An Anderson Thanksgiving

It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a 15 hour car ride.  So at the last minute, we decided to make the drive to Richmond.  And I didn't take a single picture, so I hope you enjoy reading!  We packed up the car and left Tuesday afternoon, landing us in Richmond at 5am.  YEEHAW!  Overall, this was my favorite time frame to travel in.  We've tried a bunch of different ways in making these long trips:

1) Leave at 3am get in at 6pm - you lose an entire day driving and feeling gross.  You eat dinner, talk a little then fall into bed.  Plus, the driving is super hard because of the whole getting up at 2:30 part.
2) Leave at 9pm get in at 10am - You have already been up all day then try to drive all night.  We tried this our first time to Arkansas and could only do 2 hour driving shifts, barely staying awake.  Not recommended.
3) Leave at 9am get in at 10pm - you get a full nights sleep and aren't so groggy, but you lose a whole day driving which just feels wasted.
4) Leave at noon and get in at 5am.  You get the full nights rest, and have the whole morning to yourself to get things done.  I took the first shift (since I am nearly useless after bedtime) and drove for the first 7 hours. I was fine for the whole drive.  Evan had gotten up early and gone to class already so he was able to get a good nap in while I drove.  He took over after dinner and drove til 3am.  Apparently he got a second wind after midnight.  I slept the entire time.  So I drove the last two hours.  We got into richmond in the wee hours of the morning and took a nice nap.  But we were up and ready to go by 10.  I felt like this was the best use of time of all the options in long driving trips.

In case you were interested in that.

Wednesday I went to the Y and visited with my little ones.  Who aren't so little anymore.  One of my girls came running out the door to give me the biggest hug.  It felt good to know I was missed

Thursday was Thanksgiving of course, and it was delicious.  We ate dinner with Evan's extended family at his Uncle's house.  The college girls were missed, but it was a packed house all the same.  We also went to see the Muppets that night and it was well worth the trip to the theater.  I am definitely liking this tradition of going out to the movies together for the holiday.

Friday the men folk went out to the driving range/batting cages and the women folk stayed home and rested.  We went out to dinner at El Paso then broke off for a few hours to go visit our friends who had lots of exciting news to share.  We also introduced the family to Dominion that night.  And made an attempt at Bad Movie Night- an Anderson sibling tradition. But we were all pretty tired and only made it halfway through. Busy busy!

Saturday there was a lunch with the whole family at the park followed by kickball, then we broke off again and went to visit with some other friends for a round of frisbee golf, which we have severely missed.  I may not be that good at it, but I do enjoy playing, or at least having the option to play :)  Evan's mom took the ladies out to see the Help after dinner, then another round of Dominion.

And Sunday we left in the wee hours of the morning to drive back!  And a long drive it was too.

We spent a lot of time with the family, A lot of time playing wii (Mario Kart and Just Dance especially) and a lot of time having fun.

Overall I am glad we went.  There was a lot of back and forth before we finally decided to go, but I think it was a good decision and well worth the drive.

I've been waiting to be inspired about this post so it wouldn't be so boring.  Then I decided I didn't care because if nobody else read it I could come back in ten years and remember what we did for Thanksgiving 2011.

The End!