Oklahoma

Over the freeways and through five states
To the grand kid's house we go...

The Hawkins family lives just over 1200 miles away. That translates into two long days of driving. They will be moving even further away over the Christmas Holidays. Jodi and Ty cooked a Thanksgiving Feast that makes any of my very best dinners pale in comparison. They tried many new recipes. We had appetizers, salads, ham and deep fried turkey, multiple vegetable dishes, rolls and many desserts. I didn't have room for half of the entrees but we got to eat leftovers for many days afterward.

These 'cherry pie' cupcake creations were cute & yummy.

Chef Jodi

After Thanksgiving dinner was over Jodi and I took the kids geocaching. Jodi found one, I found one and two others were elusive. The day after Thanksgiving Jodi and I went shopping for Christmas gifts. Every night at bedtime, I told the kids if they were really good and went straight to sleep, I would let them open their gifts early. It worked like a charm, so the day before we headed home we let them open their gifts. Jodi and Ty left really early on the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They returned about midnight the following Saturday night.

Reed was the champion chauffeur. Every school day he left about 8:15 to take Owen (1st Grade) and Miles (Pre-K) to school. He returned home. On Olivia's pre-school days he took her to school at 9 a.m. Back home. Then off to pick up Miles at 11:15. Home again. At 2:30 it was time to pick Olivia up from pre-school. Home again. At 3:30 Reed was back on the road to get Owen. The kids were pretty good. Owen did lots of reading and homework. Miles had a project to wrap an egg so it wouldn't break when dropped from the school's roof. This was really a 'parent' or in this case, a 'grandparent project.' Come on, he's only 4. Then Olivia was supposed to wear a shirt for her favorite sports team on Friday. Give me a break, do 3 year olds really follow a particular team? Abby, at 18 months, was a delight. It is uncanny how much she looks like Kim, Jill and Jodi when they were that age.

We didn't do anything on my birthday. I had been thinking of how my Grandma M died two days before her birthday when she was my age. Then the phone rang and we were told that our hole had been dug. Thankfully it was for our house and not our graves.

I made some 'tootsie roll' edible play dough. Owen promptly wrote his name. Notice the Burger King hat. We'd take the kids to McDonald's or Burger King for supper and then let them play until they were so worn out they'd drop into bed. The kids were usually asleep by 7:15 p.m. and we wouldn't hear a peep from them for about 12 hours.

Ready to eat a worm



Opening presents

We had planned on staying with cousin, Marcia, in Texas then head across the southern route and eventually home. I had come down with a bad cold and Reed was getting it too so we wanted to be back in our own bed. We left on Monday, December 5th with the anticipation of getting to Farmington, NM. The weather was bad. Snow was blowing sidewards, a bitter wind was howling and roads were covered with ice and snow. We got stopped at a freeway closure for over 3 hours in New Mexico. We did make it as far as Albuquerque that night and drove all the remaining distance home on Tuesday. Temperatures along the way dipped to minus 6 degrees. The treacherous roads made for white-knuckled driving.

Now we are home but don't feel well enough to join in the Christmas festivities. We hate to share our colds with others. The Milligan Christmas Party takes place tonight and tomorrow morning.