Thanksgiving

Last year, of course, I was in no position to be traveling anywhere for Thanksgiving. I would have never survived a car trip of any sort when I was 36 wks pregnant (and ginormous) last Thanksgiving. Then, Carver arrived just before Christmas so I had not been to Bartow for a holiday in quite a long time.



Luckily, this year we were able to spend almost a week in Bartow over the Thanksgiving holiday-- and I loved every minute of it. I like to do new things for holidays; travel or celebrate them at my own home...but there is just something about holidays in Bartow, celebrating the way we did while we were growing up. It's nostalgic, I guess. My current plan (or hope) is to never go more than 2 or 3 years without returning home for the holiday season. Christmas is my favorite-- but Thanksgiving this year was pretty fun too.

We began the trek to FL by attempting, for the very first time, to try driving overnight with Carver. We woke the poor sleeping baby up at about 11:00 on Monday night, packed him into the car in his pj's and headed out of town. All in all I would say that the drive down was a big success. Carver (and I ) slept the majority of the time. The girls were curled up on their beds on the floorboard of the backseat and baby Winston was snuggled up with Daniel in the front (we were in the big truck). Daniel stayed awake thanks to 2 "5 Hour Energy" drinks... I woke up periodically to check in with him and all was well-- though he got a little loopy after the second drink. Luckily by that time we were in Lakeland and meeting my parents for an early breakfast. We made the trip in record time-- always a plus with a baby on board.

My favorite part of being in Bartow is just getting to spend time with my parents and, more importantly, watch them play with Carver. He adores them. My mom is better at entertaining him than I am and is incredibly patient. I'm a lot like my mom, but I did not inherit her patience with kids. Too bad. We spent the first couple of days resting, eating, shopping, playing, etc.




For Thanksgiving lunch we headed down to Aunt Ginger and Uncle Dwight's house along with all of the family (my cousins) and had a fun time eating good food (classic favorites), and it was nice to see Carver interact with my extended family.


Friday we headed to Lowry Park Zoo which has become something of a tradition when Carver and I are in Florida. I love zoos, I always have. And, Carver has now been 4 times in this first year of his life. I'm determined that he will like zoos too. Next was lunch at Jason's Deli (one of my favorites). All in all a good day.

On Saturday, Daniel, Carver and I headed down to Naples for the wedding of our good friend, Krystal. We have known Krystal for-- probably a decade or so-- and it was incredibly special to get to a be a part of her day. The wedding was beautiful, she was beautiful, and I got to spend some time with some of my favorite people-- our Crestridge friends :) These girls have been an incredible blessing to me, and I love them dearly.

(Krystal, Erika, and Beth)


(The whole Crestridge crew)

Carver even had a friend to play with! These boys are about 3 months apart in age and I have serious plans for them to be good friends and camp pals. Can't wait :)

(Carver meeting [for the second time] Beth's sweet and adorable son, Noah)

Returning to GA after a visit in Florida is always hard for me. I miss my parents and I wished they lived closer. Christmas, however, is just around the corner and we have big plans for the holiday-- birthday parties, traveling, family time, etc. Carver's first real Christmas should be very memorable.

(Disclaimer: All wedding pics included here were stolen from Erika!)