Thanksgiving Vacation
We're back!
We woke up at 3am Wednesday morning, and 20 minutes later we were on the road. While the roads were clear, the mountains we drove through were cold and there was a lot of snow on the sides of the road. At one point the temperature was -9 degrees (F). The kids and I slept (or tried to sleep) for the first few hours, then had breakfast, watched movies, listened to music and Fablehaven on CD.
Around 11am or so, we arrived at Four Corners and we stopped there for a break. The kids ran around from one state to another, we looked at the Navajo jewelry and stuff that was on sale there, and we had lunch at a convenient picnic table. Then we were on the road again.
We arrived at Steven's mom's home in Phoenix, AZ around 6:00pm. We had dinner. The kids opened up gifts of puzzles from their Grandma. Steven's brother Andy and his family showed up a little later.
Thanksgiving day was spent entirely at Grandma's house. Steven's grandparents arrived to join the festivities. Great-Grandma Maureen gave Hannah a huge homemade doll and also gave us a quilt she had made with paintings of each of the kids. That was amazing.
Steven and the kids got to ride on motorbikes. I watched for a little while, but when Hannah got run over by a bike as she was trying to get off, I decided I didn't really want to watch any more.
Thanksgiving dinner was delicious. The pies for dessert were scrumptious. It was a very relaxing and fun day.
On Friday, we drove to Williams, AZ to take a ride on the Polar Express. We arrived in town a couple hours before our train was scheduled to depart, so we had lunch at the Route 66 diner. The food was huge, but very, very good.
After lunch, we headed to the train depot where we got our tickets, took some pictures, and talked to Hobo Joe while we waited.
Once we got on the train, we enjoyed cookies and the most delicious hot chocolate I've ever tasted. We got to hear the story of the Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, and the train conductor came through to punch our tickets. Eventually, we made it to the North Pole, where the kids saw Santa's sleigh out the window. As the train began it's journey back to town, Santa came through the train cars distributing jingle bells to each of the kids and we sang Christmas carols. The adventure might have been more magical had there been snow on the ground, and had we not taken the matinee, but it was fun anyway, and the kids can now claim to have ridden a train.
After the train ride, we had dessert at another restaurant there in Williams. They had over fifty different kinds of pie on the menu, and the servings were humongous. Between the food there and at the diner, we were very, very full. We rolled out of the restaurant, back to our cars and headed back to Phoenix, arriving around 10pm.
Saturday morning we had breakfast, loaded up the car and started on our way back home, this time by way of New Mexico. We stopped at a rest stop on the Arizona/New Mexico state line for lunch, and made it to my sister Heather's home near Los Alamos pretty close to 6pm. We had dinner and went to bed fairly early. We were exhausted.
Sunday morning we dressed for church, loaded up the car and attended Sacrament Meeting with Heather's family. After that meeting we climbed back into the car and found our way home. We arrived home around 5pm last night, very tired, and very happy to be home.
We are thankful that we were able to see so many family members, and we appreciate their generosity and hospitality. We are grateful that we didn't have any car trouble on this trip, and that we only misread the map once. We are thankful that our kids are at an age where they can travel well, without a lot of bickering, and that they can go several hours without having to take a rest stop. I'm thankful for friends nearby who cared for our cats during our absence. And I'm thankful to be home, with Steven at work, the kids at school, back to our normal routines again.
We woke up at 3am Wednesday morning, and 20 minutes later we were on the road. While the roads were clear, the mountains we drove through were cold and there was a lot of snow on the sides of the road. At one point the temperature was -9 degrees (F). The kids and I slept (or tried to sleep) for the first few hours, then had breakfast, watched movies, listened to music and Fablehaven on CD.
Thanksgiving day was spent entirely at Grandma's house. Steven's grandparents arrived to join the festivities. Great-Grandma Maureen gave Hannah a huge homemade doll and also gave us a quilt she had made with paintings of each of the kids. That was amazing.
Later on, Steven's mom gave him some birthday presents to open, and the kids all got some PVC pipe and marshmallows to use to make marshmallow blow guns. They had a blast with those!
On Friday, we drove to Williams, AZ to take a ride on the Polar Express. We arrived in town a couple hours before our train was scheduled to depart, so we had lunch at the Route 66 diner. The food was huge, but very, very good.
After lunch, we headed to the train depot where we got our tickets, took some pictures, and talked to Hobo Joe while we waited.
Sunday morning we dressed for church, loaded up the car and attended Sacrament Meeting with Heather's family. After that meeting we climbed back into the car and found our way home. We arrived home around 5pm last night, very tired, and very happy to be home.
We are thankful that we were able to see so many family members, and we appreciate their generosity and hospitality. We are grateful that we didn't have any car trouble on this trip, and that we only misread the map once. We are thankful that our kids are at an age where they can travel well, without a lot of bickering, and that they can go several hours without having to take a rest stop. I'm thankful for friends nearby who cared for our cats during our absence. And I'm thankful to be home, with Steven at work, the kids at school, back to our normal routines again.
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