Thanksgiving 2009

Ok, so...yeah...now that next week is Christmas...I suppose I should finally write about Thanksgiving!  I just haven't been in the blogging mood, and now that I'm so far behind, other things have happened since that need to be mentioned.  So, here goes...

As I said before, we went to El Paso for Thanksgiving to visit Granny and Poppa.  This was Nicky's first trip to west Texas, and since he doesn't yet have the capability to string together sentences which always make a ton of sense, I'll say it for him..."it was a fun trip, but the next time we go, can we please fly instead?!"  Wow.  10 hours in a car with a 3 1/2 year old.  I know our parents did it all the time when we were little.  But, jeez.  That's a long time to be in the car as an adult!  Thank goodness for portable dvd players!!!  And, it's a good thing we have a decent-size vehicle (Pathfinder), because 1.) although we were only going to be gone from home for 4 days, we packed as if we were never returning; and b.) I was able to slip back and forth between the front and back seats with ease!  It seems as though Nicky kicks the back of my seat a lot less when I'm sitting next to him...hmm...coincidence?  I think not!

Thanksgiving day, we decided to take Nicky to the parade in downtown El Paso.  We arrived right at the start time, and since we placed ourselves at the ending spot, we didn't miss a thing.  Of course, we stood there for an hour people-watching (WOW), and never did see any of the parade itself.  Granny, however, who stayed at home to prepare our yummy Thanksgiving feast, watched the parade on tv (smart lady, that Granny), and informed us that it would be a while before the parade made it our way as they were still close to the start-point after an hour!  Needless to say, we went home...but not before we took a few pictures...

Nicky & Poppa "in" the parade...

We all pitched in to help Granny with the last-minute dinner details.  Here's Nicky (looking oh-so-thrilled - in his defense, he had just gotten up from his nap) making the ice-cream (for our dessert - although would've made an excellent gravy!)...

After dinner, we all piled into the mini-van (which Kris threatens to buy me as my next car, and although they are quite comfy and roomy, I swear to never own one) and drove around in pursuit of Christmas lights.  We were surprised to find that not many people had decorated yet, so the lights of Juarez were the highlight (pun intended) of our journey.  (those of you oh so lucky to receive a Christmas card from us this year are getting a sneak-peek of this year's picture).

Our cousins Becky, Mike and their daughter Erina joined us for the holiday.  Nicky had them eating out of the palm of his hand by the end of our trip!  Or, as the photo below suggests, he also had them feeding him...

...and building tents with him (thanks Erina!)...and reading books to him...and playing cars with him...and you name it.  Noooo...he's not spoiled at all!

The day after Thanksgiving, we went out for Mexican food.  Mike ordered an Arnold Palmer, and apparently our server didn't know what it was (must have been the language barrier) - half lemonade/half tea - all in one glass.  Instead, a lemonade and a tea were delivered to the table, and in order to achieve the drink he was hoping for, Mike had to double-straw it!  Check out Nicky's face while viewing such a sight...

We drove home during the late afternoon/evening/night, thinking that Nicky would sleep some of the way (nice thought, but didn't work too well).  Before we left, we tried like crazy to wear the little Russky out.  We all played in the backyard with Nicky, having him run around chasing a ball...that is, until someone - who shall remain nameless, ahem, Daddy - knocked it over the fence into a neighbor's yard, causing a full-on melt-down.  All of that, and a full belly, and he still only napped for about half an hour!  Oh well...like I said, thank goodness for portable dvd players!  Here's a sweet picture of Nicky and Erina before we left...

And a picture of Nicky with his Granny & Poppa...I took about 10 pictures before I could get one of Nicky looking at the camera, smiling, not playing with his shoe, etc.  What is it about trying to get a toddler to look at the camera and smile on cue?!  Why is that such a hard task?!  Sigh.

Here's the best picture from the whole trip.  Nicky experiencing his first side-of-the-road potty break!  Nicky and Daddy both giggled like school girls the whole time Nicky peed!  The next time we stopped to fill up the car, and to go potty, Nicky asked "i go pisca in grass?".  He was actually disappointed when we told him no.  I don't get what all the hype is about going pisca outside...I guess you have to have a penit to understand!

We hope you and your families all had a Happy Thanksgiving...I know we did!