Thanksgiving Trek

First, a shout out to Ada's mother, Ada, who just came by with Ada and Michael on their way out to dinner. She took a tour of the very messy house (we just got back from vacation, and we have a crawling baby...two really good excuses...). She says she is a religious reader of the blog! So we definitely have an international following...we love you Ada!

On to Thanksgiving. Have I mentioned how incredibly blessed I am to have three living grandparents? Here's a photo of Myles, my dad, "GG" (great grandma), and me. My dad's hat is even cooler looking in person. The other photo is of my Great Grandma and Grandpa Graham (now that's a mouthful!) at my aunt and uncle's house at the dairy farm. They are surrounded by just a few of their many great grandchildren. They have a total of 17 great grandkids, as of today (Finn is number 17), 13 of them are age 3 and under. I guess that's what happens when you have 6 kids. In the photo you can see Alexis, Reya, Myles, Carter, and Jadyn.

Our trek this year: We left on a Tuesday night and stayed over in Kentucky at a hotel. On Wednesday we drove up through Ann Arbor and stopped in to see Melissa, a friend I met in the 7th grade who was in my wedding, who I love. She was working at Whole Foods, which was an absolute zoo on the day before Thanksgiving! Then we made it to Utica and stayed with my Aunt Penny and Uncle Gary for the night. The next morning we headed to the farm. We eat Thanksgiving dinner at noon, in part because the farmers in the family need to get to the cows. You don't get a day off from milking. We ate at my Aunt Shelly and Uncle Scott's new house, which is a beautiful, cozy log cabin. We even got to hear the news that my cousin's wife shot a six point deer and cleaned it all herself. Interesting.

That night we hit the road again for Fremont, to stay with my dad's mom, who had cooked up a storm. On Friday we did no traveling, save a few miles to my Aunt Barb and Uncle Ed's house to eat some more and chill. They have a new litter of Irish Setter puppies who were six weeks old and so sweet. On Saturday, we headed to my folks' house in TN. On Sunday, we spent the morning with them, Myles got his crawling and playing time in, we ate lunch, and headed back to Asheville. We spent a lot of time in the car, but it was worth every second. Family somehow keeps you humble, reminds you where you come from and who you are. Both of my grandmothers were thrilled to get their hands on Myles. My dad's mom cried when we left (as she often did when we were kids). My mom's mom was waiting at the door with her arms outstretched to hold Myles for the first time. Thank God for family.