Giving Thanks

Back in July, while we were helping our North Carolinian friends CPQ and Mr. CPQ move into their new house, we casually mentioned that it could be fun to get together for a holiday this year.  We all thought that Thanksgiving might be a good time to have a laid-back get-together.  You know, just a small, simple affair, with a small, simple meal.

That lead to “Hey, instead of being at one of our homes, we could meet halfway.”

That lead to “If we’re meeting halfway, we might as well meet someplace interesting.”

That lead to … well, you get the point.

Fast forward to last Wednesday, when each family was driving to the 7 bedroom beach house we had rented on the Outer Banks, with each vehicle full of enough food to feed a small army (or an even smaller group of 12-year-old boys).

While we were traveling, one way our kids entertained themselves was by singing a little song about the number of miles left, as shown on the GPS.  This was cute for, oh, 3 or 4 miles.

30 miles later, not so much.

Arriving on the OBX

A was a “little” excited.

Some weather headed in during our drive up to Corolla

Once we arrived, K had to head directly for the beach.

Even though we warned the kids that the water was a little chilly, they had to experience it barefoot.

J even got his toes wet ...

... and realized what "chilly" meant.

Insert obligatory "Kids Looking Cute in a Posed Beach Picture" here.

K insisted that I and my receding hairline be in some of the pics.

Later on Wednesday evening, the CPQ family arrived.  From earlier posts about our get-togethers with the CPQs, you may recall that it’s always somewhat of a shock when we first see the boys, since they seem to grow 2-3 feet between visits.  We even have a tradition of taking a picture with K and T, the tallest of the boys, each time we see them.  Here are three pictures, showing how much T has grown in 8 months.

March 2011

July 2011

November 2011

Did I mention that the CPQ triplets are 12 years old?  This is one reason why, despite our attempts to make this a “simple” Thanksgiving meal, this is what the beach house refrigerator looked like for a 4 day visit:

This is only what we brought with us. We also has to go to the local grocery store. Twice.

Thursday was mostly about preparing to eat, eating, and thinking about what we were going to eat next.

Part of the spread.

MrCPQ provided the smoked turkey, which looked a lot less blurry in person.

We did have one casualty. One of CPQ's pies didn't survive the transfer from the oven to the counter.

But we did just fine without the pie.

And having this view during the meal didn't hurt.

A even helped by crafting some place cards.

After eating, MrCPQ paid up on a bet we made (Va Tech vs. Wake Forest football game) by cleaning up after the meal. Even CPQ looks disgusted with the pitiful performance Wake produced.

The rest of Thanksgiving was spent lounging and loafing.  Possibly a little football watching.  And of course, with 10 TVs, 2 iPads, 3 iPhones, an Android device, and the Atlantic Ocean available, keeping the kids entertained wasn’t a problem.

We all spent Friday and Saturday loafing, eating, going to the beach, eating, watching football, eating, seeing a movie, and possibly some eating.

Mornings with some coffee, donuts, knitting, Words with Friends, conversations with real friends, and a view of the Atlantic Ocean did not suck.

I even made myself useful by acting as K's yarn spool.

J made himself right at home by posing dinosaurs on the stairs.

CPQ spent a lot of time on Friday knitting and watching Arkansas play LSU. Unfortunately, this is one of the few time we saw her smile during the game.

Even thought the outcome wasn't what she wanted, at least she watched the game while sitting in front of a fire and looking out on the beach.

The weather was near 70 degrees all weekend, so the kids spent a lot of time out on the beach, undeterred by the 60 degree water temperature.

A looking for a cheaper, faster trade route to China.

JJ was the bravest of all, wading out where no mere mortal 12-year-old would sanely go in 60° water.

K and CPQ, poised to leap into action to save the lives of their children at the first sign of danger.

Why this child wanted to sit down in the cold water is beyond me.

J, as happy as a clam digger.

One time, I thought JJ had finally succumb to the cold and headed in.

But then he came back out WITH A BOGIE BOARD!

Saturday night, we loaded up the gang and drove to the closest theater.

T teaches J the finer point of zombie killing at the theater arcade

Fun for the whole family.

J recreates some of the finer musical highlights from the movie:

Sunday morning rolled around and we had to bug out before traffic got too bad.

Loading up for the trip home.

The house across from us was flying this ugly scrap of material. Since I knew their team hadn't done so well this weekend *cough*38-0*cough*, I tried to cheer them up with a rousing chorus of HOKIE, HOKIE, HOKIE, HI! At 7am.

Heading home wasn’t too bad, although it’s never good when you see the flashing traffic warning signs on Interstate 95.

This is why it was flashing. Overall, traffic wasn't so bad, adding less than an hour to the trip home.

And finally, the only way I could think of to end this post one last story.  One day while we were on the beach, a large group came out to take one of those ubiquitous “Let’s all wear white shirts, jeans or khakis, and pose on the beach, because nobody has ever done that before!” shots.

We must be the only family that doesn't have one of these pictures hanging on our wall.

I much prefer the un-posed, floppy-hat-wearing, scruffy-faced, eyes-closed, real-world shots.

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