Happy Thanksgiving!

What a fun (and exhausting) Thanksgiving holiday! We started our holiday a day early when Chris took the day off work and Morgan & Emma both had no school. We put up our Christmas Decorations and packed our bags for our trip to St. Louis. We left Thursday morning around 7:30am. Our first stop was at a gas station just north of Terre Haute to get gas, use the bathroom, and let Carter stretch for a minute. We then made a second stop fairly shortly thereafter in Effingham, IL to get a little more food. We found a Burger King that was open and ate there. That seemed to help Carter. We headed the rest of the way to St. Louis and took a litle detour due to construction. We stopped by the hotel to change clothes and then went to Chris' Uncle Brett and Aunt Lisa's house. His Uncle Brett is his mom's brother. He used to be an Edward Jones Financial Advisor as well, but is now in management at the Edward Jones headquarters in St. Louis. They have a beautiful home and we had a fun time seeing all the family. I sent Morgan on a mission to take some pictures. She took this one of the table before we all ate.

Before we ate, we spent some time playing Guitar Hero in the game room. Daddy got the job of holding Carter while he took a nap! (he found his paci the other day in his basket of toys and won't let us take it away!!!!)

As Morgan was taking pictures, she didn't have the flash on....so I fixed it for her and as I did, I got this lovely little picture.


Taken by Morgan....my Baby Boy!



Morgan's handiwork again....isn't Emma sitting so lady-like?? She is with our niece Hannah and our cousin Abby.



Morgan and Abby!

Carter with cousin Rachel.

Morgan with cousin biz....who is expecting her first child with her husband Mike. Morgan was the flower girl in their wedding.

Dinner was delicious and very filling. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel where we decided the best plan was for Daddy and Emma to sleep in one bed and Morgan and Mommy to sleep in the other. Carter slept in his pack and play. Of course, Carter woke up rather early and once someone is up, everyone has to be up in the small room. So, we headed to the pool at about 6:45am!

Carter got to swim too!



Soon, Nana, Papa, and Hannah joined us at the pool and Emma and Hannah rode the Papa Boat around for a while.

Later that morning, we went back to Uncle Brett & Aunt Lisa's and then we all headed to the St. Louis Zoo. Carter's future's so bright, he needed shades! (Cousin Rachel's shades)

Excuse me, sir, you're really not supposed to feed the animals.

All day, we'd been hearing about a big surprise that Brett & Lisa had for us and no one had any clue. We were just told to be around at 4:30 for the surprise and we'd get more details then. So, at 4:30, we all looked out the window as this pulled up....

They had prepared snacks (and drinks....below is Brett's way of getting around the no glass containers rule) and we set out in the trolley. (Molly the Trolley!)

Morgan sat with her good buddies biz and Mike.

And the whole gang began on our journey even though we still didn't know where we were going! (in case you're interested the gang is (clockwise from bottom left...Hannah, our niece; Mike and Elizabeth Mack, Elizabeth (biz) is our cousin; Megan Campbell, cousin; Abby Campbell, cousin; Alex Campbell, cousin; Chris Campbell, cousin; Robin & Debbie Campbell, Robin is Karen's (Chris' mom) brother and they are the parents of Chris, Chad, and Megan; Bob & Pam Campbell, Bob is Karen's brother and they are the parents of Elizabeth, Rachel & Abby; Brett & Lisa Campbell, Brett is Karen's brother and they are the parents of Alex, Max, & Isabel; Max Campbell, cousin; Betty Jo & Paul Schuler, Betty Jo is Karen, Brett, Bob, and Robin's mother! (follow all of that??? There will be a test on this later)

Here is Carter with his Nana (Karen...Chris' mom)

Here is Carter with his Papa Day (Chris' dad) I crack up every time I see it because I took this picture in total darkness and evidently the flash was a little bright for Carter. (ha!)

We first drove to a park that had a million Christmas lights. It was beautiful! Then we drove to a second park that had some. On that drive, Emma, Morgan & Hannah all fell asleep. Here is Emma zonked out on ShuShu (her Great Grandma Schuler)

After our light viewing, we went to a really cute restaurant and had a big dinner. Carter enjoyed getting passed around to all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins! Here he is with cousin Isabel (who was OUR flower girl 10 1/2 years ago!!!)

After not sleeping so great the night before, we tried a new arrangement this time with Morgan in Daddy's bed and Emma in Mommy's bed. We all slept better since we were all so tired! Carter slept in until about 7:30 this time, and we headed to the pool again. Here is photographic evidence that I worked out while there! (I actually did the treadmill and finished up week 3 of my Couch to 5K program even though this picture is of me on an elliptical) Chris' mom Karen was kind enough to take these flattering pictures....

After the pool and getting cleaned up, we headed back to Brett and Lisa's and the men went over to Jim Weddle's warehouse where he keeps his car collection. I guess it was amazing...you know, if you care about cars. (Jim Weddle is a friend of Chris' uncles Bob and Brett and is also the managing partner (a.k.a. CEO, a.k.a. number 1) of Edward Jones)

We were exhausted and headed out around 2pm our time. Morgan fell asleep very quickly while Emma & Carter held off a while longer.

Once on I-70, we passed Chris' mom and dad. She and I were texting back and forth to make the drive go faster, so right before we passed them, Chris had me text "Say cheese"

We got home around 7pm and started laundry and got settled. We were all tired and beat. Carter had a fever and went to bed around 8, the girls went to bed at 8:30, and Chris and I were in bed by 9!!!! It was very fun and very tiring! We're still trying to get all caught up on sleep and energy and today (Monday) as I write this, Chris is in bed sick with a fever. Carter's went away though, so hopefully it will just be a quick thing we must have caught from being around so many people in so many crazy places!

Happy Thanksgiving!