My First Turkey...Hits the Road

On Thanksgiving weekend, I always find myself reflecting about the weekend that Andrew was born.  In 1999, Thanksgiving was 2 days before he was born and just one day before I went into the hospital.

This year, my almost 12 year old son will be turning 12 on Sunday.  I think I'm still in shock that it's been 12 years since he was born, 'cause really 12 years from now he'll be done with college and mid 20's.  Whoa.

He's celebrating Thanksgiving and his birthday in Nashville this year with his dad and that part of his family. He's enjoying his time! On the agenda for him is going to the movies with his dad, stepmom and grandparents, having a birthday party, seeing his oldest sister off to her new adventure, getting a haircut and just hanging out with his dad and family.

The day before Thanksgiving, we headed off to Cincinnati to the same McDonald's we've been meeting at for a few years to "exchange" our son. Andrew was ecstatic to go! He's always been a good traveler, so not much griping about how long, are we there yet, or I have to go to the bathroom 8 million times. He's just as anxious to get going and get there as I am. We're good road trip companions. ;)

He helps keep Lily occupied and entertained even when she's in total little sister mode and doing things deliberately to get his attention and bug him.

After we arrived, only about 15 minutes late due to rain slowing us leaving Pittsburgh, we sat to have lunch with Andrew's dad. Andrew and Lily had a lightsaber straw fight while waiting for lunch.

Reagan commented that it was neat how Andrew could eat lunch with both of his parents and it was fun. This made me smile.  She's not usually with us on our trips, so she was super excited to talk about the places she has now been.  She talked about social studies at school and how glad she was to be able to say she'd been through a couple different states to her friends.  It was cute.

Andrew was ready to hit the road! Anxious to get to Tennessee and be done with the driving...happy to see his dad.

Last thing to do was take a few more pictures, transfer his bags from car to car and then we're off!
My last picture with my 11 year old...for when he returns he will be 12. :)

And then they head South and we head back North, all to do it again a few days later.  On the way home, the girls were sleepy.  Lily apparently was interested in showing how old she is instead of giving in and just falling asleep.  Reag, on the other hand, crashed.

There was a lot of traffic coming home due to it being the day before Turkey Day, so it took a little longer than usual, but it was still an enjoyable trip. Everyone was in a great mood and stayed that way all day! Can't ask for much more. :)