Thursday
So to start our "weekend" we had a relaxing Thanksgiving at home - just the three of us. Matt cooked our turkey (all 7 lbs) on his new rotisserie and I made the sides (homemade mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and homemade cranberry sauce). It was a lot of food for just the two of us, but it made it feel like Thanksgiving, which I loved. Other than cooking food (oh and munching on appetizers like pigs in a blanket and homemade bruschetta), we pretty much just hung out outside with Ethan. It was a gorgeous day so he loved being outside and we enjoyed relaxing.
Brining the turkey the night before
The start of my homemade cranberry sauce (cranberries, pears and oranges - yum!)
Let the rotisserie begin!
Playing catch outside
The delicious end result :)
Friday
We woke up Friday morning and took our time getting ready to head out the door. We knew we wanted to eat lunch at home and drive during Ethan's nap, so we weren't in any rush to get on the road. So around noon we started our drive down to Roswell, the first stop on our mini Southwest New Mexico trip. Fortunately, we had heard from friends that there wasn't really much to Roswell, so our expectations were set before we even got there. We did, of course, visit the International UFO Museum, which cost us $3 each and took us all of about 20 minutes (including a bathroom break) to work our way through. We were just happy that wasn't the real goal of our trip and was more of a pit-stop along the way to get to Carlsbad, and now we can say we've been there!
Naptime while driving to Roswell. He used his hat to block the sun. Smart little guy. :)
The best part about the UFO Museum? The man carrying around two birds on his back...
So after Roswell, we kept driving South to Carlsbad where we spent the night so we'd all be well-rested to go to the caverns the next day. We've learned that traveling with a toddler is totally doable, but takes a little longer and includes a lot more "rest" time than if it were just us. :)
Saturday
Saturday we woke up and headed straight to the Carlsbad Caverns, which were awesome. Seriously, awe-some. We took the natural entrance in, which is definitely the way to do it. It was much darker than I expected, for some reason I remember Luray Caverns being well-lit, but maybe I made that up? Either way it was really cool and I highly recommend it to anyone who comes to visit us or just happens to be in that area for whatever reason. Matt even made a video of our trip, which you can check out here, so I won't post a lot of pictures, since all the good ones are in the video. :)
Sunday
Sunday was the official start of Christmas cheer for me! :) I got out our tree, decorated that baby, decorated the house, drank eggnog and watched some of my favorite Christmas movies (in between football and a few episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, of course). And by the end of the day I totally remembered why I like to decorate so early - because it takes forever and there is no way I am undecorating the house for quite sometime! Lol.
The annual torturing of Beaker with the Santa suit :)
I got this advent calendar as a gift years ago and was super excited to hang it for Ethan this year. He has no concept of only putting one ornament up a day, but loved playing with it, so that's good enough for me!
My happy little reindeer!
All done (before Beaker climbed half-way up, possibly payback for the Santa suit...)
One of my favorite ornaments - my Dad's fire engine that Hallmark made into an ornament :)
So excited that we finally have a real mantel for our stockings! Also makes the whole "Santa comes down the chimney" thing easier to explain. :)
So that was our awesome four-day weekend to wrap up November! I hope everyone else had a great holiday and got to enjoy family and friends and do something they love. :) Now it's December, which means birthdays... and I'm 30. ;)
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