Thanksgiving Weekend

It's been quite the weekend! For the first time in 5 years we were able to spend Thanksgiving weekend at home in northern Michigan. This is one of my favorite weekends of the year. It's a nice break from school and it is filled with lots of good food! Wednesday we had a half day of school so I came home, got in a quick run, had a massage and then it was off the Rachel's grandma's house in Cheboygan. Grandma Gaynor sure can cook. After staying the night up there, I headed out for a nice run along Lake Huron before we ate Thanksgiving dinner #1. It did not disappoint and we were all stuffed to the brim. We left around 1 and headed down to Gaylord to my Dad's parents house. It was full with 25+ people as usual. There was more food and while Rachel resisted I used the excuse that at least some of the food was different so it was all good to eat again right?! Rachel made little dessert turkeys and they were a hit. All the younger kids loved them. Afterwards we headed to my Mom's side of the family for games and dessert. A little pumpkin pie for me. We played the game Imaginif. It was a lot of fun. We headed back to folks' house to hang out for a bit and wait for my brother Ryan to arrive. Him and his wife, Lyndsay, were traveling up from Grand Rapids where she grew up. They had quite the news for us when they arrived...they are having a baby! They walked in and gave us all cards. We were all confused and wondering who in the world gives out cards for Thanksgiving. The card in the envelope had a picture of 3 pumpkins...2 big ones and one little one. It took me a second, but then everyone kind of figured it out at the same time. It was a special moment and our family just keeps growing. My sister Jen has a 4 month old baby that was the center of attention all weekend...never seen such a good baby. I swear he hasn't cried yet. We left and made it back to our place to sleep. It's so much more comfortable in your own bed! Woke up Friday and hit the trainer for a solid 75 minute session and followed that up with a short run and then some TRX work. We headed back over to Gaylord for the day. I took my little brother Daniel, who is 6, to the pool and we did a bit of swimming, and then played on the diving board and water slide. He's a fun little guy to hang out with. The girls all headed to Alaina's wedding shower. She's marrying my brother Mike in January. We had decided a few weeks ago that this would be a good opportunity for a bachelor party since the girls would all be occupied. It was a pretty low key night, but we had a lot of fun visiting the local bars and drinking more than we should have! Always a good night when you get to try some new local beers out. We made it back and hung out with the girls...lots of laughs. Saturday was a very relaxing day of just hanging out and eating more. We watched the Michigan game and the Michigan State game...U of M lost, but State played well and won the Big Ten for the first time in a while. After the game my Dad and brothers and I decided it would be a good idea to go for a walk and then sit for an hour or so out at deer camp in our new blind to see if we could see a few deer before the season ends on Tuesday. We saw 5 deer, but no bucks so we just headed in once it got dark (about 5PM now and it's pitch black out!). Got home to a nice steak dinner and then some catch phrase to end the night. I woke up this morning, got in my long run, and then it was off the church. It's nice to have the rest of the afternoon to relax after long weekend!

Back to reality tomorrow for a few weeks. Christmas will be here before we know it. I'll be stepping it up a notch on the training front, but nothing to intense. I'll try to be more consistent with the blogs.