Sean and I got most of the items we needed over the weekend, even the turkey. I had a terrible vision of us forgetting that, and not having turkey on Thanksgiving. Sean would have to go out and hunt on, we'd have to de-feather it and the comical scene in my head continues to play - even though we had our turkey. My mom and I picked up the last few things we needed on Tuesday, got Liam from day care and let the fun weekend begin! I had to go to work on Wednesday, so my parents kept Liam home that day. Thankfully, we got to leave at noon and we were able to start the long weekend. Liam, Dot, Burton and I took a walk down to Miss Sharon's to give her a Thanksgiving Day treat. It was a lovely walk, but of course, someone seemed to get tired on the uphills.
I spent some of the morning convincing my parents we could go to the Hawks/Avs game. They weren't sure, thought it would be too tough for Liam and such, but then I pulled the trigger and we went. We got some great seats and had so much fun. Liam watched quite a bit of the game and he got to meet Bernie. Now, I know we will keep our promise to be a Hawks fan, but it was too hard not to tell Liam to like Bernie, the Avs mascot. We went and took a picture with him, harassed him a little bit about the Hawks and Liam got a stuffed Bernie to take home with him. He sleeps with him at night. But don't worry, the day after the game, Liam found Burton's chuck-it and was tapped in on the ground yelling "Let's go Hawks!" He learned his lesson! 
With the late night, we all slept in nice and late on Thanksgiving, well, except for Sean who had to go off to work. I was bummed he had to work, but thrilled he got to join us at the game last night. I knew I had tons to do to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner, but first thing first, I had to get me and Burton and everyone else some fresh mountain air. We loaded up and head out to Lair O' the Bear to do some hiking. It's a great place to hike, nice and flat so Liam can hike and not too tough for me to carry him. We walked for a bit and then Papa decided to wait for us as we explored some more. Liam found a bridge and plenty of rocks to throw off. While Dot and Liam were busy doing that, Burton and I got to sneak off and do a trail "run." I was going my running and walking program, but it felt so nice to do that on a trail. The part I did most of my running was snowy, right along Bear Creek, the air was fresh and clean, the path was empty, the water was flowing and all I could hear were my footsteps and my breath. It was so great to to be out doing that again, out in nature, so good for the soul! 
I was gone for about 20 minutes and during that time, Liam and Dot just walked up and down the bridge finding more rocks to through in the water. The sun was warm and the air was great. I think we could have stayed there all day, but there was a Thanksgiving feast to prepare. We headed home, I organized all my recipes and got everything going. We had a few appeitzers to tide us over until the later than planned dinner. I think my favorite new thing I tried was twice baked sweet potatoes, they were great. And yes, of course they were topped with marshmellows. We had a yummy turkey, I followed a pretty great recipe that covered it in butter and made it nice and juicy. We had green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes (that were a little less than perfect) and gravy. It was a pretty traditional Thanksgiving feast. Of course, Liam wanted nothing to do with the feast, nor his mac and cheese, but he did mostly leave us alone to enjoy our meal in quiet.
The spread looked pretty good, not super fancy, but I think if I continue to host, I'll update a few items, perhaps there is something a little better to serve the turkey on than a hawaiian flowery plate!
We ate, drank and were merry! It was a wonderful time. Of course, I would have preferred Sean to be home, but I know how it can go, I don't always expect him to be around, just am thrilled when he is. Goodness, that only takes us to Thursday! It was when I woke up Friday morning that not only was I going to have a 2 day weekend (hadn't had one all month), I still had 3 more days to hang out, explore and do whatever else we wanted to do. Since Sean was working, we decided to leave the house and let him sleep. We started the day by taking a trip to downtown Evergreen. We picked up a few donuts and headed down the lake to eat them. Ice skating hasn't started yet, but they were putting lights up on the tree. There is a big ceremony they do to light that up and downtown Evergreen. We plan to go next week and maybe even make it a tradition.
It's fun to be settled somewhere again, and even more fun with a little one. I always wanted to have certain traditions we did that could pass down to our kids, or things that our kids can have memories of. And not that I think he will remember anything we do at this point, but to be here now, to be home and to be able to have traditions to start is very exciting. I wait with excitement until the kids get older to do more things, bigger things that they will remember.
It was another day of sleeping late for Liam, so I will often stay in bed with him, just to make sure he is sleeping, right? We got up and got the day going and headed out to Staunton State Park. It was a place my parents came with Liam, but Sean and I hadn't been. Some of the trails were closed and hidden pretty far back, but it was a great place to escape. We did a great little loop and after some walking, Sean and I hit the trail running - which is much harder when going uphill and at over 8,200 feet. I was dying! But we made it and just as we finished, we found Liam with my parents. He was being silly with daddy, getting snow and throwing it at Burton and everyone else. He was cracking up everytime he touched the snow. This is a better reaction than last year's crying to the touch of snow. We headed to town for lunch and some errands with enough time for Sean and I to get home, showered and ready for our 5 year anniversary date. He took me to cook some fondue downtown. We also walked around and looked at lights and the Chriskindlemart. It was a lovely ending the the perfect weekend. Yeah, we will just end the weekend there, no need to mention the germs that have entered the house...
My parents left on Monday, too soon, if you ask me. But we will see them again soon. Liam had a great time playing with the new BBQ set and other toys that Dot and Papa brought. He was also excited to find an early St. Nick's day present. Which reminds me that I need to get MUCH more on the ball with things if I want to start family traditions - not that I missed that yet, but, well, chances are I might!
Again, so much to be thankful for, but this weekend, I was thankful my parents came out and that they are willing to out and explore a bit, even if we don't find what we are looking for, it was such a great reminder that the journey is the destination. Now, to start decorating and getting ready for Christmas, which will give me even more to be thankful for!
No comments:
Post a Comment