Thanksgiving Feasts, Camping, Canoeing & Running!

This has actually been a really great week. My kids don't have school this upcoming week & so they had all their Thanksgiving festivities this week. And we had so much fun.

It started out with James bringing home a copy of his school play he was in. He was the pilgrim father and had several lines. We have been going over them and he had no trouble memorizing it all. Every time we practiced though, I had the hardest time not laughing (this is why, among 100 other reasons, I am not an actress) when he'd say "my dear" to the "pilgrim mother". It was just so dang cute and he was so cute about it. I could help but just smile bigger and bigger until it turned into a laugh.

The day of his play came, we had the Thanksgiving Feast at his school. He did not pick the typical feast and went for the PBJ instead. This is why I am not cooking any big fancy dinner. No one would eat it. It was fun to sit with his class and his friends and see him be so silly with all of them. He has so many friends and I was happy to see that. Then we were off to his class to watch the play. He had a cute little costume to wear and I about busted tears when I saw him. He did a fabulous job. Wasn't nervous one bit and remembered every line perfectly. Then he showed me some stuff he's been working on in class, and I was just so proud of him and all that he does. Love you James.

Harrison's class had a Thanksgiving feast as well. It was in their classroom though, so we met in there. He was so so so stinking cute. They were all dressed as indians and the room was decorated so cute. He was so excited to have Sophie and I come to eat lunch with him. We had a great time together. I think the only thing he ate was his pie, but what did you expect? After all the feasts and plays were over. I checked the kids out of school early and we came home and played the afternoon away. It was a great day.

This week was also our Ward Campout, which was headed up by myself, my awesome friend Amy and our activity days girls. It was fabulous! I don't know if you know, but the church owns a TON of property here in FL. It is a a huge ranch. And on there somewhere they have a camp for members to use. It has tent sites, several cabins (with electricity and air conditioning, as well as beds) a big pavilion with a great kitchen and a projector and screen to watch movies. Anyways, there is tons to do there and it really is a great place. We had the greatest time. James and Harrison just explored everywhere and played non stop with all their friends. They ran around and played on tree swings, climbed trees, played baseball, roasted marshmallows, watched cars 2, and just had a great time. James did stab his hand within 5 minutes of being there, but fortunately I always carry a large first aid kit and cleaned him up and wrapped it up good. It didn't bother him too much. Harrison took his shoes off as soon as we got there and went barefoot the entire time. We all called him the hobbit.

Ben and I chatted with the other adults, made s'mores, sat around the fire for forever, and got to just enjoy being together. The next days we got breakfast made for everyone, cleaning done and then went canoeing together. It was great! The kids kept asking if we were going to tip over, we assured them we knew what we were doing. And by the time we were done they all liked going out on the little boat.

Then it was time to leave, so we got packed up and dove on home. On our way we stopped by several lakes to look for alligators. Yes, we LIKE to see them. We spotted 3! One really big one, that creeped us out because it was there and then suddenly you couldn't see it anymore. and then two little ones. There were also turtles and all sorts of cool wildlife we watched, it was a great ride home.

Once we were home, we unpacked cleaned up, cleaned the house. Ben went for an awesome 8 mile run way to go Ben! Then I got all my gear and headed out for a 20 mile run. Yep, 20 miles. And seriously, I rocked it. I have never had such a great run. I felt great the whole way. My legs were cramping up around mile 5, but I took some sodium pills and they didn't get any worse so I could push through that pain for the rest. My average pace was a 8:39 mi/mile which is pretty good. I seriously doubt I'll have a run that great again. The weather was perfect, I wasn't hot at all, I had no trouble breathing, and dang, I ran 20 miles! woo hoo! My legs hated me when I got home and I couldn't walk so great at first, but after an ice bath and all that goodness I felt much much better.

While I was out on my run, Ben took the kids to a Carnival our little community was having. They only went on a couple rides as they were $$ but they boys loved it. They went through a monkey maze and haven't stopped talking about it. At the end Ben let them all get treats and I think they had a great date with their Dad. Love you Ben, you are the best.

This week has been great, I've spent a lot of time just playing with Sophie each day and we have so much fun. She is such a funny girl and always has a trick up her sleeve. She is a tease and makes me laugh every day. Today she was rolling her eyes at Ben and I and it was hilarious. She is sweet though too. Like tonight, Harrison was sent to bed early for being a punk and so he was upstairs crying in his bed. I heard Sophie climb out of her bed and go to his room. She went to him and said "it's okay Harrison. There's no monsters. It's not scary. It's okay". I thought it was so sweet of her to go comfort him.

Anyways, I think that is all for this week. Up next time: Orlando Science center, Thanksgiving turkey bowl, black friday insanity and much more!