Portland!

Okay, okay, I give already. I ventured far and wide to the mystical (and fog-covered) land of Ory-gun for Turkey day. Portland. And it was surprisingly painless. Even fun. Truly. Which surprises me. Overtly.

My sister, her husband and I piled in my little Jeep Wrangler Wednesday afternoon and hit the road. It took around 11 hours (Should have taken 9 hours - an hour of traffic and two stops for meals) to get to Portland. We arrived around 11pm and went directly to sleep. The next morning we headed over to our Brother's house, where the whole gaggle of people was gathered.

My Mother had no idea we were coming - we wanted to surprise her. It all worked out beautifully, especially considering that six little neices all knew we were coming and they were told to lock their lips! I know, right? Big expectations for that secret being kept...

So, knowing we were coming, the girls had kind of flocked over near the front door and were playing there. When we quietly opened the front door and tip-toed in, they were all waiting for us with giant smiles and kept shushing themselves to keep quiet. We each grabbed a couple of nieces whilst walking toward the kitchen (where we could see Mom facing away from us) and smothered them in kisses and hugs and then pounced on Mom, who was shocked to tears. :)

It was a good surprise.

We all hung out a while and then headed to the movies. I took my Mom and oldest niece (Payton is almost 12! Which makes me... well, never mind) to see the latest Twilight installment, New Moon. My brother Ryan took the rest of the little girls (minus the infant and two-year-olds) to see A Christmas Carol and the rest of the Adults bailed on him to see The Blind Side.

Meanwhile at the house, Ryan's wife Kerrie and my other Sis-in-law Tammy stayed with the babies and finished cooking the fabulous Turkey dinner, which was ready when we arrived home. Easiest Thanksgiving I've EVER taken part in. Loved it!

There were eighteen of us at the dinner table. Which is ginormous for a solitary-type family such as ours. Seven children were present (eight if you include the one my little sister has in-progress). 

The rest of the long weekend was spent playing with neices, vegging out, eating leftovers and even included a trip to downtown Portland to see Santa at Macy's.

Highlights:
My brother in law was given the fabulous nickname "Karen" by one of the two-year olds, who apparently thought that Karen and Eric were the same name. Imagine a two-foot little toe-head running around saying in a high-pitched voice: "Karen! Come on Karen!" while a 6'8" guy follows her around. Yah.

Another niece said to me while sitting on my lap and looking at pictures with me: "Ooooh, that's a pretty picture. Hehe, I tooted."

Sigh... what a great trip.

What did you do for Thanksgiving and what was the best part of your day?

Photos:

 Mom

Football...

These two were entirely too much fun to take photos of... I have WAY too many.

My six month preggo sister and her husband... who is apparently also preggo.

Just needed to share with you that all of my neices are technologically savvy. Amazing.