Thanksgiving in Newfield, then visiting in Tivoli and Sinterklaas

We loved seeing Grandpa Jack and Grandma Deb, as well as the Gosa family and Brian and Marykate, for Thanksgiving in Newfield. Deb put on a delicious dinner and Terrill contributed his delicious mac'n'cheese and sweet potato pie. A good time was had by all!

Terrill helped me set up my birthday camera so I got a shot of Papi, Terrill and the kids at breakfast at our hotel:

We took our possibly traditional Thanksgiving walk to Taughannock Falls with Kira and Grandpa Jack.

Fer and Wendy love all the technology that their cousins from Virginia bring! They greatly enjoyed their iPad and DS time with Jasmine and Marcus, while Grandma Deb and Terrill were at it in the kitchen and the rest of us went back and forth between visiting and helping.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the mall, not for Black Friday (!!), but to take the kids to a movie, which has also become sort of a tradition. They enjoyed "Wreck-it Ralph" and Kathy and I did too, sort of. I think our husbands who went to "Lincoln" may have gotten the better deal! Afterward we went back to Grandpa Jack and Grandma Deb's for delicious Thanksgiving leftovers and some more family time. Just one picture, of Kathy and me with Brian and Marykate.

On Saturday we headed over to Tivoli, another 4 hour drive, but with the recent unearthing of our DVDs, the girls were quite happy to watch a movie. (The movers "lost" our extensive DVD collection and since being in South Orange, we have been "mystified" by where they could be. Every so often Mami would "find" one or two in a random box, but the whole collection was nowhere to be found, at least by the girls. But we decided that it seemed time, so hero Papi located them in a place no-one had thought to look, amidst the boxes and boxes that hold the papers of his life that are stored in the back corner of our basement.)

In Tivoli we loved our time with Gigi and Grandad, Christine and Matt and Jack and Daphne, and Amy and Alison who came for the night to visit as well. We went down to Rhinecliff for the arrival of Sinterklaas (the Dutch Santa), a slightly wacky local affair with Grumpuses in costume, much music and merriment, and the grand finale of Sinterklaas's arrival by boat from Kingston! It was fun but extremely cold, so after waving Sinterklaas to land, we headed back home posthaste.

After Sinterklaas, Fer and Wendy had a sleepover with Apple and Milli, one of the great delights of their lives, and Chris and I went down to Matt and Christine's to hang out and spend the night, also a great time.