Our beloved New Braunsfels

My family has been celebrating Thanksgiving together in the same tennis camp in New Braunsfels since before I was born.  It's my favorite long weekend of the year, a time away to hang out with family, relax, and enjoy the beautiful hill country.

One of my favorite parts is returning to the places I loved with Collin.  Saturday morning Grammy joined us at Landa Park, starting first with a train ride. 

Then on to the playground -

And finishing up feeding the ducks, geese, and even a nutria - 

Collin and I were ready for a nap . . . well I knew I was ready for a nap, Collin needed one though he'd never admit it . . . so we walked the beautiful trail back to the car, posing for a picture or two along the way -

While Collin napped on Friday, we hit up Greene with my mom, Carla, Coady and her sister Lauren.  Poor Lauren, I think this was her first run-in with an armadillo in the wild, but it was roadkill - 

Such natural beauties, Coady & Lauren posing together, clearly related -

We normally had vague awareness of where Collin was throughout the trip, but he had lots of caring relatives playing with him.  From those patient enough like Leah and Brownie to attempt basic tennis to those who burnt up his endless energy at the gym like Jackson and Uncle Bobby, both Cas and I and Collin had a great time.  I get such joy watching my son thoroughly love and enjoy spending time with family, and for the most part, the family equally enjoying time with him (though he does have his terrible two's moments). 

Reading and playing with Jackson -

 

And obviously my favorite part of the long weekend is the time with family.  From cousins like Jasper who we lived with for a month, to my cousin Leah who has lived in NYC and Seattle the last two years and we only get to see twice a year, I have a great time catching up with, playing games with, hitting the tennis ball with, and of course, posing with for pictures! 

The lovebirds, Alex and Coady - 

My dad - who has to be one of the proudest grandpa's on the planet and was so thrilled to no longer have to keep grandchild #2 a secret -

With my sweet son -

We wrapped up the weekend with Saturday night family pictures, followed by the James Bond movie and BBQ.  My parents, Alex and Coady - 

Our family of 7 (+1) -

And our immediate family of 3, so thankful to have a second child on-the-way -

Until next year, New Braunsfels, thanks for another incredible Thanksgiving weekend!

Hanukkah 2012

The night after Thanksgiving, we celebrated Hanukkah with the family, starting with the lighting of the candles and a song.  Then potato pancakes, dinner and a gift exchange. 

Collin received more than his share of presents, starting with this globe ball that we reference all the time at home.  He gave it a big smile of approval -

Daddy showed him where we live -

 And he gave the gift giver, Uncle Larry, a monster hug of thanks - 

My mom continued our family tradition of picking out clothes for one another that we like for ourselves, and sometimes buying a duplicate for ourselves.  She and I have several matching shirts and outfits, but this was her first with Coady -

Uncle Alex and Aunt Coady gave Collin tiger socks.  Collin loved them, transforming into a tiger as he showed them off to each family member around the circle.  With Uncle Walter, who recommended tiger claws -

Bryce and Radscha showed appropriate enthusiasm -

And Jasper posed in her boxer socks -

He received a dinosaur set that has provided hours of entertainment -

And an enormous collection of Curious George books from Jackson - 

We had a great celebration with the family, and Collin ate up the attention he received as the only toddler in attendance!



Thanksgiving 2012

We hosted an early Thanksgiving dinner for Cas' family Wednesday night, and it was a great motivator to get lots of house projects completed - pictures on the wall, stone on the fireplace, and cushions that went up on our bench less than 2 hours before dinner was served. 

 

I had picked up a turkey from the BBQ place across the street, and when I got home, it was cool and looked seasoned but raw.  I followed the instructions to cook at 300 degrees for 3 hours, but was panicking - and as I told my cooking experts about my turkey, they were panicked for our guests, that I'd be serving raw turkey.  Turned out it was smoked and refrigerated, so no food poisoning - hurray! 

 

My brother and sister-in-law flew in from Indy that evening and were able to join us for dinner.  Cas prayed for the food and then suggested each family share one thing they were thankful for, with our family starting.  We turned to Collin and he delivered his lines beautifully - "I'm thankful I'm going to be a big brother."  Only the grandparents knew, so it was a delight to see the reactions and cheers from family.

 

Collin playing with Uncle Alex -

 The next morning, reading with cousin Jacob -

That was all the photos I took at Thanksgiving - I was so busy worrying about the turkey and just enjoying conversations with family that I ended up with no photos.  But we had a wonderful time with Cas' family and it was fun to have the first of many family gatherings at our new home!

On Thanksgiving day, we stopped by our cousins' home to say hi before they ate lunch together, but then we hit the road for New Braunsfels. 

Coady, Alex, my grandma "B" and me (in a jacket to camouflage the baby bump since we were telling my mom and dad's family that day) - 

Bigger group shot -



 

This was the first year since we got married that we made it to New Braunsfels in time for us to eat Thanksgiving with the family.  So thankful to Cas and his family for celebrating on Wednesday so we could do "we're thankful" reveals with both families!  Reading with Uncle Larry while we waited for the 24 family members to file in for dinner -

Happy couple pre-reveal -

Once again, we let Collin share his "thankful" line and the family cheered in surprise.  Since my brother had heard the baby news the previous night, he video taped on the iPhone, and we're thankful to have the moment captured.