My Thanksgiving Trip & Mommy's Bad Idea #87 (also, trip to Storybook Land)

On Wednesday afternoon the boys & I drove up to New Jersey. Dan has this portfolio he needs to get done for his course, which he had been planning for months to spend this weekend working on. So he was not able to go, but I really had a desire to do something with family on Thanksgiving. Since no one was coming here, I decided to go to NJ. Mom & Dad L. were gracious hosts, as always, & it was great to be with them.

Wednesday was not such a great day. I hadn't been keeping up with the weather, but apparently it was supposed to rain. I did not realize this fact until a little before 1PM when I left the house to go pick up Nathan from school & it was starting to rain. Great. So, on top of the weather (which was coming down pretty hard for the majority of the trip), the traffic was really bad. That's to be expected the day before Thanksgiving, but with the rain it was doubly frustrating. What normally should be 7-7&1/2 hours was 10 hours!! Ugh. I'm thinkin' I should have just not sent Nathan to school that day & left as early as possible. Oh well, would've, should've, could've. Fortunately, the travelers were suitably entertained on the trip, which made it a bit easier. Plenty of DVDs for the kids in the back, a book on CD for me. It's the first time I tried a CD book while traveling, & though I don't absorb as much listening as I do reading, it was entertaining. Next time, though, I'll research a little more before choosing books to listen to with kids around. Though my first book was tame (Philip Craig does not do the really bad words, but some of the not-as-bad bad words), the book on my trip home had a lot of the bad bad words & A LOT of taking God's name in vain. Annoying!!

Thursday was a great day! The morning was relaxing, sleeping in (for me, anyway), hanging out with Dan's folks & the kids. At 2 we picked up Grandmom Leichner & drove over to Steve & Jane's house. It was GREAT to see a lot of extended family that I don't see often or some I've not even met yet! After a few hours there, we went back to "our" house & had dinner with Dawn & Steve & their kids & their girls' boyfriends. That was great too! And Dawn sets a mean Thanksgiving table. Everything was so yummy!! We also played a game that Dan's mom made up, sorta like the surveys that go around the emails & blogs: "What color is most like you?" or "What would you do if you weren't afraid to do it?" etc. Since everyone was such a great sport, it was a lot of fun. I think the answer that elicited the most laughter was Nathan's: "My favorite letter is A, because it's the second letter in my name." Where does he get this stuff? But the most appreciated answer was also from Nathan: "The famous person that I'd like to be friends with is Pop-Pop." Apparently Dad has been bragging to as many people as he can about that.

On Friday, Dad set up the artificial tree he got last year after Christmas for $28. I think he was more excited about the deal he got on it than actually having it. We (Dad, Mom & I) were pretty much making fun of it while he was setting it up. It was sparse-looking. I pointed out, though, that even if it didn't turn out all that great, it's less than he would have spent on a real tree so one good use out of it would have been worth it. After the branches were all spread out, the lights turned on, and the garland draped over it, the tree was looking much better. But I have to say that it looked pretty darn good after the ornaments were put on. Maybe that was the $37 burning a whole in my pocket that made me think it looked good. Mom has some ornaments with good hiding places. Each year after Christmas, while taking the ornaments down, she puts money in those ornaments. Then the next year whoever is helping to decorate the tree gets to look for the money. The kids enjoyed getting the "special" ornaments this year. Even though Nathan found the most bills (6), Jeremy found a 20, so his $23 won. Derek also only found 4 bills, one of which was a 5, so his $8 beat Nathan's $6. It didn't really matter, I decided to put it all together & we'll use it for a special family treat soon. We're looking forward to that.

The other special treat of Friday was going over to Autumn & Chad's house. They also had Shawn & Cindy, Mike & Amy & all of our kids over. We had breakfast for dinner. YUM!! It was so wonderful to spend so much time with our old friends; I was just sad that Dan wasn't there too. It's the most we've done with them in a long time. We're hardly ever in town the same time Mike & Amy are. And we usually only see the rest of our friends at church when we're in town, so to have an evening together with them was really great.

On Saturday, the two big things were Treasure Hunt & Storybook Land. If you don't know what either of those two things are, you are REALLY missing out. ;) The treasure hunt is where Dan's mom (Oma) hides one-dollar bills around the house & the kids find it. They each have a limit (this time, $13) & then they stop while Derek finds the rest of his. Dan's parents really like to spoil the kids, in case you couldn't tell. It's getting to where the kids expect it, though, so I hope they don't do this EVERY time we go (hint, hint). So, we took our $13 to Wal-Mart after lunch & spent it. Nathan & Jeremy both got play guns & small cars. Derek got a Dora puzzle and a Little People SUV (it's purple, & the driver is a girl, but he doesn't seem to mind). After that we drove the rest of the hour to Storybook Land. It's a bit cold for amusement parks this time of year, but we were really blessed with warm weather that day. The main reason for us going this time of year was that Mom had heard Santa comes out at 5 & turns on Christmas lights all around the park. She heard it was pretty amazing. Since the kids absolutely love Storybook Land (voted Most Fun Place on Earth, by Nathan the night before), it wouldn't have mattered what the lights looked like, but I do have to admit, it was pretty amazing. Lights EVERYWHERE. Before that, we had enjoyed rides all over the park. I agree with Jeremy that the best ride is Turtle Whirl (AKA, Spinning Turtles, according to Jeremy). Turtle #6 is especially whirly, & especially so when you have two adults sitting on the outsides with the kids crammed in the middle. I think the centrifugal force affects the speed of the spin. Maybe. I didn't do so well with Engineering Physics. Not my best science class.

Sunday was difficult for me, mainly because I feel uncomfortable with my old congregation after what they did to my parents. But it's not everyone, & I was trying to suppress feelings of betrayal & such. Maybe I'll blog some more on that later. LOTS of people came to hug me & say how cute our kids are & to say that they miss my parents & sister & grandparents. I told them that they miss lots of people in NJ too. Apparently my sister has recently written to a few of the seniors there, & they were very appreciative of that, so Go Loni! (Ellen wants you guys to write to her!) After lunch we had another long trip home. I really intended to drive an alternate route suggested by Dad, but my hands on the steering wheel were on autopilot, apparently, as we just went the same old route we always go. Old habits die hard. Sure enough, we hit bunches of traffic in Delaware & Maryland, which we might have missed if we'd gone the other way. Oh well. Another long trip, 9 & 1/2 hours. But we're home, safe & sound, & I'm relieved. Trying to rest up!!

I was going to include some things I'm thankful for, but this has gotten pretty long, so I'll finish this up with another bad idea & post on my list of thanks later. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Love to you all!

Bad Idea # 87: (In case you're wondering where the first 86 bad ideas are, they're around somewhere. I haven't been keeping exact track, but I'm pretty sure 87 is close.)
Last week before our trip, I stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things & went by the toy department to see if I could spend my meager allowance (yes, I said "allowance") on some small, cheap toys for the trip. I thought I had a pretty good idea: some glow sticks & these little balls that, when you squeeze them, flash a bunch of different colors. It was a good idea; the kids loved the glowing toys when it began to grow dark outside. The problem? Those flashing balls caused me to think there were flashing police lights behind me every time they were squeezed, which was frequently. I started to get used to them, but then there would be a break in between flashings, so when it started up again I panicked again. Not such a great idea after all.