This was a fun week. With Thanksgiving on Thursday, I spent a lot of this week preparing desserts to take down to Ohio. We had a great time in Westerville with my family. I am thankful that we were able to get the family together and have such a great time.
On Monday, we didn't do a ton. Since I was so tired yesterday, I decided to skip my long swim workout today and planned to do it on Tuesday so that I wouldn't be swimming long before my Thanksgiving day 4 miler. I would be skipping 2 of my swims this week, but that was fine. We also learned today that we were not able to pre-order a pie from Grand Traverse Pie Company for Thanksgiving. After some debate, we decided that we didn't want to risk just showing up and having the extras be sold out, so we would just plan to make an apple pie in addition to the other desserts that I had committed to bringing. Here are a couple shots of Keira and Soren playing around the house.
On Tuesday, it was pie and dessert day. I did my long swim, and then we had to make a stop at Busch's (which actually had the lowest prices this week on the baking items I needed, normally we overpay for everything for the convenience of shopping there). I worked like mad once Soren went down for his nap to get the maple pumpkin cheesecake ready. While I made the crust for this pie, I realized I had enough maple sugar for one more crust. This and the fact that the already planned apple pie had the exact same cook times and temperature as pumpkin pie lead to me make a second crust. We were locked and loaded to make 4 desserts. Once the cheesecake was out of the oven, I made a pumpkin roll. It was a lot messier to roll up than I anticipated, and I don't think I have a picture of it. It didn't look beautiful all wrapped in plastic and I forgot once we had it out for serving. The kids were great, and played nicely once Soren woke up.
Once they were in bed for the evening, I got the pumpkin pie ready. Then, Ryan and I worked on the the apple pie. The recipe called for 3.5lbs of apples. It was a lot of apples. We weren't really sure how they would fit in the pan. They did settle a bit during baking, but it was still a pretty large pie. We even used a larger dish than it specified. I have no idea how that many apples would fit in a 9in pie dish.
On Wednesday, Keira and Soren were going crazy waiting for Ryan to come home so we could go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. They were upset with everything we did that wasn't going to Grandma's. We had to run out to Busch's again today. I think it was the highlight of Keira and Soren's day (next to going to Grandma's) to be able to ride in the car cart. We were here yesterday, and ran into one of Keira's classmates who was riding in the car cart. Since there is no extra charge and there happened to be one in the cart corral, we went for it.
We got in right around the kids' bedtime, but let them stay up a little bit to play with Grandma and Grandpa. Soren loves Sarah's dog, Moose.
On Thursday, my dad and I ran in the Pilgrim's Progress 4 Miler. We chose this race because it was the most economical. It also turned out to have some great prizes. I really wanted to win a mall gift card as an age group award, and tried very hard. I finished 6th in my age group, with a new PR of 29:10, which is a minute faster than last year's Thanksgiving day 4 miler's PR. I was pleased with how I ran, but bummed that the two ladies I passed right at the end were NOT in my age group, and they got gift cards, and I did not. I would do this race again. I also saw several former gymnasts. I knew I would see Meredith, as we had discussed this before entering, but I also saw Catie and her mom Char from Buckeye, as well as Wendy F. The forecast was really bad for the race, so the kids stayed home. It ended up staying dry for the whole race and I had to take off my fleece at the start. I felt silly in tights, headband and gloves with my tank top...I was fine, though. Shorts and a long sleeve T probably would have been a better choice, but this worked.
After the race, we had Thanksgiving Dinner. My brother was home from NYC, and his friends (twins) Kristen and Andy joined us. My sister is living at home, and was there too. We had tons of food and everything was great. My brother is experimenting with being vegan like Kristen, and they made a couple vegan dishes to share. Their maple brussel sprouts were very tasty, however, their fake turkey and dressing (made from gluten) just looked pretty unappetizing, and I didn't try it. It was pretty far from the "gluten free" recipe that I had tried the other week. We just hung out the rest of the evening.
On Friday, we did a bit of shopping for the kids in the morning. We got out a bit late (relative to the 5am/10pm the night before) so we missed a lot of the "doorbuster" crowds. We stopped at Road Runner Sports were I was able to get a great deal on my favorite running shoes (and have them use their software to pretty much confirm those were the right shoes for me). Our next stop was Toys R Us. They had extended its doorbuster prices to go all day. While things were pretty picked over by the time we got there, we still got some great deals. Soren and Keira were perfectly content to hang out at the Thomas display while my mom and I discreetly purchased items. My dad was pretty funny. When it was time to leave, (and actually as we arrived), he explained that we were going to a "toy museum" and that everything was going to stay there. I usually try to do all of my toy shopping without either child. The only time they are with me when a toy is purchased is if they are picking it out for a gift for someone else, so it wasn't terrible for them to leave empty handed.
That evening, after dinner at Sarah's restaurant, Ryan and Dad went to the Red Wings vs the Blue Jackets game. Ryan was happy to see the Red Wings win. While the guys were gone, my mom and I took the kids over to see the lights at the zoo. We didn't stay long because it was pretty late when we got there and it was freezing. We will try to go back at Christmas. It was very pretty.
On Saturday, it was the day of the OSU vs UM football game in Columbus. My parents were up and off early. I went on a short run outside before the game. Sarah was around for the game, and was able to share the joy of the OSU victory with me.
Once my parents got back, we had dinner at The Pomegranate, a Mediterranean restaurant with them. After dinner, Ryan and I were able to go on a date to see the movie, "127 Hours". It is a movie based on Aron Ralston's experience in Blue John Canyon in Utah where he was trapped and freed himself by cutting off his arm. I had read his book that was written after the event in 2003, so I was very eager to see the movie. It was very well done, and it was not nearly as gross as I feared it would be. We also walked around Easton a bit after the movie. We will want to come back to Easton to walk around when we come back at Christmas too.
On Sunday, we had an easy morning. Keira and Soren played "jump on Grandpa", a new game that they loved.
We took the kids to church before we left. I wore this coat when I was 3.
They were pretty much the worst behaved children there. It was like they had never been to church before, and were arguing over everything. Ryan was embarrassed by their behavior. I really hope this is not what afternoon church is going to be like for us next year....and this wasn't even as late! To be fair to the kids, they had not slept well at all the entire trip. They woke up early and went to bed late most days, and Soren's nap schedule had been disrupted. We had a quick lunch with my parents and Sarah before heading back home. Soren was asleep in the car almost instantly, and Keira fell asleep shortly after. She is coming down with a cold, which also has been making her a bit more tempermental. Once we got unpacked, we started working on our Christmas decorations. I was pleased to say that I got the tree decorated before going to bed. It was a late night, and I will need to spend a great deal of energy "defending the tree" from Soren. We had several lights out on the tree, so I didn't take any pictures yet. We flagged them with painters tape and need to get more before being able to fix them.
Up for next week: We will have pictures of our decorated tree and home!
