Thanksgiving in Texas

Going backwards in time, this post is our trip to Texas for Thanksgiving. We gone 7 1/2 days, traveled almost 2800 miles, stayed at 3 relatives homes, and saw all of my family except 5 cousins.

Our trip began on Friday, November 20th. We headed to Billings. Saturday morning, we were out of town by 7 am. Our destination - Denver!

In Denver, we stayed at my Uncle Kerry and Aunt Marsha's home. 3 of their kids (my cousins) came over for dinner. We were going to get a picture of all the kids, but forgot. Connor and Braxton were there also, but had already headed home. These are my cousin Jennifer's boys.

Saturday when we got to town, we headed to Casa Bonita for dinner. We sat at a table right by the diving pond and watched the diving show 3 times!

Sunday began by going to church in Castle Rock. Always good to worship with old friends! Lunch was at Chipotle - Ed's favorite restaurant. He enjoys the one pound burrito!

After lunch we headed to the Butterfly Pavillion.

So many different types of butterflies!

The butterfly pavillion has this large open atrium where the butterflies just flutter around.

Hannah and Halee were trying to stand still to see if a butterfly would land on them!

We finished the day off with a trip to the mall and dinner at my uncle and aunt's.

Monday, we headed for Clovis to visit my Granny Dot. Always good to still be able to visit her. She will celebrate her 90th birthday in April. She still lives in her own home by herself, drives her car wherever she needs to go, volunteers at the Hope Center a couple of times a week, and plays lots of bridge.

Tuesday we finally made it to Amarillo.

Wednesday evening the big treat was dinner at the Big Texan!

We had our dinner, were serenaded by the band and enjoyed the games afterwards. The girls were given some tokens by a generous man in the lobby and tried their hand at gambling! We played until all the coins were gone....no winnings!

Dad also played the shooting game with Halee.

We celebrated Christmas that evening with my parents. Ed had a large package that warranted a large bow.

Of course, the girls helped open up everyone else's presents also.

Halee finally got an American Girl doll (although generic, she loves it!).

This is my mom very excited to receive her gifts.

Hannah presents all seemed to follow a science theme this year. However, her favorite seems to be these moon boots.

Another present she got was the diet coke experiment. Peter was very excited to go outside and blow it up! We all enjoyed the explosion and tried it again.

Lastly, were able to see my brother, Peter. We haven't seen him since 2005! The girls always seem to enjoy rough housing and tickling with Uncle Peter.

Our journey home began on Friday, November 27. We were able to stop in Colorado Springs and have lunch with some friends. We made it all the way to Cheyenne. Saturday we drove on home. It was a great trip, but glad to be home again.

Now, onto Christmas! I will try to post soon the girls Christmas program...stay tuned!