Thanksgiving 2005 came and went. The holiday season is pretty hectic for me and Melanie. We have to figure out which days we’ll have Lauren and then schedule our family visits accordingly. Luckily, my family is fairly easy with when we get together… what’s most important is getting together.
This year, Derek and Kristin were planning on coming down for the weekend. Last year they came down for Christmas, so this year it’s turkey weekend. Unfortunately, their new puppy, Taz, was injured just a couple of days prior to their trip. Kristin had to stay home with the puppy since he needed someone to watch him. We were bummed that she couldn’t make it since it may be a while until we get to see her.
Thanksgiving day was a very long one. We got up early to have breakfast with Melanie’s family. A great meal to get the day going. From there we went to Redlands for the annual T-Day feast with Melanie’s side of the family. There is usually about 20 people there and this year was on par. The new tradition is deep-fried turkey, we’ve been doing it for the past 4 years now. Uncle Dale and I handle the frying duties… we’ve become quite the pros. Of course, it helps that Dale is an excellent chef.
After Redlands, we drove back to Anaheim, picking up Lauren on the way home. Lauren was supposed to be going to Fresno with her mom and step-dad, but a change in plans allowed us to have her for the weekend. Derek and Lauren were very stoked to be able to see each other. We hung out at Mel’s folks for a few hours, then split to pick Derek up from Ontario airport. His flight landed early, at about 10:30PM. We went from there to Apple Valley… arrived at about 11:20PM. Chatted with my folks for about an hour and then hit the sack.
We had the Bernhart Thanksgiving on Friday. My mom made her famous pork roast with sauer kraut and potato dumplings. Real good comfort food for the Bernhart kids… especially the dumplings, we get those twice a year if we’re lucky. [It used to be more often]
It was a relaxing two days we spent in Apple Valley. We hung out and played board games, watched movies, played basketball and horseshoes… and just lounged. I went out and took photos in Lucerne Valley on Saturday morning while Melanie went for a jog.
We dropped Lauren off on the way home on Saturday and made it home (to our own place) with enough time to just sit on the couch and veg for a while before calling it a night.
Busy weekend, but worth it! … some photos here …
[image above hosted on flickr.com]
