There is something about being Up North that puts a big smile on my face, especially when I woke up Thanksgiving morning and everything was covered with a beautiful blanket of snow. Noelle was so excited and kept saying "play snow please". We bundled her up, still in her pajamas, for her first tryst in the snow this season. She was immediately smitten with the beautiful snow and jumped right into eating it. She helped clean off the cars and even attempted to make a snow angel. When her little nose was red as a cherry and her cheeks boasted the same color we decided it was time to come in and warm up. She screamed and cried and just wanted to be back outside. The amount of joy that was brought on by just sitting in a snow pile and scooping up mittens full of snow was the perfect start to the Thanksgiving Day of 2007.
A 30 pound Turkey was cooking away in the oven, the side dishes were being prepared, and people began arriving. Charlotte woke up extra early and drove up just to spend the day with family! My Mom's sister and her family were staying at the Great Wolf Lodge for the Holiday and naturally headed over to my parents' house for dinner as well. It was so wonderful to have lots of family mulling around. Dinner was exceptional, my Mom really out did herself once again, even though cooking isn't her favorite thing to do she always pulls out the stops for Holiday dinners. After dinner everyone pitched in with cleanup and it seemed to be done in a blink of an eye. We plopped our turkey induced comatose bodies onto the nearest couches and chairs to watch the Detroit Lions finish losing to the Packers. An early dinner always is the tradition in our family so that the rest of the day can be spent recovering from all the wonderful food!
Dessert was calling our names within a few hours and we all dug into an array of pies. When that was complete we decided to take Noelle over to the fabulous water park in the Great Wolf Lodge. She, being a water baby, was so excited and wouldn't stop talking about the "Big Pool" on the way over there. We dressed in the room and headed out. Fred and Kathleen went into the water with Noelle and I. They both had formed a bond with Noelle over dinner and she loved playing with them in the water. The kiddie pool had a few slides that I was sure Noelle would not want to go down. Of course, I was wrong and after one time down the smallest one, she was completely hooked and wanted more, eventually insisting on the biggest slide! A trip down the lazy river was kindly given by Fred and Kathleen. After the river she was shivering quite a bit and I took her out to warm her up. She was not happy about this and protested greatly between shivers. After she was warm we left her go a few more rounds with the slide. This water adventure completely wore her out and we headed back to my parents house to put her down for bed.
Friday morning came and both of my parents went to work. I was not one of those people that wanted anything to do with the "Black Friday" shopping, keep me away from the crowds please!! Instead, Noelle and I went to visit a great friend of mine from college whose parents live just mere miles from my parents new house. Noelle was not a happy camper at first and just cried for Daddy the first couple of minutes. After being introduced to huge stuffed dog, she quickly warmed up and began menacing! We only visited for a bit, but it was wonderful to catch up with Jackie and show off my little pride and joy! After we came back Uncle Alex and Daddy took Noelle out to build a snowman. It was more like a snow midget, but Noelle had fun anyways! She loved just being in the snow again. Soon it was time to come inside so that Uncle Alex could get ready for his hockey game. She really had a ton of fun at the hockey rink; the metal stairs seemed to occupy most of her time during the game. Unfortunately, the Traverse City Central Trojans lost a hard fought game, but we were just glad to see Uncle Alex play! I'm not sure I will be able to see him play again for a while with the new baby coming, so for me it was a special game. I have always enjoyed watching my brother and anytime I can see him out on the ice it's worth it!
Saturday came and we headed back home. We wanted to avoid the traffic and spend one day recuperating from all the excitement of the weekend. It truly was a sensational weekend filled with many wonderful memories. I hope everyone else had a memorable weekend as well.
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