Thanksgiving with the Carstens Family

Our Thanksgiving with the Carstens family started out on the rockier side. We left the Tri-Cities around 8pm with the intention to head down to Portland, but after driving in thick fog for 45 minutes we decided to turn around and head home and try again the following morning. Our goal was to make it to Portland in time to drop Abby and I and our stuff off so that Nate could then drive to the airport to pick up the Gassends who were coming in to town for the holiday. (Nate roomed with Blaise and Valerie at MIT and have continued to keep in touch!). Unfortunately, the fog was pretty much just as thick in the morning as the previous night so the going was still slow. It was easier driving with the daylight (which is why we didn't turn around again) but it took us a little longer than normal so we ended up having to tell Blaise and Valerie to grab a cab to the house. We all arrived at Nate's parents at about the same time and began saying hi, unpacking, introducing the kids, and just generally enjoying each others company after a year of only Skype and email.

The rest of Friday was spent just hanging around the house. We kept thinking that we'd head out and "do something" but the kids were having so much fun playing together, and we adults were having so much fun talking together, that we eventually realized that leaving wasn't going to happen and just enjoyed the down time together.

Sophie, Abby, and Jonathan trying to out swing each other on the swing set.

The Gassends brought Abby a building set that entertained the kids (and us adults!) for hours. It was cute watching the kids try to build something and then realize the piece they needed was taken by one of the adults building with them. :-)

These two girls were peas in a pod the entire weekend! Here they're showing off their different "tattoos". 

Then they moved on to showing their "ouchies". Yes, that's my Abs with her foot on the table. She's got please and thank you down so I guess we'll work on no feet on the table next!

That evening Abby squished besides Sophie to get read a night-time story, too. 

And then convinced Sophie to join her in Grandma's wheelchair for a ride around the house from Grandpa.

But the biggest surprise of the evening was after Blaise brushed and flossed Sophie's teeth. Abby was very attentive during the process and as soon as Sophie got up from the floor Abby said, "My turn!" and promptly laid down. She remained there without moving a muscle while Blaise went and got another toothpick and then continued to be still while her teeth were flossed. Our dentist has said that he doesn't need to see her until she's at least 3 (which is coming up) or if there's an issue so we never worried about flossing. Blaise's dentist has been seeing the kids since they were six months old as that's when they got their first teeth. Funny how different doctors have different requirements.

The next morning we decided to go to visit OMSI to get the kids out of the house and to allow for the Thanksgiving feast to be prepped and cooked without too much kid "help". I've heard that OMSI was geared for the 5+ range but figured Nate and I could find something to entertain Abby. I did discover that getting three kids out of the house, while everyone is on vacation, is a difficult thing to do. :-) We agreed on the OMSI idea around 10am and actually left the house at noon. There was always 'just one more thing' that the kids or adults wanted to do that kept stalling us. But eventually everyone was dressed and fed and we were off! Now, I had no idea what to expect as I'd never been before. Nate vaguely remembered having a good time and Blaise recalled visiting the submarine. So our expectations were pretty vague. Thankfully the lady who helped us at the ticket counter recommended that we visit the kid's play area as that would be right up their alley. Thank goodness we did!!! It was such a cool place that I wished I could have kicked off my shoes and joined in on the fun!

The kids getting the morning paper during breakfast time. Dave is a great Grandpa! I think he wore a few miles in the floor with as often as he took the kids for a wheelchair ride. 

I finally captured Abby singing her ABCs!

 Just a funny we noticed while waiting to head out to OMSI.

Upon entering the OMSI play area Abby took off her shoes and then beelined for the water play. I got her into a water bib but totally forgot about removing her socks so those did get promptly wet. She literally ran from one water station to the next trying to see everything all at once. Here she's dropping balls into the whirlpool and watching them spin around until they get spit out on the bottom.

From the water table she decided to go check out the forest area and get in on the rock viewing action. 

I think we need a little lesson on using the magnifying glass. :-)

Then she discovered the huge sandpit area! She helped the little girl pour sand through funnels until...

she realized their was a big tub full of sand that she could play in. I was somewhat surprised that she enjoyed this station so much since we have a pretty big sandbox at home, but perhaps because it's been too cold to play in lately she missed it.

In the "Workshop" area they were using Styrofoam blocks and tools to 'build' stuff as well as having a flubber station. Abby is definitely like me at times as, as soon as she touched the flubber, she made an icky face and then tried to wipe the flubber off her finger. :-) She did play with it but made sure to use tools instead of touching it herself.

