Thanksgiving in Michigan

We had SUCH a great Thanksgiving!  I love spending time with family and we got to see eachother for more than a quick weekend which was so nice.  Justin & Mason love all of the attention and kids to play with and Rob and I enjoy the help

We left Tuesday after work and stopped in Mattawan to pick up Megan & Morgan.  We didn’t get to Bay City until 1am, but that’s okay because almost everyone was up still.  The Jacobs only beat us by about an hour.

Wednesday we just hung out, did a little shopping, the kids made rock candy with Grandpa & Grandma, and then at night all of the older cousins went out.  I have not been home in years, so I hadn’t gone out with everyone before.  It was so much fun!  My great-grandma had 11 kids, so we have a HUGE family.  We went to the Rat for a few drinks and then headed to the Stables.  It is a building that used to be a brewery with Clydesdales and so now that the horses are gone they turned the stalls into seating areas.  We had two stalls reserved for our family so it was nice to all be in the same area.  I got to catch up with lots of people that I don’t see nearly often enough.  Best part?  We were running a tab and our bill only came to $54!  I know that was not right because I was drinking Absolute Tonic/Soda all night and Rob had a ton of beer.  PS.  Don’t think that just because your drinks taste like water that you should drink them as such.  I paid for it on Thursday with a pounding headache until evening. 

Thanksgiving was fun too!  Lots of family over and everyone brings a dish to pass.  It was a pretty early night though because most people get up to shop at 4am the next day.  I stayed in bed until 7:30 though and then me, Rob, Ry and Manda went to the mall.  We only shopped for a little bit, got what we needed and headed to O’Hares   Then we met everyone at Hooters and then the Rat.  It was fun to go to the places I used to drink before I was 21 with a fake ID! 

Friday evening Grandpa & Grandma Brooks came to visit.  The boys had fun playing with them!  We will see them tomorrow too because we are doing our Brooks Christmas at our house this weekend!  After they left, Mason went right to bed and I went out to eat with Rob and my siblings. 

On Saturday, Aunt Michelle, Manda and I went to Birch Run.  We found a few good deals!  After shopping was my Great-Grandma Bowen’s 93rd Birthday party.  I had never been to this either because it’s an adults only party and I was usually on my way back up to Tech or home in Peoria.  It was a fun time; food, family, cards – and I won the 50/50!  My cousin Rob started it a few years ago when he didn’t bring a gift.  He stopped and grabbed a roll of tickets and 1/2 goes to Grandma and 1/2 to the winner.   I won this year and me and Grandma each got $185!!  Good thing because Rob and I could not win at cards to save our life. 

Sunday we got up early and headed home. We had a 7 hour drive and Rob had hockey at 4.  The ride was miserable.  Mason was wide awake and NOT wanting to be strapped down.  We made it though and then got our exterior lights put up since it was such a nice day! 

Here are some (a lot) of pictures of the weekend.  I don’t have time to caption them all, but you get the idea   If you click on them they show up bigger in another screen.

Hope everyone else had as much fun on Thanksgiving as we did!