Thanksgiving 2011: The Journey Begins

We're home tonight from a wonderfully rich and memory-making Thanksgiving trip.  So many times during the past two days, I paused to mentally soak in the pleasantness of our experiences.  "I'm so glad we're doing this" ran through my head like the best kind of refrain.  As we drove home through the darkness tonight, I passed some time by looking through the pictures on my camera --all 226 of them.  It will take me a while to go through them all and get them posted; but for now, I want to make a start.  This is how our journey began yesterday morning...

You've heard of The Three Tenors?  Well, we have something even better: The Three Caners.  Or Cane-Users.  Or Cane-Holders.  Or something like that.  :)

When Grandpa walked up to our house yesterday using his cane, David quickly got his child-size cane out of the closet and Shav followed suit with his big plastic Christmas candy cane.  Like grandfather, like grandsons.

This is how we looked in the car when we started out.  I rode in a seat with Tobin and was amused by him wearing the goggly eye glasses that Jeff and David had gotten for Tobin at the dollar store the night before we left.

David rode in the back seat and spent some of his time playing a travel Bingo game.

Josiah rode in the back seat with him; and besides watching David and playing Bingo, he amused himself by singing "Sourwood Mountain" and doing lots of Dr. DooRiddles with me.

Shav sat in front of Tobin; and from my vantage point, I could just barely see his pretty eyelashes curling above his carseat...

...while he ate a lollipop from the bank.

My mother's beautiful silver hair was directly in front of me...

...and in front of her was my dad's...uh...beautiful handsome head?!  ;-)

And then there was Jeff, chauffeur extraordinaire...

...whose laughing eyes I could sometimes catch a glimpse of in the rearview mirror.

I love my family, and I do not take these days of riding--all eight of us--together for granted.  But I am looking forward to adding to that number in the springtime.  ;-)