SWIMMING AND VEGGING

Another wake-up at the hotel to be greeted by the 4 little ones and their mommies and daddies. How fun to have breakfast together while LE snoozes in our room and the room cleaner gets her SECOND day off from cleaning our room.

The bigger little ones are ready for a swim. For some inexplicable reason the spa is foaming--really foaming. The little ones love it and the older ones are just hoping it isn't a residue of cleaning solvent???

When it's time to head back to Gigi's for lunch and naps, CA and I opt out for a while. He has papers to grade for Monday and I am on my way to WalMart for a few necessities. After a bit, CA and I adjourn to the sports bar next to the hotel for a quiet lunch and then return to our room where I snooze as he watches C-G win the state football championship.

By 4:00pm we are all together at Gigi's and talking about dinner at Chanticleer--a restaurant/bar too local for an Internet link. We love their onion rings, vinegar and oil salad dressing, fried chicken and catfish. Our table of 7 adults and 4 little ones certainly livens up the place... Gigi may need to take some time to live down this adventure. Takeout might have been a better idea, but we persevere.

This is our last night together and we've had a wonderful Thanksgiving together. MA and JE will drive back to Omaha in the morning, while DM and MK head to Wheaton/West Chicago. Some of us will be back in two weeks for the infamous Jacobs' Family Christmas where all the best cooks gather and everyone eats too much and talks too much and leaves fat and happy.

These family holiday celebrations are far easier as grandparents than parents! We help wrangle the little ones, but at bedtime we get to snuggle into our beds in our comfy, quiet hotel room.