Here's Nate. Poor Nate. Silly Nate. Nate caught some 24 hour bug which kept him up the previous night. He'd slept in late to try to sleep the sickness off but refused to stay home from our OMSI adventure. So pretty much the entire time that he was here he sat in a folding chair and watched the kids play. About an hour and a half of play later he came to me and said that "We should probably head home so that Abby can get in a nap." Uh huh. Sure. Abby needs a nap. :-) But go home we did and both of my loves passed out for a good afternoon nap.

Our last station to play with was this pulley system. I don't exaggerate when I say that Abby was here for 15 minutes just pulling up one bucket, moving to the other side of the wooden pole, and then pulling up the other bucket. 

After returning from OMSI we were all hungry and ready for the feasting! This time we ended up having a little fewer people than originally planned at Nate's grandparents, Aunt and Uncle, and Cousin and Husband along with newborn baby decided not to show in case Nate's illness was catching. Fortunately it wasn't so they did miss out on a good time, but we totally understood them not wanting to expose themselves to potentially nasty germs. We did still have Nate's cousin Kila, and our friend's Scott and Stephanie join us that evening, though.

On a sad and shameful note, Nate and I discovered that it's been a year (a year!) since we'd last seen Scott and Stephanie. Conflicts in schedules (and I'll be pretty honest and say it was all Nate's fault. :-)) meant that one get-together after another had been cancelled and we just didn't get to see each other. However, we all agreed that this long time between visits couldn't happen again. So Nate and I have made a promise to each other that every 3-4 visits to Nate's parents is going to be a Scott and Stephanie visit. Even if we only get to see them four times in a year it's loads better than just once.

Sadly, I, the scrapbooker did not get a single picture of our Thanksgiving feast. I didn't even think of it until I was looking through the pictures and realizing that I didn't get a one of our dinner. Hmpf. Bad, Teresa. Will have to do better next year! Dinner was super yummy with most of the traditional Thanksgiving foods (we missed the green bean casserole this year as I was at OMSI instead of in the kitchen!) but there was so much food already that they weren't missed (or at least not much).

We ended the evening with a birthday celebration for Nate, Kila, Blaise, and Valerie as they all have birthdays within a week of each other all right around Thanksgiving. As German Chocolate Cake was one of the four cake options (the others being ice cream, lemon, and a fourth one which I can't remember) I was happy to miss out on pumpkin pie.

Abby helping Nate blow out his birthday candles.

The next day was a bit of a rough start for me as I was up until after midnight chatting and then up again with Abby from 3:00 until 6am due to...who knows why...and Nate not being able to take her because of still being sick (albeit less so) with that bug. So by the time I got up for the day around 9am I was a bleary-eyed, grumpy mess. After stumbling around desperately trying to get in caffeine I decided that it would be better for all if I took a little break by myself and went to Advent Mass to get in the right frame of mind both mentally and spiritually. Due to the time of when I got ready I ended up going to a different church than what I normally do while in Portland and got to visit a lovely new place. The church was definitely built in the 1970s with all the wood paneling but the homily was just fantastic. I actually found myself tearing up as the Priest seemed to be speaking directly to a situation that I am currently facing. 

Heading home I found myself in a much happier frame of mind (having an hour to myself after five days of constant people interaction) and was ready to jump back into the crazy gang at home. Since Blaise, Valerie and the kids weren't leaving until around 5pm to catch their flight we tried again to get out of the house to see something fun but we were all moving even slower than yesterday. :-) So another day of playing around the house, talking, and watching the kids enjoy each other. All too soon they were packed up and we were saying our good-byes. It's our turn to visit them now so I'm definitely looking forward to some sunny California weather during one of our long, grey winters!

After Nate got home from dropping them off at the airport it was our turn to leave. And this time we didn't have any fog. Yeah! But...we did have rain. A lot of rain. Enough rain that there were times when we were driving home, especially after passing trucks, that we literally couldn't see the road in front of us. I was so grateful that Nate was driving as my night vision isn't the best since having Lasik surgery and my nerves were completely shot. The door handle probably still has dents in it from my gripping so tightly! But safely home we made it. A quick bite to eat before bed and we officially closed our Thanksgiving celebrations. Hopefully our next trip down the Gorge won't be as exciting!