Best Thanksgiving in 10 years!

Thanksgiving was great. We drove down to my cousin's (once removed but whatever) house near Vancouver, WA. The drive was a bit sketchy since there was a lot of traffic. But Jeff kept his cool and the kids didn't freak out. This was the first trip we've taken with Kiera where she didn't scream for a good part of it. In fact, she's getting to be a very pleasant travelling companion.

Anyway, we had dinner with my mom's aunt (my grandfather's sister) and all of her kids and their families. They are all fun, nice people and great cooks too! One of the relatives I hadn't seen since we lived in Boston. He taught Jeff and me to x-country ski in New Hampshire about 10 years ago. So, it was fun to catch up. The food was so good. I ate too much but it was good.

After sobering up with some tea, we drove the rest of the way to Portland and stayed at the Crowne Plaza. We had 2 connecting rooms, which was great! The kids had a blast. We had to take Bob swimming right away even though it was late. They both passed out pretty quickly and Jeff and I ate popcorn and candy in bed while watching a movie. Now Jeff wants a flat screen HDTV in our bedroom. Hmmmmm.

Friday morning we got up (kids slept until 7:30!!!) and went out to breakfast at Zell's. OMG, so yummy. I had egg benedict which was great. The kids had pancakes. I tried to talk them into the pumpkin pancakes but they didn't go for it. They give you scones when you first get there, which were more like biscuits but very tastey. The best part was they brought out a basket of toys when we first got there which kept the kids entertained. And the tea came in a GIANT teapot. Usually, you get one little tea bag and a cup of tea, so that was cool.

Then we went to Powell's. I could live there. I didn't even go into the fiction section because I knew I'd never get out. The place is huge! I think it takes up a whole city block. I bought some cookbooks and the kids got some books to read in the car.

Then they watched Diego all the way home. We stopped at my friend's hotel in Olympia. She let us swim in the pool for a break and then we went out to dinner at a Osaka. Both kids were very adventurous. Bob ate a lot of unagi and Kiera tried pretty much everything at the table. They finished up with some mochi. Yum!