Thanksgiving in Jersey

We made the 7 hour trek up to my parents in Jersey for Thanksgiving and had an awesome time. We were excited to be with family and thrilled that my brother's crew from Texas was going to be there. Nothing much better than watching cousins hang out together and that connection that is always there as you know you are family.

One tradition/excitement when we go to gma and gpa's is walking downtown and taking a train ride. The cold didn't seem to bother anyone and the kiddos walked the town hall wall just like Mom and Uncle Kevin did when they were kids. We rode the train had a great pizza lunch (Jersey style pizza of course!!!!! oh so good) and then headed back.

The night before Thanksgiving was spent laying out layers of clothing for each person, getting doughnut orders making sure we had enough hotchocolate and trying to catch a few zzz's before the alarms went off for getting up to head to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I'm happy

to say my childhood tradition has passed on to my kids as this was now Kylee's 4th time going but first timewith some of her cousins. As always we were over prepared and we were quite the sight to see as Halli and I worked our way through crowds and tried crossing blockaded roads to meet up with the guys who were trying their hardest to hold down our spot! Wow, it is always an adventure but one that is always well worth it even if it means Kevin standing the entire time butt to butt with another man so the kids still had their front row seats.

It was so fun to watch Alexis be thrilled to go. She still sings their made up Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade song from last year and remembers so many things that they saw. She gave everyone a good laugh from the way she eats her doughnut...just frosting bites from the top leaving most of the doughnut behind.

It is a bite at least rather than just a lick but once she has made her bites around it she gives it back saying she is done and ready for a new one. Both girls couldn't wait to collect confetti and announce what balloon they could see coming next. An added bonus was Kylee getting to see the real "iCarly" a show I'm sad to admit I let her watch a times. "Mom, I didn't know she was really real"

No these trucks are not in the parade but getting a group picture during it is IMPOSSIBLE!

Neither cars drive home was close to perfect with all the traffic, wrong turns, missing bridges for some, difficult Heather conversations for others but the fun memories out weigh it and having a yummy dinner later helps put it all in perspective.

My parents did a wonderful job again and I can still say that at my age I have no idea how to cook a turkey and hope I can go on continuing to say that...that is my Dad's job!

The cousins had a good time making centerpiece turkeys with Grandma in between their time playing on gma and gpa's treadmill, playing at the skittles table, making obstacle courses and keeping their babies safe from the monster Easton.

After Kevin's crew left on Friday we took care of some of our sorrows by heading to see TANGELED as a group and absolutely loved it...DADDY included. The girls faces may have been slightly more enjoyable than the movie but they are both right up there and we are happy to say that their is a new favorite princess in our house. We stopped in Hershey on our way home for a night and as always loved seeing old friends and our old town and then endured the very slow moving drive home from a great Thanksgiving holiday.