Gobble gobble

Kids go back to school tomorrow - hooray! A little normalcy for three weeks, then BAM! 14 days of madness, family, coast to coast travel, cold weather, warm weather, vision stretching, food, and surely blog worthy memories. Thanksgiving week was a blast. We left for PA right after picking up Emma from her half day of school and got on the road by lunch to avoid the traffic. It worked. We whizzed across the island, through the city, across Jersey, and up into PA stopping at Grandpa's house to say hello and see how he was feeling. Blessedly we were all healthy and could give giant hugs and kisses and not compromise his immune system which I was very concerned about when Em came down with the strep and crazy rash!

We bounced Tues / Wed / Thurs between Grandma and Grandpa's houses cousins in tow. There was a lot of silly play and lots of love flying around. Good times! The adults celebrated Aunt Lisa's birthday Wednesday evening at a new restaurant in town while the kids hung out with their cousins and a few pizzas at Grandma's.

Daddy and Grandma got their cook on Thursday and made a spectacular meal for all to enjoy. Daddy was on turkey duty and outdid himself this year - it was the juiciest turkey I had ever eaten! He brined it as usual, but before cooking it, he butterflied the bird - it cooked quicker, thereby not drying out the breasts - it truly was outstanding!

There is a turkey brining away in there!

The finished product - I love how the breasts look like a heart! It was certainly made with love.

I stole the chef for a quick pic after I realized we only have TWO pictures of us together all year long.

My plate - the before!

My plate - the after, and Ben's UNUSED plate - such a turkey this kid! Next year we may just cook him up!

We were all in bed by 9pm and slept until 7am the next morning while our tummies took 10 hours to digest!

We came home on Friday after breakfast. The traffic was great again and we made excellent time. We chose to take the Lincoln tunnel through the city to get to the island so we could stop and get a hot dog at a red light from a corner vendor - I LOVE this tradition and don't care one iota that they have zero nutritional value - it only happens once a year! :)

Upon returning home from our mini-trip we found a package on our door step. Santa sent us our very own Elf on a Shelf to report back to him over the next 25 days. The kids are very aware what the elf means, many of their friends have them, so it was fun to name her (ours is a girl). We went back and forth on a few names and finally settled on a combination of what they both wanted, ELFELINA. She's quite the character. The first night she snuggled up next to Santa on our tree. Emma found her the next morning immediately. Last night she got her gymnast on and flipped herself up into a Chinese lantern. The kids couldn't find her for ages, until Ben finally spied her - he was quite proud of himself for being the one who found her.

Cheeky little Elfelina.

Our village hosted a Santa parade yesterday afternoon. It was freezing out - we literally showed up right at the start of the parade and booked it as soon as it was over. Today was much warmer, so we hung out in the harbor park for a while late this morning, then popped by a pizzeria for a slice for each kid, then headed to our pal's cheese shop for clam chowder and a cheese plate (see below!) then hung out at the maritime explorium for an hour getting our science on. My kind of family Sunday!

Cheese, anyone?

We were sending notes back and forth to each other.

This is an old boat filled with RICE! So much cleaner than sand. Love it!