We started off our Thanksgiving festivities with Blaine’s preschool party and show on 11/22.  In the pic below he’s the “native american” wearing all red on the right side.

Showing off the log cabin his class built using pretzel rods and chocolate icing.

The next day we drove down to Great Falls to celebrate Thanksgiving with all the Westbrooks.  Here’s Sarah during our pitstop for lunch.

And now all the pics from our time in VA!  We were thrilled to meet the kids’ first first cousin, Gabriel!  And get in lots of reading and cuddle time with Gram and Grand-dad.

On Thanksgiving, we made some time to enjoy the warm(ish) weather outside at the playground and on the tennis court and the hill behind it.

Grand-dad and Blaine even played a little football.

Then it was time to carve the turkey!

We celebrated with Gram, Grand-dad, Aunt Jody, Aunt Suzanne, Uncle Michael, cousin Gabriel, the Jolleys (Cameron, Megan, and Marcella), and our four.  Everything was delicious!  Sarah wanted to get her hands on a whole turkey leg, but we decided that was a bit much.  Daddy saved her a wing, instead.  Blaine particularly enjoyed Uncle Michael’s mac and cheese.

Then it was time for dessert, and the traditional smashing of the chocolate turkey!  Here’s Marcella getting ready to wield the mallet.

All the kids took a turn, with Aunt Jody giving Sarah some assistance.  Then Aunt Jody took some final shots.

The kids also loved Gram’s persimmon pudding; if I recall correctly, Blaine had three helpings.

On Friday, we drove into DC to visit the Zoo!  We were all so excited to see the giant pandas, especially since Sarah has never seen them before.  Sadly, some combination of the excitement, or the curvy roads, or a too-large breakfast, resulted in some carsickness on Sarah’s part during the ride over!  But we decided not to turn back, and instead got Sarah a new sweatshirt (large, red, featuring a pic of two pandas).

We also enjoyed seeing the elephants, the ape house, and the lions and tigers.

On Saturday, we made the long drive back to NY.  Thank you so much to Gram and Grand-dad for hosting us this Thanksgiving!  We had a wonderful time seeing the whole family and enjoying so much delicious food.