Thanksgiving

Gram and Daday (Phil's parents) arrived on Tuesday evening from Richmond to celebrate Thanksgiving with us and left today at noon. We had a wonderful visit with them. Noah was sooo excited to see them and has been going at full speed the entire time.
On Wednesday while Phil was at work, we had to hang out at home during the morning to wait for a wayward suitcase to be delivered (it took a side trip to Denver). In the afternoon, we headed over to Lake Elmo park and took a walk on one of the hiking trails. It was a beautiful, crisp, day and it seemed like we had the entire park almost to ourselves. Noah did a terrific job walking, probably covering close to 2 miles before Ebba carried him the last little bit. Along the way, Daday found a half-eaten corn cob for Noah to check out:


Kai was snuggled into his stroller and dozed on and off:


Thanksgiving day involved lots of cooking and eating, and feeling thankful for everything that we have, especially our two healthy boys who bring us so much joy. We borrowed/stole a Bon Appetit magazine when we were in Savannah and I ended up cooking the entire Thanksgiving dinner out of it. Everything really turned out well and was appreciated by the whole crew - so I will definitely hold on to the issue for future reference. We had: turkey prepared with a salt rub; mushroom and spinach stuffing; wild rice with leeks, corn and butternut squash; citrus glazed carrots; green beans with an onion relish; and ofcourse gravy and cranberry sauce; plus a butterscotch pumpkin pie for dessert. Gram saved the day by making sure that the turkey came out just in time (I was about to put it back in for 15 more minutes) and also made the delicious gravy. Since I really do enjoy cooking, it was a treat for me to be able to focus on all the cooking preparations while everyone else tended to the boys. Not many pictures were taken since the photographer was busy in the kitchen! But here are some pictures of post-turkey football watchers:


On Friday, we all headed into Minneapolis for a visit to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Phil and I took turns checking out the art and taking care of the boys. Fortunately, they have a nice room for children to play in with activities suitable for a range of ages. Meanwhile, Gram and Daday enjoyed the exhibit on India. And speaking of India, it was so awful to hear about and see images of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. One of my brothers and his family are living a few hours from Mumbai and although I knew they weren't directly in harms way, I found myself thinking very much about them these last few days.
Friday evening, Gram and Daday babysat while Phil and I went out for a rare date. What a treat! We ended up going down to a local restaurant, the Bayport Cookery, which has recently added a wine bar, and had some excellent food and delicious wine.
This morning, while Kai took an extra long nap, Gram and Daday had time for some play dough fun before it was time for good-byes:


It was a really pleasant Thanksgiving holiday and so much fun for the boys to spend some quality time with their grandparents.