Thanksgiving

Travel for the Bowes never seems to be easy.  However, our family seems to always take it in stride.  Sarah and the girls headed out to California early on the Friday before Thanksgiving, excited to know that they would get extra time with the folks on the West Coast.  Unfortunately their travel time included far more than they bargained for, starting with a cab ride from the Louisville airport to the Cincinnati airport Friday morning because of a mechanical problem.  Then after delays in Cincy and a few hours on the ground in Albuquerque they missed their final flight and were stuck in Los Angeles over night.  But boy was it fun once they got to Sacramento more than 24 hours after their trip began!

Grammy Gayle was quick to pick the girls up bright and early in the morning and our adventure started in Old Town Sacramento.  It included lunch, a trip to the park, and some cool old ships.  Sarah had to bribe the girls to take this photo which has become a much more common occurrence these days.

One benefit of spending more time in California is getting to arrange time with Auntie Lo, Kate, and Ashlynn.  This year we met up at the Jelly Belly factory where we took a tour and enjoyed tasting a variety of delicious candies.  It only took the girls a couple of minutes to get reacquainted, then they were off getting into trouble together. It means so much to Sarah and Lauren that these four get along so well.

After a wonderful lunch Sarah and Lauren didn't want the day to end so we looked up an indoor trampoline park so the girls could burn some energy and we could continue our great conversation.  If only we lived closer to the Perrones.  As you can see from the picture, the girls had a great time.

Then John arrived.  His travels were smooth, however, he was sick as a dog.  He self-diagnosed a sinus infection and we finally decided to give in to the fact that Reese's cough that had been around for more than a week was not going away.  John showed Reese how to cooperate with the doctor. His diagnosis was on point and it turned out Reese had bronchitis.  The Wednesday before Thanksgiving not only included a visit to the Urgent Treatment clinic but also the local pharmacy to get the medicine necessary to get us all back on track.

Grandpa Dan now lives in Sacramento as well, so we had a number of opportunities to spend time with him.  Grammy Gayle was gracious enough to offer up her kitchen for a playdate so the girls and Grandpa could bake some cookies.  A fun time was had by all and the cookies were pretty darn good.

Thanksgiving morning was filled with good intentions that crashed on the rocks of misery.  We signed up for the Run Against Hunger 5K in downtown Sacramento.  Who knew it would be the coldest day ever for that, and so we were not all that prepared for the 30 degree temperatures.  Nevertheless, attitude is everything is our motto, so we always expect the girls to get it together.  As you can see from this picture, that was not happening.

Zac and Brandi were doing their best to inspire Callie to tackle the course with some joy in her step.  And because nearly 30,000 people were doing this, we were walking the whole course.  That's a lot of inspiration required.  Needless to say, I guess we should at least appreciate that Callie actually walked.  Reese, on the other hand, insisted on being carried the whole way.

Fortunately, we did not have Thanksgiving dinner outside.  Instead we were hosted by the ever generous and loving GA and GU.  We can never say enough how much we appreciate the efforts they put in to creating opportunities for the family to get together.  It was a wonderful day!

There are a lot of kids at these gatherings now - seven kids ages eight and under to be exact.  What is great is some of those kids are now involved in the preparation for the feast.  Callie, Reese, and Skyler were happy to help decorate the tables and get ice water for each setting.  We look forward to day when they will be involved with the clean up as well.

Great Grandma Hazel was there as well, and like always she was game for whatever we wanted to do.  This year Haley outdid herself and not only got the girls birthday presents but also brought a family gift.  That gift was a game called Pie Face, which is essentially Russian roulette with whipped cream.  Almost everyone tried it, but Hazel was a fan favorite without a doubt.

With such good times comes exhaustion, but Great Grandma rallied when the girls came and surrounded her with smiles and cuddles.  Unfortunately this was only four of the seven little ones because Tyler and his family had already headed out.

Before the day ended, Ryan was kind enough to take some pictures of our branch of the family tree in the great setting behind the house.  This was the one thing that Grammy Gayle had requested we do on our visit and we were more than happy to make it work.  It only seemed fitting to put Brandi, Zac's girlfriend, and her son EJ in the picture.  This was great forethought since Zac proposed to her on Christmas day and now we will get to attend their wedding in September 2016.  And with all that said it is a pretty good picture that captures another great Thanksgiving.