Viva Thanksgiving

We spent American Thanksgiving in the Las Vegas area. Yes, I know Vegas is a bizarre choice for the traditionally family-oriented holiday. However, all of our family living locally left the state for the holiday break. We were on our own, and we decided to take advantage of the school break to leave town ourselves.

We started our six-hour drive on Tuesday afternoon. The only event on the drive was stopping at Arctic Circle for dinner. Madeleine cried when she found out they didn’t have salad on the menu. We had to run across the street to Arby’s to get the salad she craved. Yes, I'm serious.

We arrived at Russ’s grandmother’s house (now empty) in Boulder City around 10:00 p.m. Camille went right to bed, but Elodie and Madeleine started exploring right away. They just loved all of the knickknacks in the house. They especially loved the laundry chute that goes from the second floor all the way to the basement. Luckily, the chute was too small for them to fit into. Still, they managed to fit all of the contents of their suitcases, some stuffed animals, a few cups, and some books down the chute.

Wednesday was a slow, leisurely morning. In the afternoon, we took the girls to Circus Circus. We walked past the roller coaster and other rides to find the arcade-style games. Oops, big mistake. Madeleine was very upset that we were playing games rather than going on rides, so she didn’t have any fun. (Or at least she said she didn't.) Still, we dragged her around and managed to win three stuffed animals while only spending a small fortune.

After we got our three stuffed animals, we relented and returned to the rides. Madeleine and Elodie rode on a ferris wheel while Camille rode a horse on the carousel.

We had another relaxed morning on Thursday. I turned on the Macy’s parade, but the kids weren’t very interested. They were too busy redecorating the house I guess. We FINALLY forced them to get dressed and headed to nearby Lake Mead. Russ bought popcorn earlier in the day, and we fed the huge carp, ducks, and seagulls at the Lake Mead marina. (Please don't report us to the Humane Society.)

After Madeleine managed to get soaked and muddy, we got back in the car and drove to a nearby casino for Thanksgiving dinner. Ah, Thanksgiving at a casino! It was very nontraditional, but I didn’t miss cooking and cleaning all day. In fact, the food wasn’t too bad. Besides, Madeleine only ate salad and mashed potatoes, and Elodie only ate mashed potatoes and an apple. It would have been a big waste for me to cook a huge meal for only Russ and myself. It was also nice not to have tempting leftovers the next day.

After cleaning the house and packing the car on Friday morning, we headed to Las Vegas to see the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. Shark Reef is no Sea World, but I think the girls still enjoyed it. (I’m probably the only one of us remembers Sea World anyway.) We saw lots of cool fish, including sharks swimming above our heads, and we got to touch some manta rays.

We had a fairly uneventful drive home and arrived late Friday night. Overall, it was a very strange but relaxing way to spend our Thanksgiving break.

Superb Surprise

We found a wonderful surprise last night. I took Madeleine and Elodie to see the play Seven Brides for Seven Brothers while Camille stayed home with my sister and brother-in-law. (For those of you wondering, yes, it was a bit hard for the two of them to sit still through the play.)

When we got home, my sister’s car was strangely absent, but Russ was present! We were so surprised. Russ has meetings in San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday, so he decided to come a bit early and surprise us. His stop to see us means a very wild travel schedule for him (in SF until Tuesday, back on the plane to Geneva Tuesday afternoon, back in Geneva just in time—hopefully—for an important meeting on Thursday, and on the plane to the U.S. again on Friday). Despite the wildness and the shortness of his visit (less than twenty-four hours), it was very good to see him. The great news is that we will see him again very late Friday night and then spend Thanksgiving together.

In other news, Camille hit a major milestone today. She turned eighteen months this week and is now eligible for nursery at church. Up until now, Camille has spent two of our three-hour meeting block going to “grown-up” classes with me. Since we’ve been in Utah, she’s been the only person in the room under eighteen. In fact, most of the other participants are much closer to one hundred than they are to Camille’s age of one. Needless to say, it’s been hard for Camille to stay quiet (understandably) and we’ve spent many hours pacing the halls rather than learning anything in class.

All of that ended today with Camille’s introduction to nursery (the class for eighteen-month to three-year-olds). I was very worried about how she would react on her first day. This is the girl who screams when she sees my sister and hides her face in my neck when any male under fifty crosses her path. I also feared because Camille hasn’t had much interaction with children her own age. (She’s the unlucky third child who gets dragged to her older siblings’ playgroups and functions.)

I didn’t need to worry. Camille walked into the room with me and was immediately delighted to find toys and other little girls playing house. She hardly looked back as I snuck out, and her teachers reported that she did really well. Hurray!

Halloween, Halloween!

We had a fun and busy Halloween.

The festivities really started on Saturday with my sister, Kristi’s, Halloween party. It was a family party, but we all dressed up and had a good time. My brother-in-law, Will, scared Elodie and Camille to tears with his werewolf costume. He had to keep it off most of the night to preserve sanity.

We ate good food and ate doughnuts off a string. And then it was time for bed—just after Madeleine broke down because her baby cousin won a sucker for the best costume instead of her.

Halloween day itself was incredibly full. We began the day at a party at Elodie’s preschool. The kids were very cute but had a hard time following the teacher around for the “parade.”

Soon after that, we rushed off to Madeleine’s school for her parade. We sat in the cafeteria and enjoyed watching the entire school file by us. Unfortunately, Madeleine didn’t hear us screaming her name (not a foot away from her) until she passed us.

After the parade, Camille, Elodie and I got to help out with Madeleine’s classroom party. We manned one of several stations where the kids got to play a game or make a craft. Camille and Elodie did amazingly well on their own while I helped the first graders stuff plastic gloves with popcorn to make a scary hand.

At 5:30 we were off to a “trunk-or-treat” in our church parking lot. For those you wondering, a trunk-or-treat is where everyone hands candy to kids out of the back of their cars in a common parking lot. The cars were decorated really well, and it was a very fast way to make a candy haul. The girls especially enjoyed some of the more creative treats, including one car handing out cotton candy.

We had to rush off from the trunk-or-treat to meet our next-door neighbors who had invited us to trick-or-treat with them. However, their group had grown a lot by the time we arrived, so we actually went our own way after about fifteen minutes with them. Madeleine was VERY anxious to get to her friend's house. We skipped lots of houses along the way to get there, and fortunately we did get to see him at home.

To finish the night, we made a few trick-or-treat stopsand via the car and ended up at my brother’s house to see his kids.

Phew! It was such a day. Overall, the kids did really well trick-or-treating. The weather was incredibly mild, much better than the freezing cold or snow I remember on several occasions growing up. Unlike me, the girls didn’t mind skipping houses. Getting loads of candy wasn’t of primary importance to them. Camille didn’t go up to many of the doors, but she was delighted when someone would offer her a treat. She especially liked the pretzels. Way to go, Camille.

And now we have TONS of candy in the pantry. The girls have only eaten a few pieces. I guess they forgot we had candy? Wish I could forget.