With Billy dropping teeth like the Vikings Wide receivers and Kay's Gotcha Day we almost forgot Thanksgiving.
We loaded up the family truckster sans Nikki and Timmy and headed off to Tammy and Jeff's in Grand Haven, Michigan for Thanksgiving, meeting up with Grandma and Grandpa Hickey. Tracy and I picked the real Loudamericans up at school and left directly for Michigan. We had snacks, PSP's, I-pods, DVD, VCR's and Simon Blink and the Forbidden Forrest... virtually guaranteeing that would would have no real conversation the entire way! The only thing missing was the porta potty. (we did utilize our pee-ing skills learned in India and Billy/Kay did the side of the road stop in mid Wisconsin at one point). 
The kids are great travelers (as those of you who follow this circus know) and we were able to make quite a dent into the journey until we stopped for dinner, of course at the Chinese Buffet in Mauston. We ran into the first glitch when Kay announced we could not listen to Simon Blink at night because she got scared. The 2nd glitch...we passed through Chicago without the usual traffic issues and reached the Skyway, which would take us to Indiana. The Skyway cuts directly around the lake and therefore there are no places to stop, like for instance a hotel. We pressed on (it was now almost mid-night) we were in the steel mills of Gary and I was starting to understand what Kay was referring to in terms of being scared at night. Up a head was it a hotel no... it was a Casino! "They had to have a room!", wrong!!!... only slots, noises, grumpy people. On we drove onto the deep dark night I could almost see Paradise by the dash board lights, I was getting tired, the kids were starting to complain that they were tired (duh, it WAS 1 am) and we finally found an oasis in Portage Indiana. The kids were amazed that they were still awake and it was 1:45 in the morning and to be honest we were too!The good news about driving 11.5 hours of a 14 hour trip is the next day you do not have that far. Everyone slept in and we were on the road again around 11:00 our time, 12 noon Michigan time. At the point the blogs start to overlap as we met Grandma and Grandpa at Wendy's for Kay's gotcha day blog, the full story is two blogs back. Jumping over the blog about Billy and his missing teeth, we reached Tammy and Jeff's mid- afternoon and settled in for the long weekend.
Thanksgiving day was awesome. We watched football, the girls played dress up/make up and we had the meal prepared for us at the country club and it was grand! The food was great, the company and conversation better and the parents and cousins had a blast all around. The kids took a swim at the hotel where Grandma and Grandpa were staying and Jimmy was heard to say 'I think I may go to bed a tad bit earlier tonight". The rest of the weekend was spent in a blur of food, football, a non-stop play date, catching up on everyone's lives and finally ... the grand finale ... Grandma & Grandpa's 46Th wedding anniversary. Without them...none of this could have happened:)
Here's to family, food, football, Thanksgiving and an All American tradition:)
Love and peace to all!
ps; We almost forgot that Grandma brought some new outfits for Jimmy , Kay and Billy:
Billy was a little preoccupied to try his on:
