Thanksgiving Break

We suffered a disappointment after a forced job change this year,when we had to put off a trip to visit family in California. I think we all were feeling the sadness of it, but then we received a surprise phone call from my sister Allison. She was given a free plane ticket from a friend and was coming to see us for the Thanksgiving holiday. We all cheered up. We love having visitors!

Allison arrived the Sunday before Thanksgiving and we had her until the Friday morning after. We had a great time inspite of ... Allison, her baby Stryder and I all getting sick, the missionaries stopping by for a dinner appointment that I had forgotten, two of my girls that wouldn't stop fighting, and dragging 6 tired kids around. Here is the run down of our week.

Sunday : Allison arrives, we enjoy dinner together and the kids reintroduce Allison to DuckTales.

Monday: We make a trip into Austin to visit Zilker Park. We enjoy a picnic lunch on the hillside and then we ride the Zilker Zeffer (a small train that runs along Lady Bird Johnson Lake).

After our exciting train ride we rent two canoes and pull our friends kayak to the lake for an hour workout on the water. We see a lot of turtles and cranes, but we were too early to see the bats, though we did see a few of their homes under the bridge as we paddled under.

Bat nests

Best view of the Austin Skyline is from the lake.

Our final stop before heading home was at Sandy's for some of their famous frozen custard. The kids especially love this.

Later on that night I take Allison to the Oasis (a restaurant that overlooks Lake Travis) for a great view and a yummy dinner.

Tuesday: We spent the day in San Marcos hitting the outlet mall. Stryder was less than thrilled with the deals we were getting, but I think Allison was impressed.

We finished our day trip with a late lunch a P. Terry's and a stop off to buy treats for the kids back in Colorado.

Wednesday: We awoke and took a hike on the green belt right by our house. It was fun to show Allison a little of our neighborhood.

Once we were home from the hike it was time to get down to business. We made rolls, chopped onion, celery, carrots, and apples. We made pumpkin cheesecake, apple pie, cheeseballs, and stuffed and buttered our turkey. This was also the day that I lost my voice and the missionaries stopped by for a dinner appointment, which I had forgotten. Luckily for them they called ahead and confirmed. The fact that they couldn't make it until 8 pm helped as well.

Thursday: The Big Turkey Day ... Allison was a great help in the kitchen. The kids had gathered acorns earlier in the week for our center piece and then they wrote everyone's names on the rocks that they had painted with chalkboard paint for place cards. It was sweet, simple and the meal was just right. Dessert was a little different this year as we sat all those chopped up onions on the same shelf as our pie and cheesecake, but for an onion pie and cheesecake they were mighty good. Of course we had to have Blue Bell ice cream with our dessert and we all agreed that their new Pumpkin Pecan with Carmel (What Ever they call it) is a must.

Friday: I was off to shop at 4:15am in the morning and Allison was off to the airport at 5. We were so sad to see her go. It really was a wonderful visit.