Thanksgiving 2013, Part 1

We spent Thanksgiving in South Carolina this year. 

It's the first time we've both been down there for a holiday, and my first time at home for Thanksgiving in six years, so it was really about time. 

We set out on Tuesday afternoon after Carson taught a class. It was snowy when we left and stormy and rainy the entire drive down. 

The glass bowl in this picture is to amplify the music from my iPhone. Our radio transmitter broke (tragedy of tragedies) but this did the job quite nicely, if a little funny looking. 

I mostly took terrible pictures on the drive, and slept and got carsick. I am not a wonderful road trip companion.

We got in at around 1 in the morning, so naturally we stayed up another hour talking and then sort of slept in. Daisy had to take an extra nap that morning to recover from being the welcoming committee so late the night before.

And Oscar was pleased to see us too.

On Wednesday morning, we headed into Beaufort to meet up with Morgan and Caleb. We drove out to Hilton Head, since the men had never seen it. Without any real sense of direction (neither Morgan nor I have spent much time there. I ran a race there once but it's not like we were going to do that), we ended up choosing a road that might take us to the beach... and it did. Not surprisingly, we had the place mostly to ourselves. It was windy and the only people crazier than us were the people out there trying to surf on the tiny waves.

Morgan and Caleb live in Florida, so this was a MILLION times colder for them than it was for us.

We got in the car and headed to a restaurant Grandmama had recommended: The Crazy Crab. Morgan and I reenacted a picture we took for our parents at Sea World many years ago. We didn't actually want the stuffed animal this time; we just seized the moment.

And we found E.T! I think it was actually a sea turtle, but it looked like ET!

After we returned that evening, we assisted with the mantle rearranging, the food prep for Thursday, and... providing a suitable napping spot for Oscar. Carson fell asleep on the couch for several hours.

On Thursday morning, preparations continued, as my parents hosted the family Thanksgiving. Carson forgot all but one pair of jeans, so while those were in the wash, he did yard work in his PJs.

We watched the Macy's parade, which Carson hadn't seen before! This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions.

We had to test out the tripod for the to-come family photo.

And Dad found this lizard in the yard and put it on Carson's ear like an earring. This is something that wasn't odd to me at all until I thought about it. Does YOUR family put lizards on people's ears? It's kind of strange, right?

There was football watching. Love Mini's eyes peeking over the couch.

Welcoming and setting of tables

Two mini greeters

An orange dessert spread

A delicious buffet

A couple of moochers.

A crowded room (everyone liked this room best. Probably because of the football on TV.)

A little baby Luke spoiling.

A Conners family picture

And a Norman family picture. Minus my cousin Kelsey and my brother-in-law Thomas. The latter was sick at home. Poor guy.

There was a turf war (little dogs really think they're something, don't they?)

Lots of cousin photoshoots

And in most of the pictures where everyone's looking... Carson's making faces... so this picture happens to be the best.

An oldest grandchildren photo

More cousin photos ("the little four", Grandmama called them)

These are the original four Normans... obviously related.

We took a picture behind a tree so the parade of cameras wouldn't follow us. Right behind us is where we got married, but taking a picture with that background wasn't on purpose.

My sister and I. We look SO alike in some pictures and worlds different in others.

The family, minus Thomas and three dogs and five goats.

That night, we settled in for more football, light reading for Carson (and Mini), and Mom and I watched Emma, her early birthday gift from us.

And of course Dad shared a little turkey that evening with two of his favorite children. It's really surprising that their little bellies don't drag on the ground. They just sleep and eat and get spoiled and it's hilarious.

Columbus

On a cold day (I think the coldest this year to that point), we headed out to Columbus to meet some old friends. Dustin was a good friend of mine in high school, and we'd met his wife Mellonie at our wedding, but you know how weddings are... it was likely a short and rushed conversation. Anyway, they were living in southwestern Ohio for a month for work, so we decided to meet up and catch up, since we were so close and all. 

Columbus is a 2.5 hour drive from Cleveland, and it's not the most exciting one, but it goes fairly quickly. We passed through LOTS of farming communities to get there. Once there, we met up at a Chic-fil-A (it was Sunday so we had the parking lot to ourselves) and headed to an area my friend Carrie told us about, the Short North. 

We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then explored the cute stores along the strip, breathing a sigh of relief as we escaped the cold (it was 24 degrees and the "feels like" was 13, so it wasn't the best day for being outside at all). We stopped at a coffee shop to warm up, at a market to explore (Carson tried some hot sauce that was much too hot and I egged him on to taste it so I feel bad about it).

We ended our time in the Short North by stopping at a frozen custard place. It was understandably empty, since it was so cold... but worth it. The guy behind the counter took this picture, and cut Carson's head off.
You can see the chalk writing on the wall behind Carson..

We drove around Columbus after that (which is when I took this out-of-chronological-order pictures) and ended up walking around an outdoor place and a Marshalls before we went back to our car at the Chic-fil-A. 

It was a great day! FREEZING COLD (and they most recently lived in the South, so they were less prepared) but still great to see and catch up with people we've never hung out with as married couples. Wish they lived closer; they are great friends!