Thanksgiving break at a glance

What a whirlwind of a vacation. So many things were crammed into one week, its hard to know where to start...

-Monday-
*Started packing up the car.
*Looked at the weather and decide it looked kinda scary.
*Left earlier than planned to be able to drive more in the daylight.
*Made it across the first state border before they closed the road due to weather.
*Hit a patch of ice and slide into the ditch on the side of the road. Alan is a good winter driver, so he was able to control the slide somewhat and we were able to get out and keep going without any problems.
*I was pretty freaked out by this point, so we got a hotel room about midnight and got some sleep.

-Tuesday-
*Started driving again.
*Crossed the second state border.
*I was scared about the passes, so Alan put the chains on the tires.
*Right chain broke. Alan fixed it with a spare part.
*Right chain broke again. Alan fixed it with the last spare part.
*Left chain broke. Luckily we had just finished the last major downgrade through the passes, so Alan took the chains off.
*Finally made it to my parents house a few hours after dark. Elsie ran around for a while, we visited with my parents when they came home from the temple, then we all collapsed into our beds.

-Wednesday-
*Erika and kids came over to play in the morning. Elsie loved running around and playing with her cousins.
*Elsie took a long nap and my dad came home early from work.
*Spent the afternoon at OMSI using my parents "Grandparent Pass". Elsie loved playing in the kid room with my parents while Alan and I enjoyed some time alone checking out the other exhibits.
*My mom finished making me my way cool new diaper bag. Thanks again Mom!

-Thursday-
*Lots of food prep in the morning. Elsie loved to "help."
*"Huff and Puff" 5k around the local college. We took a little shortcut, but Elsie walked by herself the whole way.
*Elsie played with Sam and Grace and showed them how good she is at sword fighting on the Wii.
*Kevin, Erika, and kids come over and the party really gets started.
*Have our Thanksgiving meal with Mom, Dad, Sam, Grace, Kevin, Erika, Aiden, Anika, Annalyse, and Grandma DePeel.
*May cousins come over for massive amounts of desserts. Lots of kids running around and Wii games played.

-Friday-
*Elsie played with mom and dad all morning.
*Headed north to Becky's house.
*Had another family feast with Mom, Dad, Sam, Grace, Kevin, Erika, Aiden, Anika, Annalyse, Becky, Will, and Lucy. Poor Ben was feeling really sick, so he stayed in his room the whole time.
*Elsie played with all of her cousins. Learned how to play hide and go seek, except her idea of hiding was running to a wall and covering her face. We'll have to work on that.
*Got a lot of stuff from Becky to take back home.

-Saturday-
*Packed up the car again.
*After letting Elsie play and saying a lot of goodbyes, we headed back out onto the road.
*Used my dad's spare chains to cross the passes. Made it over without any problems.
*Stopped to take the chains off and eat dinner. Elsie played in the restaurant playplace for a while.
*50 miles down the road the freeway/border is closed due to black ice. No choice but to find a hotel for the night.
*Hotel rooms were scarce with so many people stranded like us, but Alan called his parents as soon as we were stopped and they made a reservation for us online.
*I managed to slip on the ice while carrying Elsie inside the hotel and we went down pretty hard. Elsie and the baby were fine, but I bruised my tailbone something fierce.

-Sunday-
*Freeway was open, so we continued on.
*Second border was closed due to weather. We had to make a 75 mile detour to get back into the state.
*Those 75 miles were extremely windy with lots of blowing snow. Had to drive 25-30 miles an hour the whole way.
*Finally make it instate and head south.
*Quick stop at Alan's parents to borrow some milk for Elsie, then get home about 11:30pm.

What a trip. I'm glad we made it to my parents and we had a really fun time, but I never want to make that drive in the winter again. I have to say, Elsie did extremely well for being cooped up in the car so much. We had planned to drive through the night both ways so she would sleep through most of it, but it didn't quite work out that way. She just looked out the window, ate snacks, sang songs, played with her kitty and piggy, listened to our book on CD, and was really rather pleasant most of the time. It defiantly wasn't a fun drive, but it could have been a lot worse.

We had a good time at my parents house. Mom and Dad got up with Elsie in the morning, so Alan and I had a little bit more sleep than normal. Elsie loved playing with her cousins and especially with her Grandma and Grandpa. I'm glad we went.

I am also glad that our next holiday commute is only 30 miles down the road. :)