Thanksgiving Festivities

A big crowd at Hemker's!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Saya with aunt Wilma

Saya stealing Grandpa's food. Grandpa got tickles from Saya's antenna.

Sam, Laura and Grant playing with Sean. Grant is pretending to jump onto Sean from the ottoman.

Aly jumping onto Laura.

Paul playing Wii bowling game. A French lady Mariline and Tom looking on on the right.

At the hotel - Saya looked like a sci-fi character wearing her snow boots with white tights.

This is where all began. The BSU Student Union building where Mike and I met 14 years ago. We explained to kids that they should be thankful this place existed.

Three generation photo. This is the third edition. The first one was Sean only and the second one was missing Saya.

The kids fell asleep as soon as we left Grandma's house to go to the restaurant.

Little diners. They looked so cute!

Kirk worked hard to keep kids busy as he promised!

Warning!! This is a long post!!

Hello everyone! I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.

We drove down to Boise for Thanksgiving this year. As I wrote on my last post, we had a big snow storm a few days before the trip. It seemed like we might not be able to make it but thanks to steady traffic flow and sunny weather, the mountain pass was in decent shape the day we left. We'd done our research this time and knew exactly which town to take a break at and where to go (McDonald's indoor play areas). The kids did great and whined much less than we expected. Mike and I even could have some conversations! By the time we arrived at our hotel, we were so tired. The excitement and extreme fatigue didn't mix so well and the kids were just going crazy. They were jumping on the bed until 1am and Mike and I felt pretty sorry for ourselves (and that did not help at all).

The next day, we headed out to uncle Kirk's to see everyone. We were invited to their long time neighbor and friend, Hemker's hosue, for Thanksgiving. I've known them since I started dating Mike and was excited to see them again. I have the best family in the universe! Well, at least I think they are perfect for me. We live far, but we just pick up where we left off. I love their dry sense of humor, because I cannot take it any other way. The kids felt comfortable very quickly with everyone (although Sean was a bit scared of Kirk's dog, Pax). Even grandpa Bob put Saya to sleep for a nap.

We walked over to Hemker's around 4 pm and had a fantastic time there. We had a big crowd there and they had the longest dining room table I have ever seen. Their children, Laura and Paul, who were teenager and pre-teen have all grown up. They are a beautiful family. The amount of food we had was ridiculous. I don't think I was able to eat every dish because there were about at least 2 different varieties of each. I was so full, I could only eat a slice of grandma's eggnog pie for dessert. The kids did great at the party. No fit, no fight, just giggles and smiles. They were the only children there and everyone was willing to play with them. Sean and Aly were jumping on to Laura, Laura's boyfriend Grant and cousin Sam from the ottoman and Saya joined the spin on the coffee table game, too, where they spinned the kids really fast. It was the sort of gathering we used to have with my extended family in Japan. We enjoyed it very much. Thanks, Hemker family for having us!

The main reason we were determined to get to Boise was because Friday was grandma Marie's 90th birthday. We were very excited to be able to celebrate it with her. We spent Friday afternoon at grandma Marie's house, kept eyes on the kids not to break her antique collections. We then went off for a dinner at Murphy's for a family birthday dinner. Marsha booked a private room with a door so that the kids can run around if they wanted to. That was a very nice thinking, but the kids stayed perfectly happy on their high chair thanks to all the attention they were getting. Kirk kept bugging Sean, asking him if he could have his food and Sean in return were all worked up trying to protect the food he wouldn't even consider eating (celeries and carrots etc...) I sat on the opposite end of the table from the kids and they let me relax and visit with the women. We ended the party singing grandma a happy birthday song with a party noise maker thingy (don't know what they are called) and the kids thought it was hilarious. Grandma looked happy and it was all worth it.

We left the next day, Saturday, at 8 am and arrived home at 6:00 pm. The highway in Oregon was completely white with snow and ice, but we made it safe. We don't see the family in Boise so often and we were so glad to be able to spend some time with them. We will plan to visit again next summer. It was very nice seeing you all. I was not able to see any friends this time since we had a very short stay but looking forward to catching up with them next summer!!