Thanksgiving in Minnesota

Disclaimer:  There are a bunch of pictures in this post. I was going to put them in a slide show, but time is just getting away from me. So feel free to skip any/all of the photos.  My brain isn't working in paragraph form today, so this post is just in statements.

Highlights of our trip:

- a dinner with friends from college

- a day spent with our former neighbors

- a day trip to the Mall of America (rides, American Girl store, and lunch at the Rainforest Cafe)

- spending Thanksgiving Day with my family - and all the yummy food

- meeting my brother's girlfriend - the first time he has ever brought a girl home - and we love her!

- watching my kids strengthen relationships with their cousins

- seeing Twilight with my nieces

- making lefse

- eating my moms homemade cinnamon rolls and lots of lefse -yummy!

- Morgan and Landon having a sleepover with their cousins

- hanging out with the family

- having time to read - I finished three books!  Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks (good book), Just Beyond the Clouds by Karen Kingsbury (it was okay, not one of my favorites of hers) and Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (had to read it before I saw the movie - it was definitely a light easy read)

Lowlights of our trip:

- Mauryn waking up on Thanksgiving with the flu, then Landon and I got sick later in the week, and Morgan got sick while traveling home

- our unexpected 13 hour layover in Portland, OR (due to weather) with a sick child (but it could have been much worse)

Morgan and Kierstin playing with the camera

Morgan and her best friend Emily 

Landon hanging with cousin Ben

Elephant faces at dinner

Mauryn is the official beater licker (nice bed head babe)

Cousin Ayla and Morgan helping Grandma with the cinnamon rolls

Morgan watching her doll "Ellen" get her hair done at the AG store

Morgan and "Ellen" fresh from the salon - new hair do and ears pierced

The cousins on the wonderpet ride at MOA

Morgan and cousin Ayla on the Swiper ride at MOA

Mauryn laughing at the kids on the rides

Landon and I on the Swiper ride

Landon concentrating on his creation in Legoland

Mauryn tired out from a day at MOA

My nephew Ian retrieving a football from the top of the tree. Landon tried to climb this tree too.  Good thing he can't make it too far yet.  

I am SOO jealous of that bowl of ice cream. He eats one this size almost every day. Oh to have that metabolism!

Hanging out at my brother and sister - in- laws

My mom and sister - a familiar scene while growing up - my sister always snuggling on someone.

Sawyer saying good bye to Mauryn

The comparison -3rd oldest cousin to 3rd youngest cousin

Playing "giddy up" with Hannah

Landon dressed up for the squirt gun fight in my brother and sister-in-laws house

Landon in the Portland airport, waiting to get home