Thanksgiving Holiday 2011

This year we stayed home and enjoyed a nice, quiet, low-key Thanksgiving in Chapel Hill.  Oscar decided to add on to his outdoor Christmas decorations so he actually began putting them up on Wednesday afternoon.  Of course, Savannah thought he needed her help.  

Daddy and his little helper

On Thanksgiving morning after a rather warm run outside, we came home to finish watching the parade.  Savannah loved the parade!!  The highlight of it all was a surprise performance by the Fresh Beat Band :)  For lunch we had the wonderful buffet at the Carolina Inn.  I, for one, really like going out to eat for Thanksgiving.  I love all the traditional Thanksgiving food but I hate all the leftovers.  At least when you go out to eat, after lunch you don't have to look at another turkey til Christmas.  

family picture before lunch

at the Carolina Inn

of course Savannah had ma and cheese, chicken fingers, and melon

inspecting the Inn's decorations

Back at home, Savannah added her yearly ornament to the family tree.  This year it's a Rapunzel ornament.

On Friday afternoon we battled the Black Friday crowds at the mall then headed home to finish decorating the house while Oscar watched football.  Surprisingly the mall wasn't nearly as crazy as I expected....maybe because we didn't go at 5 am.
Saturday, we visited the paint-your-own pottery studio to make our annual Christmas dish.  I'm so excited about this years project!  I'll post a picture of it once we pick it up on Wednesday.  Savannah had a blast doing this project!  She loved painting and she especially loved cleaning the brushes.  Surprisingly, this was our fastest year yet.  I guess the extra 2 hands for once actually helped the process.

Sunday was a super busy day.  After church in the morning, we attended the Radio City Christmas Spectecular at DPAC.  What an amazing show!!!  They even had real sheep and camels for the nativity scene!!!  I've never sat so close to the stage for any show before.  We could actually tell that the Rockettes were looking at us.  And when looking up, there legs really do look 6 feet long.  

outside DPAC on tobacco row

my pretty little girl

walking the red carpet

proof that we actually sat front row center

Savannah reading the program

all ready for the show

After the show, we went to a birthday cookout for one of our friends' daughter.  What a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!!  Now we're in the midst of the Christmas season---my most favorite time of the year!!  I'll post pictures of this years decorations once I'm totally finished---I, too, am adding on a little to the inside :)

Clemson/NC State game

Last weekend my friend Amii, who I've know since Clemson days, and her husband, Walt, came into town to attend the Clemson/NC State football game with us.  Unfortunately the Tigers achieved their second loss of the season (an utterly humilating loss), but we had a great time tailgating and hanging out in the club area of the stadium.  After eating entirely way too much food, we left the game early (due to the humilitation) and headed home to relax and watch more football on tv.  

Savannah learning how to play corn holes

Me, Savannah, and Amii

the princesses go with us EVERYWHERE

Savannah snuck into the car....

and proceeded to spray Febreeze all over the car!!

heading up to our club seats

check out our seats

our view

family pic

Such a fun day but let's hope my Tigers play better against the chickens this week.

A Weekend in Greenville

This past weekend we took our annual trip back to my hometown of Greenville, SC to go to a Clemson football game.  We arrived in Greenville fairly early on Friday so after checking into the hotel, we were able to spend some time walking around downtown and going in a few shops.  It amazes me how much that little town has changed since I left 7 years ago.  Back then there were only a handful of restaurants and hardly any shops worth going into so we never spent any time down there.  Now it's quite the happening scene.  We enjoyed a surprisingly tasty bar-b-que dinner at Sticky Fingers before calling it a night. 

Savannah getting straight to her hotel "business"

What do you do when you leave your drums at home? Improvise, of course!

 After a quick run on Saturday we headed to Clemson.  An hour later, we were almost to our parking lot--game day traffic, ugh!!!

entrance to campus

ready to make the hike to the stadium

I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to carry her like this---she's soooo heavy!

some of the nice tailgating spots--Tiger fans really do it right.

Savannah wasn't too impressed with the Tiger Cub

Savannah did so well during the game.  For an entire half she intently watched the action on the field, on the sidelines, in the stands, and in the air.  For someone with such a short attention span, I was totally and completely blown away by her behavior.  And this time I'm saying that in a good way :)  Hopefully she'll still be entertained this weekend when we go to the Clemson game at NC State.  

"The most exciting 30 seconds in college football!!!"

We left after the halftime show (Savannah wanted to watch the drums) and headed back to Greenville.  We stopped by the Reedy River Falls Park because I had not seen all the changes that have taken place over there.  The last time I saw it, there wasn't even a park.

she's off exploring

heading back to our hotel

 For dinner Saturday night we were invited over to the Merritt's house.  It's always fun to catch up with Meredith while Oscar amuses Nick and Savannah and their 3 kids trash the house.  I hate that we're only able to see this sweet family once a year but I guess I'll take what I can get.  

sweet Maquire

soooo sweet--he's giving Savannah a goodbye hug; unfortunately, she wasn't too receptive.

Maddox, Savannah, McClaine, and Maquire

I wish I had a picture from 25 years ago to make a comparison :)

Such a fun short weekend trip.  It really makes me miss my little hometown.