nothing like having a frozen butt for 3 days

so thanksgiving was great. the weather was magnificent. everybody behaved. i got to carve my first turkey. karen did two 15 pounders this year. one in the oven and one in their rotisserre (spelling?) they were both juicy and delicious. i was good and used a small plate and didn't get seconds. we played cards and justin shattered a frisbee. he and brian were playing in the front yard and he hit the tree right in front of him and that thing shattered into twenty pieces just like glass. we found pieces all over the yard. it was hilarious!

that night i went back to the parents and helped pack the camper and played some wii with brian. i also fell on the kitchen steps and skinned up my knee marvelously (i am such a klutz!) my parents don't have central heat, so i snuggled up in what i could and went to bed. around 4am i woke up freezing, with some of my extremities numb. i dragged a portable heater into the room put it on high and grabbed the quilt my mom just made for my sister (who won't get it until christmas). my mom woke me up the next morning and took a picture because i looked like an eskimo. i had borrowed my brother's hoodie and had my cpap machine on and all you could see where eyes. it was a funny pic, that i'm still deciding whether to put on facebook.

the drive was short, i asked mom questions from the life story book i got for her and heard great stories from her childhood. then brian and i played war til we got there. it was very breezy, but a beautiful cold sunny day. we set the camper up and then helped karen and justin set up their tent and watched the five mintues it took for my aunt susan and her boyfriend gary to plug in their rv. half us explored the lake, i offered to take the pups, boy do they have a lot of energy. we played minature golf and card games and then got the fire going for hot dogs. when the sun went down we all had to add layers. justin even put on a long sleeve shirt. we tease him, cause he loves the cold and usually is in shorts and tshirts for it. i acutally saw him put on jeans and a long sleeved shirt for a little bit. after hot dogs we made sore thumbs over the fire. my aunt brought the ingredients and showed us how. you take a thick stick and some crescent roll dough and wrap it around the end of the stick and seal it shut on the end. then you dip the dough in sugar and you cook it over the fire. after about 5 minutes you take it off and put pudding in the pocket. she had chocolate and vanilla and you know which one i picked. they were so good! i don't know if the sore thumb is the burning your fingers when you pull the roll off or that it looks like a fat, black tinged thumb on the end of the stick once it's cooked. it was soon too cold to even be right up next to the fire, so the adults went to bed and the kids went to the tent. karen is pregnant and having evening sickness, so she just layed on the 'bed' and justin, brian and i played games. karen hates the cold and had sealed the tent up with red duct tape and plugged in two little electric heaters, so it was pretty warm in the tent.

the next morning karen and justin made french toast and scrambled eggs and sausage. see we camp with electric skillets and microwaves. the most rough thing we do, is use the state park bathrooms and showers, at least the people not in the rv. after breakfast mom, susan and gary went exploring in the jeep, dad took a nap (his cpap broke as soon as we got there so he was getting horrible sleep), brian and i did a short hike and played games, and justin, karen and the pups went on a 5 mile hike. it was cool weather, but the sun kept coming in and out and with the hiking and sitting, we kept having to add and remove layers of clothing. kind of annoying. we played rummikub, the new monopoly card game (so fun!), and yahtzee. i got, no lie, 3 yahtzees in one game. i have never had 3. i usually never get any. needless to say, i won. after turkey sandwiches, we played more minature golf and then set up the tv for the game. yes we camp with television (it's only like 9") and this park had cable hook ups. during half time there was more golf (we love it!) and then a great win over our biggest rivals! susan brought ham for dinner and mom made some scrumptious shanty potatoes. with the addition of thanksgiving leftovers we had a feast. it was after dark by then, so it was a half cold feast but very good nonetheless. then we huddled around the fire and watched 'the holiday'. yes the tv has a dvd player. it got me in the christmas mood, which was the only thing keeping my backside warm. i was so close to the fire, i melted the bottoms of my shoes. we were all so full from dinner no one wanted the smores, except brian, but teenage boys never get full. to the camper for more games and then bed.

sunday was a bit warmer. we had eggs and sausage and grands biscuits for breakfast. then more golf. every single one of us got at least one hole in one during the three days! justin had two games where he got 3 of them. turkey and ham sandwiches were eaten and then sadly it was time to start packing up, we didn't want to arrive home in the dark. susan and gary, being in real estate and retired, create their own schedules, so they stayed another night and watched us pack it all up. rv's are so easy! brian, mom and i snored all the way home and dad had to keep us on the road all by himself. it was a really good trip, despite being really cold (i tried packing light and didn't bring enough clothes!) and justin being rather annoying (he wouldn't shut up about those crazy kids camping next to us, he was more bothersome than they were). it's the last time i'll camp with brian, which is sad, cause usually its just mom, dad, brian and me. and it just won't be as fun without him there. now that karen's done with school, hopefully she and justin can come on more camping trips. sam's new job is tues-sat, so she probably won't be able to come to many still, maybe weekends when monday is a holiday. so that's it for my thanksgiving weekend. now all the many, many things to do in december! i'm tired already.