Thanksgiving

I know Thanksgiving was a while ago, but I still want to tell you about it. So here goes.

My parents flew out from New Mexico to Richmond, and my brother flew out from Arizona. So we were all here! Wednesday I drove to Richmond to help get ready for Thanksgiving. Jay helped me make rolls, Ryan and Sunni tracked down some tapered candles, and several of us peeled lots of stubborn oranges for ambrosia.

Kneading some roll dough. With supervision.

That night my parents, Ryan, and I went to dinner. Ryan wanted to carb up (more on why coming up!) so we ate spaghetti at Joe's Inn. Then Ryan and I drove to Charlottesville, where we met up with Josh and went to see the No BS! Brass Band and Love Canon. It was pretty fun. And Ryan ran into someone he knew back in Santa Fe, so that was exciting.

Love Canon. They play 80s music bluegrass style. Which is awesome.

Thursday morning (Thanksgiving!) Ryan and I got up early and headed out to...get excited...Ryan's first race! We both ran in the Turkey Trot 5k at the Boar's Head Inn. It was pretty hilly, but Ryan did great. My watch said we finished in 29:something, but somehow our official time came out as 31:something. We're sticking with the under-30 minutes time.
 

Chilly (high 30s), but excited to run!

Proud finisher! (And only a little annoyed at the photographer.)

Stretching. Always important.

Cute siblings.

I was super-excited to be running with Ryan for his first race. Hopefully he'll keep it up and it won't be our last!

After the race we headed back to my place to shower and get dressed for Thanksgiving, then drove back to Richmond for the big meal.

We ate this.

Sitting at this.

After eating, family time, and cleaning up, it was time for a nap. My nuclear family napped in my parents' hotel room, then went back to my grandparents' for pie. Then Ryan and I hung out with my cousins for a while and played Taboo.

Friday we hung out with Grandma a lot and moved her into a new place. We even played  a game of Rook. She was in a good mood and funny, so it was fun. Friday evening the whole family went to the CineBistro to see Lincoln and eat dinner. I hadn't really cared about seeing the movie, but I'm glad I did. After the movie Ryan and I joined Jay and Josh for a beer at Capital Ale House.

Saturday morning Josh and I grabbed Ryan and worked out at a park. Huguenot Park has a fitness trail, so we ran around and did the exercises it told us to do. Similarly to how I felt about the run two days before, I was excited to be working out with those guys. After our workout we showered and got changed, then went with my parents to lunch at Kitchen 64. Then we visited the Chihuly exhibit at the art museum. I saw so much of his stuff back in Tacoma that I had gotten tired of him, but I enjoyed the exhibit. From there we went to the Imax theater at the science museum to watch a movie about the Canadian Pacific Railroad. That was my dad's pick (the art museum was mine), but it was actually pretty interesting. Later in the evening Ryan and Josh and Jay and I hung out at my aunt's house for a while.

Sunday I went with my dad to take Ryan to the airport, then we met up with more of the family for Chinese food for lunch. Lunch was followed by me taking a long nap on the couch. Sunday evening my parents and I watched a Sandra Dee movie with my aunt and grandpa. Then I spent the night in my parents' hotel suite. They left town on Monday and I did some work in Richmond before heading back to Charlottesville.

It was a pretty fun holiday weekend with my family.