Thanksgiving

We got to go down to Idaho for the week of Thanksgiving. Here's a brief report of the week:

The Car Ride Down

I had quite a list of things to pack for the girls to do on the car ride down. Books, color pages/mess-free markers, cd's (West Boone Favorites, Primary Songs, and Fairy Tale stories), snacks, and a few home-made workbooks to practice writing letters, etc. These items were on as-needed basis, and we looked out the window and talked about what we saw for quite a while. About an hour and a half into the drive Summer threw up. She hadn't been acting sick at all, though she had snacked on a few starbursts. The roads had been windy, so we just thought she was car sick. She didn't throw up any more times after that, though we had to drive about 2 more hours to a car wash to clean the car seat off. The rest of the way, the girls sat quietly and looked out the windows. I think Claire looked at a total of two books, and we listened to the "Chewy, Chewy, Chewy, Chewy, Chewy, Bubble Gum" song about a thousand times. About an hour or two away from Shelley, Summer started asking if "we were there yet." All in all, I think it was a good drive down.

Grandma and Grandpa Searle's

We first spent a few days with Gma and Gpa Searle. We played, read books, watched movies, and got to make Gingerbread houses with Grandma. 

Grandma and Grandpa Kartchner's

Before we left for Gma and Gpa K's house, I started feeling sick. I was throwing up. And as Rhett says, "What happens in the bathroom, stays in the bathroom." So I won't say anymore about how sick I was. But I WAS SICK! Wow. It was pretty bad. The whole time we were at the Kartchner's, I was trying to recover. After not eating anything on Wednesday, I was able to eat a small Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. Everyone was so great about taking care of me as well as the girls.
Rhett's cousin Tate and Christa joined in the Thanksgiving meal, and Summer and Mason played really well together. It was fun to see them initiate a card game of Toy Story.

  I love this picture--not that it's super clear or cute of anyone, but I love the moment it captures of Grandpa on the ground with all the kids.

Though this one might depict more of what was actually going on.

 

Grandpa Barney's

Because I was still feeling a little sick, we stayed at my parent's during our visit with Grandpa Barney. My parents were at the cabin, so we got to have some good one-on-one time with Gpa B. We looked at Christmas lights, played, read, and had a nice visit.

The Car Ride Home 

The car ride home was a little more rocky than the drive there, though the girls did entertain themselves for a bit by tying the extra seatbelts together.

We also got to stop at Aunt Marie's house to gather some family history information on the Barney side. It was great getting to see her and the cousins. They played so well with the girls.

Pyper was pretty upset by the time we buckled her into her carseat again. I think she knew we had a long drive ahead, plus it had been a busy week and she was exhausted, as was everyone else. At about 6pm, the girl's heads started nodding to sleep (mine included!). Rhett did great though, and drove the whole way. We got home at about 11pm Liberty Lake time.

The best part was that even though I was sick, we have no complaints about the trip. The girls were great, the visits were fun, and we made some great memories. Thanks everyone for your great hospitality and care!