fill of roasted marshmallows, Aunt Lauren and Dad gave us a bath and we all went to bed without much fuss - we were pretty tired. And we knew that we had a pretty exciting Thanksgiving day in store for us the next day.