Atlanta for Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we went to Atlanta, to see Gamma and Pa J, Uncle Kyle, Aunt Danielle, Aunt Stacey, Uncle Jae, and cousins Hadleigh, Camden, and Braeden (all from Jeremy's side). Jeremy had to go to Atlanta a week or so before us for some smarty pants conferences related to his PhD stuff, so the kids and I drove down on our own.  We made it just fine until we hit Atlanta traffic and I may have lost my mind a little bit.  We noted places we want to explore the next time we drive there: Louisville, KY, Nashville of course, and Raccoon Cave.

The cousins reacquainted quickly, even though it had been four-and-a-half years since they had seen each other last.  

Annie was happy to see her favorite doggies again.

Annie and Hadleigh did A LOT of gymnastics.  Together.  A LOT.  It was fun except for the part with Uncle Jeremy broke Hadleigh's beam doing a jump tuck (yes, try to imagine that).  But in his defense, Hadleigh made him do it.

The girls had an official gymnastics show--they designed and printed flyers, "sold" tickets, and choreographed some routines.  I think Hadleigh had as much fun dressing up her little Mini Me as much as she enjoyed being her coach.

The door prize at the gymnastics show was a photo with the gymnasts.  Here are the lucky winners!  Yay!

All the girls :)

Oh yes, and there was also an abundance of medals (Hadleigh is actually a very talented gymnast is real life).

There were quite a few sleep overs...so fun and a little crazy.  Aunt Danielle was a good sport.

There was also the middle-aged kids' night out without the little kids.

Jeremy is also a good sport.  Not.

There was the attempt at nice photos because we're all together photos.  Some were more successful than others.

Emotions depicted in this photograph: Verge of tears, dorkiness, silliness, sassiness, and skin-crawling-desire-for-escape/teenage-contempt-of-forced-family-photos.

After Thanksgiving, we decorated Gamma and Pa J's house for Christmas. Here's Evan with a flying Georgia pinecone, the state pinecone of Georgia (you had to be there).   

Ah, Christmas, that time of year when we celebrate Leon, or at least that's one way of looking at it.

It was a great time to hang out, connect, and over-eat, of course! A true American holiday.

After our trip, we realized that in the last year, our family had driven to Yosemite, San Diego, Nevada, Utah, Phoenix, Flagstaff, New Mexico, all over Colorado, across Kansas, into Missouri, all the way through Illinois, up to Wisconsin, down through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and back to Chicago (and Jeremy had also been to Texas and had flown to Chicago to look at houses while we still lived in CA).  That's quite a year!