Long Post For a Long Weekend

The kids were off school for the entire week of Thanksgiving. I swear, if we'd wanted to take a trip they would have only been off for 2 days.

In light of our extra free time, we decided to hit the Gainesville Zoo.  We love that place even though it's a bit of drive and doesn't have many of the "big" animals.  The admission is relatively cheap, you can get very close to the exhibits, it's easy to navigate and see the whole thing without getting too worn out or overwhelmed, and my favorite part--it's never, ever crowded.

The night before as I lay in my bed, last year's Thanksgiving post came to my mind, and I realized that we may have inadvertently started a tradition.  Thanksgiving and a trip to the zoo.

The weather is always pretty great this time of year.

Our Thanksgiving was really delicious and relaxed.  My parents came over and we had planned to have another family over but they cancelled at the last minute.  That worked out fine though, because it removed that small bit of stress that comes with hosting.


We had our usual line up of food-turkey,rolls, stuffing, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, corn pudding, sweet potato suffle, cranberry sauce, pickle and relish tray, apple, pecan, and pumpkin pie, spice cake, and cheesecake.  In fact, in my notebook (the one that holds the written version of my whole life) I found last years Thanksgiving plans and they were nearly identical.  We scratched green bean casserole and jello salad  this year.  I made the rolls, mashed potatoes, cheesecake, and a pumpkin pie.  Mom did all the rest, including the turkey.  And my dad made the apple pie.

We cooked together and we cooked separately.  We corralled all the food to the buffet about a half hour past schedule, and were just about to sit down until we realized we had no bottle opener for our sparkling cider.  So it came down to this, Dan and Dad demonstrating their man skills as they pried off the lids with knives.

The day after Thanksgiving, we skipped the sales and took a day trip up to Oklahoma.  About 1.5 hours from us is the beautiful Turner Falls.

I couldn't believe something so beautiful was so close.  (Though I very much wish it were closer.)

Apparently it's crazy busy in summer, but can you imagine going for a swim here?!

I hope we can make it happen this next year.

In the meantime, having a picnic on the huge stone table,

 and hiking through the woods was satisfying enough.

The wind made us a little bit chilly even though the temperature was around sixty.  I wore two jackets and our hoods supplemented our thin Texas blood.

The park even had the remains of this "castle".  Back in the '30's it belonged to a professor who owned this whole area as his ranch and these buildings served as his summer home.


My dear Ava was in her element.  She was born to be outside, exploring, pretending, losing herself in beautiful surroundings.

The castle was fun to walk through (minus the billion stairs I counted as my exercise that day) and the fact that there were dozens of levels and patios all without railings.  Our kids and the images of them tripping right off the edge kept our blood pressure raised the whole time but we all enjoyed it.

The campsites are first come, first serve, which makes a trip from Dallas a little hard to plan, but man that would sure be a fun place to stay.

And finally, on Saturday, the final installment of our weekend agenda came along--a girls' trip to the Nutcracker.

I don't know why pregnant people hold on to their bellies in pictures.  I did it so I wouldn't look like I was wearing a circus tent for a dress, but I'm not sure the effect is much better.

The Texas Ballet Theater put on a wonderful show.  Ava thoroughly enjoyed herself as did Mom and I.

 I am ready for Christmas, at least in my mind.  I may (do) still have pumpkins on my front lawn, I haven't bought a single present, and the tree is still in the attic, but I'm already feeling the Christmas Spirit!