An Especially Thankful Thanksgiving, Part 3

The last third of our Thanksgiving adventure was actually the original reason for our trip to Seattle - a long overdue reunion with my mother's side of the family. A couple of the locals arranged for a vacation house at the Suncadia resort outside of Cle-Elem, just across the pass from Seattle, and we filled it with siblings and kids and grand-kids and in-laws.

Our house for the weekend.

Dad and Lavern settle in next to the fire.

The kids settle in to some games.

Anya gets some quality iPad time.

And everyone else gets familiar with the kitchen.

Meal duties and cleanup duties were divvied out by my sister's Master Plan, but everyone pitched in for the Main Event. Thanks to Kathy for cooking the bird and bread (and probably a few other things) ahead of time. The challenge of hosting Thanksgiving dinner in a rented vacation house is that the selection of dishes and cookware can be limited, but we worked it out. Nobody went hungry.

The Thanksgiving Feast! Dig in kids!

Mom opens some early birthday presents while her sister and brother look on. Family photos from when everyone came to Missouri this summer for my birthday. She was delighted.

Anya snoozes.

And the big kids get out the poker chips.

What to do on the day after Thanksgiving? How about a little run to work off all that turkey and dressing? The resort hosted the fourth annual Elk Run/Walk around the golf course, complete with horns and jingle bells for all. (Watch for elk droppings!)

Lavern and Kathy on the home stretch of the three mile course.

Back to the kitchen! Mom and Dad work on replenishing spent calories. Mmmm, bacon.

Our time together was made extra special by another happy event - the Big Belly of little sister Sally! And since no opportunity for Dramatics should be passed up, she arranged with my sister in law to host the Big Reveal while everyone was together in one place. The result of the ultrasound was sent to Shanna a few weeks before Thanksgiving. She set up an ice cream Sunday bar and bottled up some "magic sprinkles" to help decipher the results.

Close your eyes Matt and Sally, here come the magic sprinkles!

It's a boy! Pandemonium ensues; hugs, tears, whacks on the back, speculation about The Name... I voted for Under B.

Wrestle-mania with Matt in the middle!

The Cousins (missing only one), and the cousins kids (2nd cousins, I guess)

A ping-pong tournament broke out in the garage. Andrea caught me "eyeing" the ball.

The champions! Matt just beat me in the finals. He cheated - he practiced the day before.

One last picture with little sister.

Thanks again Sally for organizing a fantastic trip, one we'll be Thankful for for many years to come.