Illinois Thanksgiving... GO.

I forgot to mention that this Thanksgiving weekend is pretty much going to be a blur by the time it's over, so if nothing else, these blog entries are for my own sanity of sorting it out when the dust settles.

Wednesday night we made our way north to Mt. Vernon, yesterday was our family Thanksgiving feast, and today we were back in Cincinnati for a few short hours so that Rob could work a half day. Sydni and I maximized the hours by cleaning the house, doing laundry and packing up again for the last leg of our Thanksgiving weekend, and soon enough found ourselves on the road again, west-bound to Illinois.

Fast forward through the 5-hour roadtrip to our first landing point at Rob's mom's. We stopped by primarily to visit with them, but also because she wanted to give Sydni her late birthday/early Christmas present: A Midieval Princess Dress!

She loves it. Thank you, Carolyn!!!

We're now at Dillon's; the boys took off to go do their own thing, and Sydni and I are busying ourselves with some good old fashioned mama-mini snuggle time to some cartoons.

Hello, Illinois! ♥

xo | cmd

Renaissance & Going-Away

Today we met with  my family in Waynesville, for a day trip to the Renaissance Festival!

Photo blast in 3... 2... GO! 

renaissance festival! | waynesville, oh

the "royal court" [sans the queen, who was "shopping"]

to the stocks with us!

TV talents here at the RT! Kamikaze Fireflies: 

[borrowed image from mostmetro.com]

someone found her seat for the show! 

+ boyfriend. + sister
♥♥

THE MUDSHOW! 

Afterwards, with the fam!

♥♥ [part of] my family! ♥♥

Venturing off in search of lunch: 

it's a great day for a festival! 

boom. found it! giant turkey legs it is! 

....... she's gonna kill me.... ;)
love youuuuu, mom

Next stop: The joust, a horseback ride for Sydni and a VERY special character appearance!

** joust video **

in syd's defense, that was actually a very tall horse.
great job, minime!

could it be?! yep! it's merida!! 

Back on solid ground: 

queeeen for the day! 

the king & queen of our family ♥

took a moment to share the love with my pops

SKY SWINGS!
They've been peddlin' these things at the RT since I was a kid.. and I still don't have one.. haha.

gosh.. these two ♥♥♥ and then some more ♥♥♥.

How to tell if the day was a success? 

[before we even got out of the grounds parking] 

I'm so glad we were able to attend the RT for the first time with Syd and Rob! It looks like there will be many more memories each year at these; with any luck, my mom & sister will have coerced me into dressing up next year, so there's that... I guess stay tuned ;)

The day didn't end with the RT; I was in the shower and transformed into dinner date material as soon as our boots hit the homestead. Brittany's final going-away dinner was at Via Vite; I rendezvoused with the gang.

miss you, kp!

Dinner was great, and I got a few hours of hangtime in with Kalyn, who for obvious reason I rarely see anymore :(. SO glad to catch up with everyone, and congrats Brittany!! Have a BLAST in South Carolina!

Okay so that was the end of the night. I had tentatively planned to make an appearance wherever Jessica and Cassie landed after the wedding they'd attended, but by the time dinner was out, I voted to throw in the towel and get back to my little family.

Phew.
Goooodnight!

xo | cmd