Hawaiian Thanksgiving and A Big Trip

This was our first year to host Thanksgiving. Granted it was just for the five of us and Mom and Dad, but it was still fun.

We really love our new house and were looking forward to spending the holidays here.

But in order to celebrate or eat for that matter, I had to remove 5 huge boxes from their home on the dining room table. I guess I need to keep hosting holidays, maybe even inventing a few of my own, to push me to unload boxes.

Mom and I split up the cooking responsibilities and by afternoon, we had a feast on our hands.

Before that though, while in the process of unpacking those boxes, all of which were Ava's old clothes (can you say, "too many clothes?") and repacking them into big plastic bins to be put in the attic, we came across a hula skirt and lei I had been saving for possible Halloween costume ideas.

There was no way Ava was going to see them packed away, she just had to put them on. It added quite the flair to our dinner.





Dinner was yummy and pleasant. Surprisingly there were no dinner freak-outs or fits. Max wandered around mooching bites from whomever was willing to share.

The evening turned into night, and we were happy to have a day to remember just how much we have to be thankful for.

The day after Thanksgiving, I left for New Hampshire for my 10 year high school reunion. I was really excited to go even if the reunion would be lame. I would still enjoy the time with Stephanie, my best friend from high school.


But it turns out the reunion wasn't lame. I had such a great time catching up with everyone.
The whole weekend just took me for a ride down memory lane. It was overwhelming at times, because the memories were so vivid and ran the range of happy to sad, good to bad, and everything in between.

I forgot my camera, but Stephanie let me borrow hers.


We stayed up too late every night.




And the time flew by.



I am so happy I went. A part of me will always stay in New Hampshire.