Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Ryan's family in hot and humid Houston. Ryan's aunt and uncle were able to come down from Pennsylania again this year too. We all enjoyed eating and visiting, I have great in-laws. In addition to my MIL's good cooking, we ate mexican food, kolaches, chicken fried steak and my favorite - Whataburger. Someday I may just open a franchise here in South Carolina, I love it that much.

Tessa had so much fun playing, swimming and watching the ball games. Yes, I said swimming. It was warm enough to get in the pool. The fact that the water was a chilly 70 degrees didn't slow down Tessa or Aunt Carol. Ryan was a good sport and got in the water too, amazing what daddies will do when their baby girl says "please!" The rest of us preferred to stay on deck and enjoy the warm sunshine.

While we were in Texas, we also got to see our longtime friends. Since each respective child had random episodes of throwing up, we altered our plans a bit. It worked out that we could all hang out together on Friday night and the kids had fun playing together.

We braved the mall to get a picture with Santa. This has become a tradition for me and Paula. Tessa still isn't crazy about the big guy so I focused on her Christmas wish which is to see the princesses. She did pretty well sitting with Santa and taking a picture. Then she hopped down, looked at me and said "Let's go see the princesses!" Um, yeah, why didn't I see the flaw in my grand plan? Our trip to Disney World is still almost three months away. This particular mall does have a Disney store though. Uh huh, Disney store + Christmas shoppers = Mad House! But, it satisfied Tessa's princess craving and we headed home with no purchases but no tears either.

It was a long drive home from Texas but Tessa was a fantastic traveler. A portable DVD player made our life easier but she also happily colored, sang and played with her toys in the car. Can't say she napped much though. She impressed us by sleeping well at night for most of the trip, even in the hotel rooms. Tessa now thinks hotels are the coolest places because not only do they have elevators, but they also have free cookies. An all around good trip.