Thanksgiving & Black Friday Recap

WHEW! We are E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D.

What a week it has been! Cary has been on vacation and we stayed really busy. Thanksgiving came up on us quickly. We celebrated at my Godparents' gathering with my Mom and lots of other friends and extended family. It was a lovely day with delicious food and great company. McKinley had an awesome time with all the older children (ranging from 12 to 2 1/2), and he ran right with 'em!

As the day came to a close there were visions of craziness in my head. We had big plans. Involving long lines and crazy people --- ourselves included. Earlier in the week we booked a hotel room in Indy so we could hit Black Friday in a big way. Thankfully, Mom offered to stay with McKinley because there was simply NO WAY we would ever consider keeping him out all night long to shop. So, off to bed they went...off to Toys R Us went Cary & Lynn.

I kept calling Cary my little Black Friday Virgin, or BFV...well, Black Friday Virgin no more! He quickly got the hang of it and dug in to score lots of goodies for our boy. Some things on the list we must leave for Santa, but we did our best to get plenty from Mommy & Daddy...we know the jolly old elf will not disappoint! I'm most proud of Cary's find at Walmart (yes, we were THOSE people...at Walmart at 5am). He scored the very last Power Wheels Big Jeep in the entire store. He was practically tackled, I believe, but it's ours! Well...um...McKinley's. lol

Cary and I did not sleep on the night of Thanksgiving...not a wink. We sure do have some great war stories though...in our mile-long line at Toys R Us, we were fortunate to stand by some really great people. Dr. Bill, the shrink and his wife, the professor. Lauren, the nurse and Mike, the carpenter. We all shared our stories and for whom we were shopping. We also shared our beloved picnic blanket as we huddled under it, seeking refuge from the frigid and unexpected wind. If I could have found them after we were finished I would have invited them to a celebratory breakfast. We laughed together, shared stories of Terre Haute (where the professor had attended college) and Bloomington (where Dr. Bill had attended college). We talked about our kids, our jobs, the other idiots in line, the complete morons who had an INFANT in a carrier out in this horrible weather. They made it a great experience and think we were all so relieved to not be standing in line with the nutcase wielding a weapon for a zhu zhu pet. We bid farewell and wished one another a Merry Christmas, but not before laughing about sharing that blanket and Mike poor, numb thumb sticking out of the blanket to hold it up while the professor wore her mittens. Good times!

Our schedule was as follows:

Toys R Us - midnight

Stand in line for four hours (two to get in, two to check out --- though I did happen on dumb luck and got right in the check out line as we entered. Cary shopped and I waited in line to pay...for two hours)

Break for coffee and snack

Walmart - 4am

Stand in lines for an hour, split up so that we could have a better chance of getting what we came for (and we did...all but that dang Cars Guitar).

Break for more caffeine
Target - 6:30

Stand in line for about 30 minutes to pay for our purchases

Drive back to Edinburgh, where we were staying, near the outlet mall

Coach and a bevy of other stores that we were far too delirious by then to tally - 8am

By 10 we were back at the hotel, picked up a well-rested Mom & McKinley (jealous!) and headed back to the outlet

Break for lunch

Pack 'er up and head out!

My Mom drove home (obviously by this time we were holding our eyelids open with toothpicks), she was the only one with any room. No one could see out of the back, Cary could barely peer over the luggage to see McKinley sitting next to him...and me...well, let's just say it took me almost 5 minutes to get out of the car on our pee break. Ha haaaa! I was holding smaller purchases that wouldn't fit anywhere else, a coat, a scarf, my purse, our diaper bag, a small piece of luggage, McKinley's drink, my drink and the crystal cake plate that I'd taken my German Chocolate Cake to Thanksgiving. I wish now that we had taken a picture with my camera...but that too was buried somewhere beneath my legs.

Can I just say how worth it this was? Awesome. Thrilling....a little scary...loads of fun. I had a serious good time with my husband. We were a great team! Anything for our boy! Anything! Sleep? Who needs it???? Hooray for Thanksgiving & Black Friday!

Lynn

Thanksgiving 2008!

For Thanksgiving we hit the road once again! This year we spent the holiday with my Godparents and many of their friends and family. The food was delish, the company so nice and the weather was perfect!

McKinley had a blast trying to keep up with all the children ranging in ages from 10 to 2! Our 16 month old kept up pretty darn well. Having recently mastered stairclimbing - up AND down, it was a breeze for him to whip up the stairs after the kids (supervised, of course). The funniest part was his newest trick, learned from my Godparents' youngest granddaughter, Janie. She slides down the (carpeted) stairs on her belly, feet first. McKinley only needed to watch her once or twice before he decided this would be his method of transportation down stairs. He laughed about it the whole, quick way down!

We all left with full bellies and the triclosan definitely worked it's magic on McKinley, for on the way home he was dreaming of stairclimbing with all his new friends! We love TURKEY DAY!

Lynn