Last year was so hard and exhausting with baby Maelin. I was so stressed out making sure we had packed everything she would need to be gone all day...all the bottles and food and toys and diapers and binkies and blankies and it was exhausting. I didn't really enjoy my time at either families' house because it was so stressful making sure we stayed long enough at the first house and didn't leave too soon...and we got to the 2nd house early enough when we were tired and just wanted to go home and go to bed.
Anyway, we decided that we'd try the two family thing again this year and if it was as stressful as last year, we'd stop going to both houses: we alternate years next time. We woke up around 8am on Thursday and I'll admit that it was stressful packing up the car with all of MaeMae's stuff: it made me laugh that I thought she needed a lot of stuff last year: that was nothing compared to what we brought with us this time around: 2 different Thanksgiving outfits (in case she got one dirty at the first house), toys, books, bottles, jammies, blankies, lunch and dinner (in case she threw her classic I-don't-want-to-eat-that), the wine and desserts we brought to contribute to the two dinners, cameras and random snacks and juice cups. It was crazy.
We made it down to Boulder where Kevin's family lives around 10:30am and Maelin had a great time running around playing with her cousin Oakley (a black Lab who is the sweetest doggie and his only fault is his tail is exactly level with Maelin's face so he wags his tail in her face which she doesn't really enjoy), Keith and all the other family. She loved Grandma Lea's famous green jello: she liked dipping her noodles in it and licking it off. She also liked the sweet potatoes but wouldn't touch anything else.
Then we took a quick nap and changed clothes and we were ready to go back to Denver around 4pm for round 2. I sat in the back with Maelin and you could tell she was tired and worn out but we just read books and chilled while Kevin drove us up there.
We got to Denver around 5 and were greeted by Maelin's cousins, Auntie Kat and Uncle Jeff and Laura and Mike who had been cooking all day for everyone. Maelin was a bit freaked out at first but she quickly discovered the basement which was filled with our cousin's old toys. She had a blast! We ate dinner and hung out until 9ish and changed Maelin into her jammies and loaded up everything into the car. We made it home and put baby to bed and congratulated ourselves on another Thanksgiving with both families.
We really had a nice day. I just love both our families and I think we're incredibly lucky to not only have one place to go to on Thanksgiving but two: not everyone has that and I don't want to give it up yet. If it ever becomes a huge burden on Maelin to go to both places on the same day we might give it up but right now it's just a burden on us. I don't want to give up Maelin's limited time with her extended families just because its a lot of work for us...
Then I got up at 4:30am on Friday morning to brave the sales with Kat, Mary and Emmie. We had a BLAST and found really great deals on all sorts of things. I'm totally going to do it again next year...maybe we've discovered a new tradition! When Maelin is old enough to understand what's going on, maybe she can join us...
Playing with Grandma's sheep...she calls him "Baaaa." She was also making the Stink Face (see previous post for explanation on this...)
Reading books with Grandpa...
Playing in the basement with Cousin Mary...she had a great time!
The Kimling Klan enjoying Uncle Mike's cooking!
Taking pictures with Grandma...she wasn't real excited about this because we had taken quite a few earlier and she was over it!
I love Grandma's green jello!
This is when Maelin had had enough: we were changing her for the 4th time that day and she decided she just wanted to run around the house yelling in her bunny slippers. She had done this earlier at Grandma's house and it was so funny...what a cute little girl!
Maelin stole the whipped cream and took off with it. She took it all over the house and eventually left it in Cousin Emmie's room. She didn't want to eat any of it: (she actually didn't like it at all...)she just wanted to HAVE it and you were NOT going to take it away from her!
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