Our Thanksgiving weekend started on Weds at noon. We both were able to leave work a little early in order to try and get in front of the coming storm. Unfortunately even though we were able to pack the car and be on the road by 12:30, we didn't beat the storm. The storm followed us the entire way to Ripon.
The fun started about 5 minutes into our drive with sleet or hail, whichever you prefer to call it. From there the weather changed to snow. The snowflakes were so big and fluffy. It started off light and steadily began to get worse. A few times during the drive the snow was near white-out conditions because of the howling wind. The snow changed back over to rain the further east we drove. Although it wasn't as smooth as that because the temperature was flirting around 31 & 32 degrees. At times the rain would be a little bit slushy and slightly freezing rain. The worst of the drive was when we were on highway 23...the drivers were nice and slow. Despite all of the weather, the drive took us a little over 5 hours.
Thanksgiving morning - We spent a good part of the morning relaxing and watching the Macy's parade. Then we were all getting ready for dinner. Dinner was at 6pm. Aunt Peggy, Uncle Bruce, Andrew & Adam Lindsay came over along with Grandpa & Grandma Splitt and the neighbors Judy & Erin Maguire. Kenny unfortunately was still sick and unable to make it. We had a lovely dinner with family and friends.
Black Friday - I had mentioned to Sue that I was hoping to find some matchbox cars for my little brother Sean. She had remembered that there were 2 different stores with sales. So that morning the entire household was up around 4-4:30 am. Trav, TJ & Ron went out hunting, while Sue & I went shopping. Tiffany (TJ's wife) went out shopping with her sister. The first stop on our list was K-Mart. Nothing horrible or awful. We were in and out of the store in about 15 minutes. The second stop was Menards. The parking lot was completely full. All of the side streets and adjacent parking lots were full as well. The store opened at 6am, we got there around 6:40. The store was absolutely packed. People were everywhere. Sue & I were lucky enough to have walked in the exit door so we were able to scope out where to check out the fastest. We successfully found the cars. There were 5 big garbage cans full of cars to begin the morning, by the time we got there, only 3 cans had cars in them about 1/3 of the way full. Who knew so many people wanted cars. The check-out lines were all the way to the back of the store...I'm sure people waited in line for 1.5-2 hours. We winded our way through various aisles till we came out by the check-out. We were able to hop into a line with only 5 people in it. Over all we spent about 35 minutes in the store. It could have been a lot worse in Menards. Lastly we wanted to go to Jo-Ann fabrics but the store didn't open till 9am even though it was posted online and in their ad that they opened at 6am. I think they must have lost a lot of business.
The guys came back and have 2 deer. It was great that they were able to get something. The rest of Friday was spent relaxing and recouping from being up so early.
Saturday was the Open house/baby shower & Christmas. Travis & I helped Sue in the morning get things ready for the shower. People started to arrive around 1pm. It was a great opportunity to see family and family friends that we haven't seen in a while. Both Trav & I were overwhelmed with the love and support we received from everyone. All of the gifts were lovely and wonderful. Our little girl has several new outfits, bibs, toys, and blankets to name a few items. After everyone left, we were able to set up for Christmas dinner. We had another round of presents after dinner. We received great gifts all around. Travis is excited because we will be able to get a new golf bag, since his bite the dust this year. Me being a book worm, I always love to get new books. After both the baby shower & Christmas we were a bit worried about how we were going to get everything home. Our car was completely full on the way home. We wouldn't have been able to fit anything more into the car. We did an amazing job to fit everything in, like one big jigsaw puzzle.
The drive home was much better. We had sunshine the whole way with weather in the mid 40s. It was great. We made it home in 4.25 hours, including stops. After unloading the car, we've just been relaxing all night. It would be great if we still had another day off to completely unwind from being gone all weekend.
Until next time, love Tiff & Trav
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