Thanksgiving (Part Deux) & a Busted Black Friday

The day before Thanksgiving, we travel to the lake house to be with Blake's family.

It's become a tradition for the past several years...we all love the feeling of getting away, but still being close to home.  My most favorite part of our Thanksgiving get-away is that everyone hangs out together without the responsibilities or obligations of "home". 

And we also enjoy sunsets like these....


Relax, hang out together, quality time....sure was nice:)




reading,

playing cards........

napping or checking twitter......
 
or watching the infamous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Our two turkeys:)

Delicious food!
(red velvet cake is a tradition for every holiday and every birthday! It's special because its unique, the icing is not cream cheese, it's Blake's grandmother's secret recipe!)

and cute little treats - made especially by Grammie for the boys:)

and no lake trip is complete without a ride in the golf cart......

or an after bath snuggle

Bryson, Blake's brother, brought two friends with him for the weekend, but Layton stole one of them.  He became glued to Michela. Wherever she was - he was;)

She was sweet to play games with him and tote him around alllllll night. 

Look at his face here, hello?!  I guess my boy knows a pretty girl when he sees one.  oh. no.





And then.......Buzz and Woody showed up for the weekend too!

 
Come on Woody, turn that frown upside down.................................there, that's better!

 

and then they helped Grammie decorate the tree...

Keeping in line with the lake house theme -- the palm tree had to be decorated too!  

Totally sets the mood.

And speaking of setting the mood, the sunset was GORGEOUS!  Seriously, I was mesmerized.

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Funny story.
Black Friday has always intrigued me.  I've NEVER shopped on Black Friday except on-line. So, I had to try it.  I somehow convinced Blake to go with me.
I had my sights set on Target. We jumped in the car at 11:30 pm, just in time to be there for the midnight deals:)  When we arrived in town, Blake asked me about directions to the Target.  I said, "I thought you knew where it was?" He looked at me with a 'oh no you better not have me out at midnight and not know where we are going' look.  I quickly goggled it and................

They DIDN'T HAVE a Target.  Serious. Bummer. 

Yes.  The major requirement for Black Friday is a store. We didn't even have that.

Plan B. We walked into Wal-Mart with the crazies and then walked right back OUT!  We drove home laughing in disbelief!  OH well! :))  We will never forget our first Black Friday experience!

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The day after Thanksgiving, it's a tradition that we all go to a Christmas play at the local theater to kick-off the season:)

And, while we were munching on popcorn and watching the advertisements ....we saw this!

 They knew we were there......we felt famous!  ha!

They do a fabulous job!!  It's so good every.single.year.  We love it.

Then we went riding around looking at the simple little town that dresses up for Christmas!

After back to back weekends of Thanksgiving, the boys were tired.  

They slept for the entire two hour drive home.  It was bliss.

But bliss is quite an understatement when I think about how many things I have to be thankful for this season.

His blessings abound.