Family Thanksgiving

We drove back to Illinois for Thanksgiving last week to visit family. We left our home on Saturday morning and drove to our lake cabin for riding lessons. On Sunday morning, we finished the drive to IL. It's a looong time in the car, but for the first time, Mags was allowed to sit in the front seat, which was sort of a milestone for her. She enjoyed seeing the scenery when she wasn't napping.

After we arrived at my parents, we had a good time visiting with them and my sister's family. Surprisingly, my brother, sister, brother-in-law and nephew came for Thanksgiving dinner. How long has it been since we were all together at Thanksgiving? I wish I could remember. Uncle Bob and his wife, Kate, were there, and my step-sister Jan ate with us, too.

Then we all drove down to Aunt Patsy's and Uncle Bob's for dessert. Our three cousins (Vicky, Pat and Dona) were there with their spouses (Demir and Shelly) and children (Erik and Andrew). Dona had made eight beautiful pies (gooseberry, apple/currant/pecan, cherry, pumpkin, pear tart, etc.) so Mags got to try a couple of different kinds. It was really fun catching up with everyone.

My sister, Susu, is showing us her good side in this photo:



Her son, Brodie, is lounging in Uncle Bob's favorite chair:



You know...there are a lot of men named Bob in my family. My dad is named Bob, I have two uncles named Bob, and my cousin, Kim, married a Bob. But...do you think I could get a picture with three of the four Bob's at the same time? Heck no.

In this photo, Uncle Bob Lantz is seated at the far end of the table. My handsome brother, Eric, is standing by the fridge, Curt and Gary are on the far side, Uncle Chuck is on the near side and Demir is at the closest end:



My dad, Bob, is standing in the kitchen by his niece, Dona, and his sister, Patsy. BTW, it was amazing how much my cousins Vicky and Dona now look like their mother. Wish I had gotten a shot of the three of them together. They've probably always resembled each other closely, but as a child, I just didn't pay attention.



Finally, Uncle Bob Decker is seated at the kid's table with his lovely wife, Kate:



We had a great time catching up and remembering stories of things we all did as kids. I wrote down some of the stories to put in a scrapbook. Now...to get the photos to go along with the stories. Might take another visit back home.

On Friday, we left IL, but we got a few good pictures of Mags with her grandparents.





And...here's a three generation shot:



As you can tell by the big smiles, we all had a great time! Then we were off to Joplin to visit Gary's sister, Kelly, and her new husband, Trey. On Saturday, we stopped by to see Gary's mom. Then it was back to the lake cabin for more riding lessons. And...finally home on Sunday. It's good to be home!