Harrison Thanksgiving 2013

This year we spent our first Holiday at the lakehouse. 

 It was so relaxing and so fun because we were there for 5 days..the longest we have ever been there. Ben took most of the week off so we could leave a little earlier than everyone else on Wednesday. We had worked hard to get our Christmas decorations out at home before we left so when we packed up all our Thanksgiving stuff I just threw those bags in the truck to decorate the lakehouse too! We tried to beat everyone down there to make it feel a little more festive when they arrived.

  It was so nice to wake up and know you had a few more days to just sit and relax. No TV, no Internet, and this time of year....really nothing to do outside either. No swimming or water activities or laying out like a normal lake trip. We brought tons of toys, games, puzzles, coloring, movies to keep us entertained but we mostly just had fun being together.  

A Harrison family staple is playing Pinochle. We play for hours. Alex is starting early teaching Kinley the ropes. 

Of course we couldn't come without Marina and her instruments.

   

Alex wanted to play too.

   

Wednesday night we celebrated Pops' birthday with dinner and birthday cake. It was a fun time celebrating Pops! 

Thanksgiving day started with Mendy and I's own version of a turkey trot. 

 

But, the rest of the day was full of cooking and napping and relaxing. Mendy brought Kinley an apron and a matching one for a doll or a stuffed animal. It was so sweet! She just loves to help in the kitchen. 

 

Mendy and I made matching shirts for everyone and it was fun all matching for Thanksgiving.

   

Of course that meant we need to take some family pics. 

 

Crazy Harrison pics... 

 

Mendy and I have very similar closets and are totally ok matching every day of the week so when we both came with this outfit in our bag...we couldn't help it. 

 Love, love, love this girl.

   

Since we won't be with the Harrison's on Christmas, Pops and Gram decided to give Kinley and Ty their Christmas present at Thanksgiving. 

They got them a bounce house!

 It was the perfect to have at the lakehouse and provided hours of fun. We set it up while Kinley and Ty were both inside. But, when we got it blown up I couldn't even wait for Ty to wake up from his nap to show it to Kinley. 

 She was so excited! 

 

that toothless grin... 

 

We even moved to the screened in porch when we thought it might rain. 

 

We also spent lots of time making piles of leaves and jumping and sliding into them. 

 

Toasting marshmallows and making smores was a fun activity one evening and just keeping warm around the fire pit is always fun. 

The boys kept themselves busy grilling and smoking ribs outside a couple days. 

Ty loved Uncle Alex's ribs. 

 

But, on cold days the busted out the BB gun and made a target on a tree and shot from inside the house. 

 Classy. 

 

Overall, we just love being together. 

 We laughed all day every day and just relaxed and enjoyed a quiet week away.

   

Two peas in a pod right here... 

 

I have an overwhelming amount of things to be thankful for in this life. God is the giver of all good gifts. And, I thank him every day he brought this family into my life. 

 Love the Harrisons.