A Scrapbook of Sorts: Thanksgiving and Finishing November

I am backdating this, and writing it in April 2016...but I am determined to catch up even though I keep falling farther behind. So...here goes.

We spent a week visiting friends and family in Jeff's home state during Thanksgiving week. Here are the kids getting ready for the the walk to the airport and the big adventure. These pictures are all out of order, but I will narrate as well as I can.

They are pretty cute, right?

You never know how kids are going to do on flights, but I have to say, all three did very well. We asked a lot of them, and they rose to the occasion. We arrived at our hotel room and got to bed around 12:30 a.m., and they were such good sports. I was really proud of them...and relieved, too! We hadn't flown with them since Benjamin was about 1 1/2. (3 1/2 wonderful years of not having to fly...but that's another topic for another day!)

My only regret is that we didn't take pictures with the friends that we visited at the beginning of our trip. Doug and Tammie, Chad and Alicia, Robert and Vickie, Paul and Hannah...your hospitality was touching and meant so much to us. We hope that we can return the favor to all of you someday!

Now, for the out-of-order pictures: These are of the kids enjoying the equipment at Denny & Shari's.

Here, we visit the cemetery where Jeff's forefathers are buried, which is in the little town where Jeff enjoyed the first part of his childhood.

He and his sister used to play on this. And they lived to tell.

We visited Jeff's childhood home.

And these are my attempt at cute Thanksgiving pictures of the kids right before my camera battery died.

Here is one with Grandma...

and with Jeff's grandma and Don and their great grandkids who were present at Thanksgiving.

Here's our part of the family with Jeff's grandma and Don.

Cheryl with her grandkids.

This is our branch of the family.

These are out of order, but Benjamin and Grace enjoyed getting into the Christmas paraphernalia after we got back home.

Back to our plane trip: Jeff travels so much that sometimes he gets bumped to first class for free. On the first leg on the way to our destination, we ALL got bumped to first class, which was amazing. On the second leg, only two of us did. Everyone was doing so well that I said he and Grace should go up to first, and they did.

We enjoyed a little natural history at Jeff's alma mater.

More equipment at Denny & Shari's!

And more of the cemetery and big sky.

We had lunch with Grandma and Don at their new place. Visiting Grandma was the main reason for our trip. She had celebrated her 90th birthday earlier in 2015, but it wasn't a time that our whole family could visit and celebrate, so we planned our visit for Thanksgiving week.

We got to read a bit, too, which is a rare treat for me. I read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I don't know why I had never read it before, but I should have. And if you haven't, you should.

I mentioned the hospitality of friends earlier, and now I need to talk about the hospitality of Jeff's aunts and uncles. They go to so much trouble to host us when we are there...their hospitality us unmatched. They open their homes to us over and over, and we truly appreciate it! Here are Grace with some girls. She enjoyed having some girl time with cousins!

We visited this local natural history museum. It was hokey, but still fun and informative.

Jeff introduced the kids to ice scraping. We don't own a scraper, obviously.

The Thanksgiving table.

We went to a football game for Jeff's alma mater at their home stadium, which was very important to Jeff, and I'm glad we did it, and now we don't have to do it again. Temps were around 21 degrees and the wind was blowing about 15 mph.

We enjoyed going to the coffee shop that Jeff frequented in college.

Here we are with Michelle and the girls and Jeff's dad and Char. Michelle and the girls didn't go to the game, but John and Char did.

I thought this was the best part. Jeff had been in the marching band during college, so we went to watch the band warm up before the game. We all enjoyed it, and it felt significant to show this part of Jeff's history to our kids.

It was bitterly cold.

Again, the kids did great. It was horribly cold, and there was really no way to get any relief from it. I had the kids dressed in as many layers as I could, including snow pants, but it didn't help their hands or feet or faces. Still, they were tough, and we made it almost to the end of the game, which we lost. They did so well on this trip, despite the many places we stayed, the unfamiliar people that we wanted them to be comfortable with, and the hours of sleep we lost...they did it all, mostly smiling and seldom complaining.