Thanksgiving week was spent in North Carolina this year and what a busy week.  It's always wonderful to see family and at first we have all sorts of time until the busy days go by and it's time to come home.  We stayed the first night and second day at Uncle Jon and Aunt Cha Cha's new house in Charlotte.  After the long trip the kids loved all the room to run around tantalize poor Jack, their dog.  Aunt Cha Cha broke her tailbone the night before so Ashlyn worked to make it all better with her, in depth, check up and shot to the booty.

 

They made pizza with the kids that night and their clean kitchen wasn't so clean anymore.

 

The next morning we went to the Nascar Hall of Fame which was completed after we left and they did a good job with it.  The entrance hall begins flat with some of the first cars and as it begins to bank further and deeper the cars become more current.  For the local LA folks, we were able to stand on the 33 degree bank that's at Fontana and lordy is it steep.

They even have the original Hudson Hornet and our boy happily got to touch it.  

There were plenty of interactive games spattered throughout the museum but by far the most entertaining was Pit Road.  There were 2 cars set up to service with a timer above.  The teams were Uncle Jon and Heath against Steven and Reghan.  It was neck and neck for the first few seconds till the tire change where Uncle Jon and Heath pulled ahead by about 3 seconds to win the round.

 

The kids played in their big backyard, ran with Jack, and swang on their tire swing before heading out for the mountain.

Not long after we arrived the guys pilfered the attic to pull down some of their old toys.  Boxes of original Transformers and GI Joe's were quickly scatter all over the house while the guys walked down memory lane and the kids poured over them.

Monday we went for a hike to Triple Falls and Reghan found a rock to climb on to happily make her as tall as Grana.

 

After a while we made it to falls and meandered down to them.  It was cold enough for standing water to ice over and while the falls were very pretty, the kids were more excited to work on "freeing" the leaves that were stuck under the thin layer of ice so they had their sticks and banged away at it all.

A very happy threesome...

  

 ...and five-some. 

Of course there was story time every night and more toys brought out each day.

One morning the kids woke up to it snowing outside.  It was light, pretty dusting with the anticipation of snowball fights building so we bundled up and hiked down the hill to Uncle Chris and Aunt Joys house.  We'd already been there a couple of times but this was the first in the snow.

 

 

We kidnapped cousin Ian for the day and everyone made pine cone feeders for the birds and it smelt pretty darned good.

However, one of the funniest parts of the the day was when Ian locked himself in the bathroom and watching the swirl of ways to try to get him out. He did pretty good in there, he sang, said the ABC's, and what else then used the bathroom.

Then off to visit Uncle Chris's new office, lunch with Aunt Joy, and to Target where we found out how many kids can fit in the back of shopping cart.

 

Followed that night by everyone visiting GG's new place and then over to one of the largest Chick Fillets I've seen.  Long live the South and ice cream.

Amongst the many tours of the week, we also went to see Grandpa's new office and check out their private outdoor area that belongs to their office.  How nice is this?  I'd have my laptop open in a rocker working away everyday if I came here.

Wednesday night we attempted a kid sleep over at Ian's house but it didn't work out.  After the kids destroyed his room they decided they wanted to go back to Grana and Grandpa's to sleep.  It was fun though.

Thanksgiving morning, before the festivities began, a couple of us took off with Grandpa to tour the new Sierra Nevada plant being constructed which is nestled in a beautiful piece of land just outside of Asheville.  Because Grandpa has been a key player in the project we got a full access tour and because it was Thanksgiving, it was pretty quiet.  It's slated to open in August, 2014 but they're running Pale Ale out of it now.  The land and finished product will be gorgeous and getting to walk in parts of the facility that is off limits to public was pretty cool too.  Grandpa's looking to retire in the not so distant future and this is a hell of a project to go out on.

  

 

Then back to the house just in time to witness Reghan sneaking up and snagging some fruit as people started arriving.

It had warmed up enough to melt the snow and only require a light jacket which was reason enough to play outside.

The house was full and the day was fun and went too fast.  We saw cousins we haven't seen in a long time and the family is certainly expanding.

With the day winding down the cousins snuggled in to watch The Polar Express while we had a nice game of poker in the dining room using Jack's dog biscuits as tokens.  Although, eventually I, as always, fell asleep (a little too much wine I think), Uncle Chris stole my dog biscuits (he's not a very good poker player, sorry Chris), finishing with Aunt Cha Cha winning the lot. 

Now this is a girl who can handle the day after Turkey leg.  Ah, until next year, we miss you all already.