Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving was an adventure this year. We’ve decided to make it a family tradition to drive down to northern Alabama to spend Thanksgiving with my dad, Olivia’s Popeye. Since we were driving with a 9-month old, we thought it would be best to drive at night. So we did our normal bedtime routine at home on Tuesday night and put Olivia to bed in her car seat. Then we put her in the car and made the eight and a half hour drive. She did great! She slept the whole way down. We arrived at 4:15am and went right to bed.

We spent most of Wednesday relaxing and recuperating from our long drive. That night my dad made us ropa vieja for dinner with plantains. YUM! I sure do miss Cuban food. That reminds me… I need the recipe!

Thanksgiving day my dad made his first-ever turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and my grandparents’ cranberry salad. He also made a pecan pie and a pumpkin cheesecake. Everything was wonderful. 

Olivia ate everything (except the pecan pie) and loved every bite. She is quite the eater!

Dinner included me, Pete, Olivia, my dad, and Ginger (and of course Baxter and my dad’s little dog Sweetie Pie).

Thank you, Ginger!

Ginger brought Olivia a present, which she really enjoyed unwrapping. After we set it up and put in some batteries, we showed Olivia how to make the balls bounce and make music. It only took her a little bit of time to figure it out, but she sure didn’t want to let go of the balls to make it work!

Walking in the park.

Friday we decided it would be a nice day for a picnic. We drove over to a local park. Before we ate, we let the dogs run around to burn off some energy so they would let us eat in peace. Baxter really enjoyed himself. At one point, he treated Sweetie Pie like a bunny, chasing her around the field. He ran her over at one point, but she was a tough cookie.

Saturday my dad took us to the most hillbilly place I've ever been. Yes, I know it was northern Alabama, but still! It was a flea market in this tiny town I couldn't understand the name of. There were all sorts of livestock available to purchase. Some for pets, some for eating. Yes. Eating. You can go pick out your live chicken for Sunday dinner. After you purchase your chicken, you can either tie its feet together and carry it upside down or throw it in a potato sack. Lovely.

There were also pot bellied pigs for sale and about a thousand and one puppies. Some for sale and some for free. I’m pretty sure these were being sold as pets… but you never know.

There was a lady there selling baby clothes. And she really wanted me to dive right in a box of them. 3 for $1 or a 1-to-1 trade. Um. Thanks. I think I’ll pass this time. I’m no snob over used baby clothes (right, Lisa??) but there’s a limit. Ick.

Oh, and did I mention you could buy guns there too. That’s right. What kind of hillbilly place did he take us to? It was a cultural experience all right.

 When we got back it was football mania all afternoon and evening long. Olivia learned to sign touchdown. Unfortunately we didn't get too many of those.

We had planned to leave Saturday night and drive all night like we did on the way down, but the weather turned on us. So we left Sunday morning instead. Driving at night with a baby is definitely the answer. She cried quite a bit in the car, and we had to stop frequently so she could stretch, eat, and change her. And not all Wendy’s have baby changing stations in the bathrooms. So I was that mom who changed her baby at the table. Yup. I would have judged me too, but it was too cold to change her in the car.

All in all, Olivia really enjoyed spending some quality time with her Popeye. And she especially enjoyed eating all the delicious food he made for us. Have I mentioned that my baby is a food hound? She’s changed so much since the last time he saw her, and she will keep changing before he sees her again. Next time she’ll be mobile. Scary!