Continuing to Count the Blessings

When we are in Florida we spend almost all of our time playing.  The kids play inside and outside; they play with the big cousins and the little cousins; they play at Grandma's and at Aunt Wendy's.  And the grownups play, too.  Our play looks a little different, but it's fun all the same.  It usually involves some kind of chocolate and a lot of talking.  (I'm speaking mainly about Wendy and myself.  The other grownups do things like watch football.  Or take a walk in between the Thanksgiving dinners-you'll get that in a minute.  There has been plenty of fun, all kinds, these last few days.)

Thanksgiving Day we have two dinners, one with Mike's dad and his wife Susie, and one with Mike's mom and her husband Bob. 

Let's just say it is a day for eating.

But while there is a lot of eating, the kids always find time for running and playing.

The cousins, big and little (and by little I mean the 6-8 year-olds) split up and played kickball, the boys against the girls.

They had a blast.

Here is someone I could learn a lot from...Bobby knows what he's doing with a camera. 

After some time outside we sat down to a lovely meal midday.

We ended up back at Mike's mom's house for the evening meal.  By the end of the day we were happy and full...of food and of thanks. 

I am so sad that I didn't get any pictures from the second half of the day.  I set the camera aside and helped (a little) with food prep and with getting the kids their food, and then Bobby set up his camera (on a tripod!  I told you he was fancy.) and we tried to get a family photo, with all 19 of us. 

You can imagine the success we had.  And these two were only half of the trouble.

But if that's the kind of trouble we have to deal with on any given day, then I'd say we're pretty blessed...