Thanksgiving in Minnesota

      We drove up to Minnesota to see Ben's family for Thanksgiving. Being in driving distance is a  real perk of living in IL, and we need to take advantage of it more! This was Paige's first road trip and first visit to Minnesota. She did pretty well the way there, although we discovered she doesn't like being in the back in the dark when she's awake, but once we turned the light on she was happy the rest of the drive. We had fun seeing his parents and 5 (which is only half of them) of his siblings.
      We stopped at the "orange moose" in Wisconsin on the way....apparently a place Ben's family would stop for pictures when he was little.

 Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, and included some adorable pilgrim seat cards.

 Paige got to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa May.

      That night Ben and I decided we would attempt Black Friday/Thanksgiving night shopping. At 5:00 we went to the gas station to get a newspaper (online adds weren't cutting it, we like to hold it in our hands), but they were completely sold out. We decided to venture out to Walmart anyways. We arrived at 10:00 pm and it was crazy! I couldn't even really move, and was getting bumped around by people. Thank goodness Ben's a giant so I knew I wouldn't lose him in a crowd. I've never seen a store that crowded. We ended up deciding there was nothing we wanted that was worth standing in the ridiculously long line, but we were glad we went just for the "experience".
      The next day we made a family trip to the Minnesota Zoo. This was Paige's first trip to the zoo, and she slept almost the entire time, waking up just in time for a few pictures at the end.

Mosquito...also referred to as the state bird

       Saturday we went with Casey, Cari, and Andi to Eddingtons, a soup and sandwich place Ben has been wanting to take me to. Then that night we all headed downtown to the Hollidazzle parade. It's a fun parade of people and floats with Christmas lights, and always a great way to make Chicago weather seem warm (I don't know how people aren't frozen year round in Minnesota).

Piper, Cari, Andi, & Michelle

Michelle and I, after getting a good laugh at some of the "interesting" people downtown

      After church on Sunday we wanted to get some pictures of Paige with the Holms.

Aunt Michelle

Uncle Tommy

We had a great time spending time with family, especially the Crookstons and Michelle who are moving to the Caribbean- we'll miss them! We felt very thankful this Thanksgiving for all we've been blessed with, especially our families. Ben and I had a great drive home and Paige was so worn out from all the Minnesota fun (and not sleeping well for 3 nights), that she slept just about the entire drive.