Gobble wobble

This Thanksgiving we loaded the family into the car (I have always wanted to say that since reading it on Lisa's post) and headed up to Mercer aka Jaffrey, PA where Lisa and her family hosted Thanksgiving.  While it was a short trip, we made the most of it for sure. 

On our way up (and back) we stopped in Columbus, OH to visit with the Crowleys who recently moved out there.  Not only was it great to see them, but a great break for Ellie in the car to play with her new friend Andrew.  And they fed us lunch on the way up and dinner on the way back.  How's that for a rest area?!

Lisa's house was full of excitement with Sara and her clan there, Dad, us and Lisa and her clan.  Ellie was so excited to see her cousins she didn't even pause at the door, just marched in and started playing with them immediately.  Seven adults and 5 children altogether and I am pretty sure we had to run the dishwasher almost twice daily.  Thanksgiving morning Brad, Mike and I got up to run a local 5K, which I kept referring to as a Turkey Trot but it was actually called the Gobble Wobble.  It was lots of fun and I just found out I finished second in my age bracket!  Wish that I had stayed around for the awards.  Don't imagine that they are going to send it to me....

Ellie and Andrew Crowley in Andrew's playroom.  He stays at home and has quite the set up.  Ellie loved the pool of balls.

The Gobble Wobblers!

I mean, how cute is this?  Getting them to put their arms around each other was funny.

Trying to get them to calm down and sit still. 

It is sad how few family photos we actually have

The girls table

Load up the plates!

Rub a dub dub!  Three girls in a tub!

Lisa bought the girls all matching PJs.  We attempted to get a photo with Gap....

....but there was always one who put up a stink!

Hanging with Gap in the morning

This was the closest we got, but you can see the breakdown beginning in the back left corner...

...which was apparently contagious!

A very happy Auntie Beth

Probably the only picture of all the grandkids without tears

We had actually rented two of these jeeps but the girls always wanted to get into one.

This was another close "good" picture

Amazingly, the family photo taken by the timer was great!

Who is that sneaking in the back corner?

Is it something about getting older that makes you stare blankly into the camera?

Lisa and Brad then put on a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner, which I would love to believe was negated by my gobble wobble outing, but I highly doubt it.  Friday was a big trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo/Aquarium which went out without a hitch, although we didn't get to eat lunch at Eddies Pizza Haus.  There were plenty of absolutely adorable moments with the 3 littlest (Trifecta second generation) and nightly hang outs by the fire pit.  All in all, it was a great trip, even though they are always too short.