Our Thanksgiving vacation was touch and go for a few days, but we managed to pull it off without a hitch. Josh and my dad drove us up to Fort Payne on Sunday afternoon and helped us get our camp set up. They both had to work the first part of the week, so they left us later in the day and came back up on Wednesday afternoon. Desoto State Park isn’t somewhere we go annually like Gulf Shores, but we do enjoy a visit every once in awhile. The last time we went for Thanksgiving was right after Josh and I got married and we stayed in a cabin that year. We’ve gone back to camp twice since then, but neither time was for more than a few days and it was earlier in the season.
This is even less exciting that the beach trips because there isn’t much sightseeing to be done and there aren’t any restaurants within a 10-15 drive from camp. This trip is geared towards relaxation and spending long days together doing nothing. That is my kind of vacation!
There was a lot of Candy Land playing.
And Ella did this for most of the week. She read in her bed, on the couch, in a lawn chair by the fire — pretty much anywhere she could find a soft, quiet spot. She is girl after my heart!
We figured this was as good a time as any to break out the Christmas pajamas – how cute are they?! You can see our food rules were pretty lax for the week, too. I lost count of the number of Lunchables they ate and I’m pretty sure Ella polished off a box of Little Debbie snack cakes by Tuesday.
On Sunday night, I stayed up late to watch The Walking Dead and get some design work done. Gran and the girls were reading in the bunkhouse and I got all 10 inches of that television to myself. Let’s just say I had to watch it again with Josh and realized that I had missed quite a bit!
On Monday morning, we got our campfire stoked and spent the day reading in a circle around the flame. Our wood was a little damp from the night before, so we had lots of smoke, but there wasn’t a single complaint.
Doesn’t that look perfect?
Ella had no desire to ride her bike this week, but Sophie got plenty of time in on hers. She convinced her Uncle Jojo to help her around the circle countless times.
I lost count of the number of books I read, but the average was more than one a day. A few were quick and easy, not worth mentioning, but several were really good. I’m planning on sharing a book review post in the next few weeks.
Gran is one smart cookie and came armed with several Christmas crafts for the kids. The plan was to space them out across several days, but of course the kids did them all in one afternoon. You can tell from these smiles that it was one of their favorite ways to pass the time.
Hudson and his mom spent Tuesday night with us and sink baths for babies is always a must. He wasn’t sure quite what to think about it, but we all stood around for the show.
We spent a lot of the week inside — it got cold and windy in the afternoons and we don’t stay awake long past dark on camping days. Fortunately, the kids never complained of being bored and spent plenty of nights playing dominoes, watching movies and yelling hide and seek.
We packed so much good food for our trip and had a different pot of soup in the crockpot almost every day. Cooking in an RV makes a traditional Thanksgiving lunch difficult, so we opted for a table for 21 at the local Cracker Barrel. It took a little over an hour to accommodate us, but the food was excellent and the company even better. Of course, both of my girls had pancakes and bacon for lunch!
Since we only wanted to get dressed up once, we opted for family photos right after lunch on Thursday. It was below freezing that day and the girls outfits weren’t exactly warm. We snuggled up as long as possible, but spent an hour with chill bumps to secure the perfect Christmas card photo. The girls were so enamored with these big rocks, that the cold was quickly forgotten and we spent another hour navigating the trails around the camp store.
Our Friday was filled with lots of fun adventures. We spent the morning at Little River Canyon (photos to come on Friday) and when we got back to the campgrounds the kids had a little surprise waiting for them. They speculated who had delivered the goods, but were pleasantly surprised to find our elf, Scout, inside! He brought new holiday pajamas, a fun little treat and a note to explain his early arrival.
I managed not to take a single photograph on Saturday. The girls went shopping after breakfast and the guys took care of the kids while enjoying football. We were back right after lunch and spent the next ten hours between the television and a campfire. I’ll admit we were all a little stressed out by how the Bama game started, but our cheers could be heard far away when we managed to secure the win. The kids all fell asleep in their lawn chairs, under blankets and jackets, and had to be carried inside after the win.
We woke up early on Sunday and packed up for the trip home. Josh pulled the camper home pretty early in the day, but the girls needed Ibuprofen and I needed a hot shower and some breakfast before we were on the road. They slept pretty much the entire drive home and were happy to find themselves at Nana’s for Thanksgiving lunch when they woke up.
We are all positively exhausted, but it is the best kind of exhausted. It was the best kind of week. I was so sad to miss their summer vacation this year — it was the first time ever that I’ve had to send them away without us — so it was perfect to get to spend seven days together being lazy. There are only three more weeks of school before Christmas break and even though we’ll be celebrating at home, I can’t wait to spend another uninterrupted week together with my people.
