Pennsylvania wrap up...

The goal for our family reunion was to keep things as relaxed and low key as possible and we were pretty successful in that endeavor most of the time. On one of the days we decided that going for an easy hike fit into that critera and  found a nice paved path at a nearby park which seemed to fit the bill of low key and relaxing.

Of course as soon as we got to the nice paved trail my family immediately headed up a steep brush covered embankment on the opposite side of the path.

It quickly proved a little too treacherous even for our adventurous group, so with only a few minor bumps and scratches we aborted that plan and resumed our original paved path plan.  However, this was not done without first offending Ruby with a rough ride back down the hill. Boy that girl can give some looks.


Back on the path we enjoyed some beautiful weather and even more beautiful scenery along the way.


According to my sister, Issac is always talking about wanting to be faster than Max. Looks like he's not too far away. My mom enjoyed the walk too, although please ignore how ridiculous she looks (her words not mine) in my running shoes, which she said felt like shoeboxes.


Ruby stuck like glue to Scarlett and Olivia during the whole trip.


The hike was no exception.

Even on the trail, the kids (and Grandfather) found ways to up the adventure factor.

The girls.

The boys.

 The Family.


Waldo. (Sorry Tracey, I wouldn't have mentioned it if you hadn't)

The trail followed train tracks and a cool bridge. I would have loved to take more pictures of them than these, but for me, given the choice, pictures of people always win out.

Waving to the conductor and getting him to blow his horn.

It is sooo my mom to wave to these strangers passing by just in case they are waving.

The next day was our "Thanksgiving". It's almost impossible to see in this picture I took out of the window of the house, but we woke up in the morning to a whole gang of wild turkeys right outside. It was perfect.

In addition to the turkeys, we also got a festive dusting of snow that morning.

 The whole freezing gang. With the low temps and high level activity of the kids we really only had one shot at this. (Sorry Whitney.)

As far as I'm concerned I think our Thanksgiving trip was big success (neck breaking excluded of course). It was wonderful to be able to see my whole family without having to board a plane. It hasn't been that way for a very long time and I expect it won't last either, but for now I'd like to enjoy it as often as I can.

Thanksgiving festivities BEFORE Sam broke his neck

As much as Sam breaking his neck was the "big deal" at Thanksgiving, it was far from the highlight. Our trip prior to that had been great and certainly too much fun to skip over entirely.

Our trip began with a mostly uneventful drive up to New York. It was mostly uneventful getting to New York, but once we got to Manhattan we took a 2 hour tour of the city looking for our hotel. It was so ridiculous that even at the time it was a little funny. We finally climbed into our beds a little  before 3 a.m. which wouldn't have been too terrible except for the the fact that we had to be up at 6:00 a.m.to get a spot for the Macy's Parade. Miraculously we were able to make our early wake up call and get out soon enough to get a decent seat.

Going to the Macy's parade has always been on my list to do while living on the East Coast, but I was a little worried about how cold and long the experience would be. Surprisingly, neither was too much of an issue.  For all the craziness required to make this happen, it was still totally worth it.

To make the experience even more enjoyable we were meeting up with my entire family on the parade route. The kids were so excited to see their cousins they didn't mind the early hour or long wait for the parade to begin.

When the parade did finally start the kids were thrilled.

I thought it was interesting that even Uncle Sam looked a little deflated after the recent election. (check out his hands.)

 

My favorite balloon might have been Sponge Bob---not because I like Sponge Bob,  because I actually despise that cartoon and it is shunned in our home. I have successfully convinced my children of it's value (or lack thereof) and their reaction when they see him on anything is always a little dramatic and makes me laugh. If this picture could speak it would say, "My eyes!!! my eyes!!

The briefcase brigade was also pretty cool. (Whoever they are!?)

We also enjoyed a few "celebrity sightings".

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who to my kids was just a really tall guy)

Carly Rae Jepsen who, sadly, they were much more excited about.

This band was staying in the same hotel we were and were leaving to line up for the parade at the same time we were just arriving for the night.

 

Ruby taking it all in.

Max and the Elf on the Shelf

Towards the end of the parade Ruby was getting a little antsy--and to be honest, so was I. I don't think I've ever been so excited to see Santa.

After the parade we hopped on the subway to Matt and Whitney's apartment. Riding the subway is always a NYC highlight for my kids.

 

Max even found a quarter on the ground that wasn't super glued there.

Whenever I'm in NYC with my kids I always have at least one moment of adventurous longing when I wish for a temporary job assignment in New York for Sam.  Maybe someday...

After a quick lunch break at the Lambert's we were off to PA for a mini family reunion with my family (and some neck breaking of course), but more on that soon.

Happy Thanksgiving---the extra thankful edition

I know Thanksgiving is a little outdated now with Christmas on the horizon (less than 2 weeks away, really??), but I have too much to be thankful for to skip over it completely. Three weeks ago we took a trip up to New York and Pennsylvania to spend time with my family for Thanksgiving. We had been looking forward to the trip for several months and when we finally all got together the occasion did not disappoint. The kids were in heaven to be with cousins and the activities we had planned felt close to perfect. I have plenty of pictures of our fun weekend; however, since Thanksgiving is all about gratitude I feel like I have to jump directly to the most traumatic experience of our trip since I have no doubt it occurred in a way that we can only feel immense feelings of gratitude for.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving while we were all together in Pennsylvania we had planned to go to a nearby indoor water park. The temperatures were close to freezing outside, but inside it was  perfect--just like the rides that the kids dashed to and from for hours. We were just about done for the evening when Sam and my brother-in-law decided to give the surfing/body boarding simulator a try.

My brother-in-law went first, and, although it appeared to be a bit of a rough ride, Sam decided to go for it anyways.

It didn't start out too bad...


 

...but on his last run things didn't go so well--


at all.

As soon as he got up he knew something was wrong. He had fallen on his head and left side, yet it was his right arm that was tingling and numb along with pain in his neck. After sitting for a few moments he decided he needed to go to the hospital. My dad and brother-in-law took him while my sister and I took the kids home and waited to hear the news. A few hours later I got the call the he had indeed fractured a vertebrae in his neck and chipped another.  It wasn't the best news, but for a fractured vertebrae finding out that he had no permenant spinal cord or nerve damage was just about the best news we could get. It wasn't until later when we discovered that only 3% of the people who fracture a vertebrae in their neck do not become paralyzed or die that we fully understood the magnitude of our blessing. It is definitely a sobering statistic and will leave us forever grateful for the comparatively small trial we are currently enduring.

Sam is in a neck brace 24/7 for 5 weeks with the major limitation being that he can not drive or lift anything more than 10 lbs. He has also endured some expected discomfort, pain and soreness, but, all things considered, he is doing pretty well.

I told Sam he wasn't going to get any sympathy with this picture...

so he gave me these.


He doesn't always feel this cheerful about the neck brace, but he is doing his best to have a good attitude. (He told someone at work he felt like Guy Smiley.)


This certainly isn't what anyone would hope for from their Thanksgiving weekend, but in the end it's almost appropriate timing since I don't think I've ever felt so grateful in my life. Things are a little inconvenient now, but whenever I find myself getting a little overwhelmed ( I think I can officially cross "chauffeur" off my list of desired future professions)  I try to immediately turn back to the immense feelings of gratitude that should (and usually do) define this experience. There is no doubt--we have been blessed.