Thanks for Thanksgiving

As previously mentioned, David and I started a new Thanksgiving tradition last year when we opted to run away as a family and share quiet family time in a rented cottage on Seneca Lake (one of New York State's Finger Lakes). This year, we opted to rent a cabin, about 3 hours away, at Pymatuning State Park in Northwest Pennsylvania (I know I'll get grief from my family for our location choice - long story). Our cabin, which was *very* reasonably priced, was heated, had 2 bedrooms, a living area, bathroom and full kitchen along with a view of the lake. Surprisingly, we were not the only people with this idea. The cabins had several other families that were enjoying their holiday in the woods. Some of these families were even enjoying campfires in the evening.....we weren't that daring. The heated cabin was cozy enough for us. Anyway, I posted some photos to share.. The photo above was the view from our cabin.

After the turkey was in the oven, Mama and Papa-Dirtyfoot decided to go outside with Maddie to play in the snow. The picture directly to the left is Mama-Dirtyfoot making a snowball outside of our cabin. We walked down to the end of the road where there was a small playground. Madeline and I took turns getting pushed on the swings by David. David was pushing me so high that I was literally lifting off of the swing seat. I think the entire forest heard me screaming and Madeline was finding the entire thing quite hysterical.

On the walk back to the cabin, Madeline was enjoying just playing in the snow and exploring the way her feet tracked in the snow.
Once we returned (and the entire time we were indoors), Madeline was satisfied to occupy herself by pulling the couch cushions off of the couch, make "stairs" out of them, make "houses" out of them and jump on them. Mom even got into the act and stacked the pillows, ran across the cabin and dove into the pile of pillows. As Madeline continued to entertain herself I took care of the Thanksgiving feast preparations. I soooooo pleasantly surprised myself with the turkey I cooked! As you can see from the photo below, I was ready to bite into it before it even came out of the oven.









The only thing I feel semi-guilty about is opting to not make the broccoli I brought. We were a little light in the veggie area......but we *had to* save room for all the carbs and pumpkin pie. (Yes, I made Mom's Pumpkin Chiffon Pie)

We had a great time and now we need to think about making reservations for next year.