Our Whirlwind Thanksgiving Break

I think you better sit down for this... for a week over Thanksgiving, Ari and I were actually on vacation together! The stars must have aligned when our chiefs wrote our schedules this year!! We were delighted to take the time to catch up with our friends and loved ones. Here is a synopsis of the insane itinerary:

We left Tuesday morning and headed to Peoria to see Tim, Michelle, and their beautiful daughters. They are old friends from medical school and we were glad to catch up and see how big their girls have gotten. Elizabeth, who was born during medical school, is now almost 3 and Lauren just turned one. While I sat and cuddled with Lauren and read a book, Ari and Elizabeth ran around in circles until he almost passed out. When Tim got home from the hospital we went out to dinner and Dave, one of Ari's med school roommates, got to join us. Unfortunately his wife Amanda was on call. As luck would have it, Aja and Jill, friends from my class, were there too! Finally, stuffed full of pasta, we rolled into the car and down to St. Louis.

Wednesday, Ari went to play golf while mom and I shopped in historic St. Charles. I found a couple of ornaments for our tree and some Christmas presents. That night mom cooked an awesome meal - steak for the carnivores and pasta for the vegetarian! We finished off the night with an exciting game of Mexican train.

Thursday, which some people call Thanksgiving and I fondly refer to the festival of food, we ate all day! My mom cooked a delicious meal for me, Ari, Tracy, Mike, Tina, Don, John, and Holly. She even made sweet potatoes (which she hates) because she knows we love 'em. We were so glad that Holly could join us after her crazy night in the Cardinal Glennon PICU. Believe it or not, I was so full from the wonderful dinner that I couldn't eat the obligatory turkey sandwhich later that night!

Friday, mom and I treated ourselved to manicures and pedicures. Then, Ari wanted to go shopping... I swear it was his idea!! Miraculously, we found parking easily. We got what we were looking for and headed to Aunt Camille's for a visit. It was wonderful to see Dad, Lily, Kelsey, Aunt Camille, Uncle Orville, Uncle Brucey, Aunt Kathy, my cousin Adam and his fiancee Katie. We then went to have Japanese with mom and were off to the boat... casino, that is. If you have been reading our blog at all, you probably get the impression that we like to gamble... you are probably right! Ari had terrific luck at Harrah's, though I kept trying to give back our winnings!

Saturday we went to visit Laura, Tim, and Audrey. Laura, Tim and I went to the U of I together where Laura was my pledge mom. Ari and I were so excited to meet their new daughter. She is so beautiful... and such a good sleeper! That night was my 10 year high school reunion. The picture above is me and Sara who has tolerated being my friend longer than anyone else... now about 15 years! I had a great time catching up with everyone and seeing what they were up to. It was fun to meet the spouses, too!

Sunday we slept in and regretfully made our way home back to the real world.