3 states, 2 Thanksgivings, & 1 Birthday

The only good thing about being a part of the UM system is that we get the entire week of Thanksgiving off, instead of having two days off in October for "fall break" like I did in undergrad. So here are a week's worth of activities....

Part 1 -- The Kansas Half with my family

On Friday morning, after a night out celebrating the upcoming break with classmates, I got up early and headed to Kansas City. Dominic was having his LASIK and I had decided to come watch. Last minute, Makenzie made plans and asked if I could fill in as his chauffeur to and from the appointment. So I got to experience the awkwardness of everyone thinking we were together. The half of the operating room that faces the waiting room is all glass panels so you can watch what is going on. They also have TV screens hooked up to the equipment so you get the same view as the doctor as incisions are made and the laser applied.

I then drove home to Mom and Dad's for the weekend. Sunday we had an early Thanksgiving dinner at grandma and grandpa's, since it was the only day I would be back...they are so sweet! I got to spend a lot of quality time with Aubrey too. She is getting so big and learning so many new things....I taught her to dance with her arms-impressive, I know. She can shake her booty or swing her arms around, but not both at the same time, yet. I also got her to sing the "oh, oh, oh" part to Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)"

I think this is her doing the new arm dancing to music on TV

Intermission--I left KS Tuesday morning and drove home to STL. I unpacked, did some laundry, and repacked to leave on Wednesday.

Part 2 -- Illinois half (Chicago suburbs) with the Colemans

Chris and Katie Coleman invited us all up for Thanksgiving and to attend James' first birthday party. Brian worked a half day on Wednesday and then we left around noon to drive to Lake in the Hills/Algonquin, IL. That evening we met up with Gary, Jayne, Laura and Antoine, who had all flown in, and headed over to Chris & Katie's for dinner. Katie's parent also made the drive up from KC that day as well.

Thanksgiving day we enjoyed the most delicious turkey I think I have ever had! (Thanks Chris!) After stuffing ourselves and taking in hours of football blowouts, we decided to go to a movie, Role Models, with the Polites. It doesn't exactly scream holiday spirit, but it was absolutely hilarious.

Our motel in Algonquin was adjacent to a whole row of stores. After perusing the Black Friday Ads, I toyed with the idea of getting up with all the crazies to take advantage of all the deals. Brian was less than excited to go with me and I really did not have a plan for what I wanted to get so I decided not to wake up at 4am and sleep instead. However, about 8am I couldn't go back to sleep and just kept thinking about all the sales I was missing out on. So I got dressed and went out by myself while sleeping beauty got his rest. JCPenney, Target, Toys-R-US, etc were literally 2 minutes away so if it was miserable I could easily drive back to the motel and climb back in bed. To my surprise and delight it really wasn't bad at all! That JCPenney was well kept and not hard to find what you wanted. Let's just say it was absolutely worth it! I also hit up Toys-R-Us since it was right next door.

After my shopping spree we went again went over to Chris and Katie's for James' adorable Old MacDonald themed birthday party. We had lunch and watched him (Katie) open up all of his fun presents. I think the highlight for James were the balloons (can you blame him, they are pretty fun), but he seemed pretty excited about all of his new toys.

And of course, a party is not complete without some cake.....or A LOT of cake. James took full advantage of his no holds barred opportunity with his very own cake. It was probably the funniest birthday cake experience I have EVER seen!

And it gets better

Must Have Been Good!!

After the birthday party we went out for Sushi and a movie with Chris and Katie while the grandparents stayed home with James. This time we saw Slum Dog Millionaire. I had not heard of it prior to that day, but it was really good-I would recommend it.

We got up early Saturday and drove the 5 hour trip home. By the way, driving through Illinois is about as flat and lifeless as western Kansas....believe it.