Thanksgiving in Western Kentucky

Jennifer and I were both off from work this year and decided to make the trip back to McLean County to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. After Jennifer got off work Tuesday morning we finished packing up everything we needed and started on our 3 hour journey. Thankfully all my passengers slept for the first half of the trip. We stopped in Elizabethtown to get gas and let the kids get out for a little bit. We arrived in Livermore and came in to see grandpa. A few minutes later grandma arrived with our first treat, lunch from Island Dairy Freeze.

Jennifer and I took advantage of being around the grandparents and we headed out for a date night to see the new Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire. When we got back Uncle McKinley had arrived and was helping grandma and grandpa with the kids. They were trying to keep Landon calm because he was hungry. (They didn't see the other 2 bottles of milk in the fridge.) This first night was miserable for all of us because neither one of the kids slept well. (Brinley has a tendency to do this on her first night in a new place.) I had to get up 3 or 4 times with Brinley because Jennifer was busy trying to keep Landon calm.
Wednesday we packed up all of our stuff for the day and headed to Owensboro. Our first stop was our favorite restaurant in town, Real Hacienda. After lunch we looked around a couple of stores and then headed out to the Daviess County Library. Brinley was exhausted from not sleeping the night before so Jennifer stayed in the car with her while she napped. I took Landon in so that grandma could show him off to all her former co-workers. After our visit at the library we needed to waste a little time so we headed to the Owensboro Museum. Brinley had a lot of fun playing, running around and going down all the slides in the play area.

Brinley and Landon rocking at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Landon hanging out with the McLean County boys.

Landon showing off his muscles with Uncle McKinley.

Playing at the Owensboro Museum. It was pretty neat. They had a tunnel that went outside the building and over top of the sidewalk.

Our next stop was out to our cousin Tricia's house to visit some family. (We were not going to be able to do anything on Friday with them like we usually do because we had to come back for Jennifer to work Friday night. We got to see our cousins from Ohio, who we have always enjoyed getting to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with. They of course enjoyed getting to see and play with Brinley and Landon. We also played a few games and just spent the night catching up on everything. We really missed getting to see my Uncle Don, Aunt Angelena, cousin Kenneth, Erica and Bob.

Cousin Kasey and Landon!

Cousins Kyli Jo and Crystal with Landon!

Brinley just loved this stuffed animal bear. The bear is dressed to go hunting and Brinley kept picking up his binoculars and looking through them. (Not sure where she picks this stuff up from.)

Thanksgiving morning we all got up and started our day by watching some of the Macy's Day Parade on TV. After we all got ready we headed to Owensboro for our first Thanksgiving stop at my Aunt Mary Ruth's house. Here we got to see the rest of our cousins on my mother's side of the family. For most of them this was the first time that they got to meet Landon. Brinley wasn't in a very playful mood for most of the afternoon, so she pretty much stayed attached to either Jennifer or myself. After lunch we played outside a little bit and then I took pictures of all the families that were there.

Only picture I was able to get of Uncle Michael.

Taylor playing with the Ohio girls.

Cousin Bernie playing with his buddy Landon.

Bernie and McKinley decided to have the kids play chicken. Brinley was not a fan!

Brinley needed to get outdoors so Uncle McKinley decided to play in the leaves with her. 

3 of the 5 Siblings - Mary Ruth, Rickie and Shelia 

The Forwerck's

The Payne's

The Burns Girls

The Vance Girls

The Ward's

Our family minus Andrea

Our little family

Playing with my little girl. I do believe that she is a daddy's girl!

It won't be too long until our little girl is driving. She really enjoys pushing all the buttons and switches on the drivers side.

We had to leave early because Jennifer's family was having a Thanksgiving dinner and we needed to get over and see them. After we made it to Amanda's house both Brinley and I fell asleep before it was time to eat. We all enjoyed our meal and even Great Granddaddy Clayton and Memom showed up to visit. I had to cut my time short because I wanted to get out and see all the crazies for early Black Friday shopping at the local Wal-Mart. (That is a whole other story.)

Jennifer with her mother and sisters.

We really enjoyed our time back home in McLean County and I know that grandma and grandpa really enjoyed getting to have their grandkids over to visit their home. (Even though most of the time was spent keeping Brinley from breaking everything within her reach.) Brinley also really enjoyed playing the piano during her visit which really thrilled grandpa. I hope all of you had a wonderful time on your Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading and God Bless!