Thanksgiving in Atlanta

We had SUCH a great Thanksgiving trip!  My aunt Terry and uncle Ferrell invited us down to Atlanta to celebrate with them and their kids, and even though they're about 11 hours away, how could we turn that down??  Even better-- Bryce and Dena were able to come, too!!

 

We left Michigan on Tuesday afternoon and drove as far as Dayton, OH then spent the night.  Wednesday was a much longer day, but we made it to the Towns' house in the afternoon.  Bryce and Dena got there in the wee hours of Thursday morning after most of us had gone to bed, so when they came downstairs in the morning we were super excited to see them!

 

Thursday we spent hanging out, getting food ready and watching the kids play with their new-found friends, Cailen, Logan and Paxton.

 

 

After we stuffed ourselves silly on some AMAZING food, us girls loaded up with a few of the big kids and in to downtown Atlanta where they light a giant Christmas tree atop the Macy's building.

 

 This is a tradition for the Towns family and I was excited to be a part of it.  There's a big parking lot where they set up two stages and have performances by different artists before the lighting of the tree.  Terry and Haley were especially excited that Trace Adkins was performing (he's their favorite).

 

You can see an image if Trace projected onto the side of the Macy's building in the photo below.

The whole thing was wrapped up with an excellent fireworks display after the lights on the tree came on.  The best part for me, though, was when Chris Mann was singing my favorite Christmas song, "O Holy Night", and as he sang the spot light on the tree went out so you couldn't see the tree at all anymore.  Then when he hit that really high, climactic note, the tree just exploded with lights and fireworks and Hakan started clapping and yelling, "That was AWESOME!!!"  I have to admit, I got teary.  (I got a video of the moment with my phone and may try to upload it.)

These guys had a GREAT time.  :)

 

After the tree lighting we met up with Aaron at a gas station nearby so he could take the kids home.  Us big girls then headed to the Outlet mall to check out the Black Friday madness... I mean sales.  :)

 

THAT was quite an adventure.  Since I wasn't after anything specific, I was able to just really enjoy the company of my aunt, cousins and sister-in-law.  I had SO MUCH FUN!  There were, of course, TONS of people, but not so many that it felt stifling.  When we first arrived the parking lot was full, so Terry parked on the grass along the side like a few other cars had done (sorry Terry, hope that wasn't a secret!).  We casually shopped, staying together some or splitting up then getting back together again.  I think the craziest thing I saw was in Pottery Barn where the line started at the registers at the front of the huge store, went clear to the back then snaked towards the front again.  People had armfuls and shopping carts FULL of these stockings, so I had to find out what the big deal was.  Turns out they were selling them for only .97!  But they weren't very cute, and even if they were I couldn't see myself waiting in that ridiculous line for them!

 

At about 2 am I got a text from Aaron basically asking if I was ever coming home.  The baby hadn't been nursed for about 10 hours and he wouldn't take his bottle.  Aaron was tired and Rowan was giving him a hard time, so suddenly I went from having a total blast to being nervous and anxious to get home.  Luckily the other gals were willing to call it a night.

 

As we made our way out to the parking lot, we noticed a tow truck along the edge of the grass loading up cars!  Chelsey grabbed the car keys and booked it!  We were getting closer to where the car SHOULD have been and I got sick to my stomach when I didn't see it.  Chelsey is faster than I realized and had already jumped in the car and circled around to pick us up.  I was so relieved!  By the time we got back, Rowan had fallen asleep and all was well, but I wasn't in the room for more than a second or two before his little head popped up, eyes wide open, and he started smacking his lips.  Poor little guy was HUNGRY!  :)

 

Friday afternoon we all headed to a local playground to let the kids burn off some energy.

I couldn't believe none of them tossed their cookies after how much time they spent riding this wheel.

 

That evening we left the kids at home with Terry and Ferrell and us cousins went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant.  It was so nice to just sit and talk, eat and laugh.  They are the kids I grew up with and I miss them so much.  I'm so glad we had the chance to go spend that time together.

On Saturday we drove a little ways to visit our good friends, Bryan and Sarah Topham.  We hadn't seen them since they moved to the Atlanta area about 6 years ago.  It was so much fun watching our kids make friends.  Pyper and Regan were buddies as babies and didn't seem to miss a beat renewing their friendship.

This was our first time meeting their youngest, Ronan, and their first time meeting Finnley and Rowan.

I don't know why, but these two decided to "join lightsabers" for this photo.  So funny!

Sarah and I were friends and neighbors as new moms, and I've really missed living close to her!  She and Bryan haven't changed a bit so of course we had a fantastic time catching up.

 

Here's our group of monkeys: Finnley (3), Ronan (5), Pyper (9), Regan (9), Rhys (7?) and Hakan (6).

Our visit was way too short, so we've already decided we'll have to make sure and drop in on them again next time we're down their way.  Hope that's okay with you guys!

Sunday we all had to take off for home.  Terry and Ferrell have pretty much convinced us that we need to come back in the summer for another visit, though.

We had so much fun visiting.  As usual, I'm kicking myself for not taking more pictures of everyone!  Thank you, Towns Family, for having us down.  Hopefully we'll get to see you again soon!