The last time I celebrated Thanksgiving in the US was in 2003, so this was a super fun excuse to go. Of course, bringing Fry with me meant I could introduce him to a whole side of the family he hadn't met yet. The main reason I decided to go, however, is that my aunt had just learned that she's got cancer. She's responding well to treatment and it looks like she's going to be around for a good long while, but that was what really prompted me to get on a plane.
Fry did pretty good on the 10 hour flight. Our carry on was 90% stuff to keep him entertained and he did actually manage to take a 2 hour nap, which was a nice break. I'm not gonna lie though, the last hour was pretty hard!
We spent the first couple of nights in my old stomping grounds of Greenville, SC. Thanks to a bad bout of jet lag (mostly for Fry) we didn't get to see any many folks as I would have liked, but we had a great visit with some of my college BFFs.
Then we drove down to Tallahassee to spend Thanksgiving at my uncle's home and there we saw tons of family (plus my sister came down to visit!). Fry loved playing with his cousins and it wasn't long before we discovered that he's definitely inherited my family's genes for sports. Not long after picking up one of his older cousin's old t-ball bats, he was hitting wiffle balls across the backyard!
Then it was down to central Florida to see my aunt and uncle. Despite having lost her hair to chemo, she's looking great and is still very active. We had a great visit, even if it was short. We even got to see a missile take off from Kennedy Space Center from their place before we left!
Our last stop was the town where I grew up, Titusville. I hadn't been back we moved up to the Carolinas in 1997 so it was an emotional visit. We stayed with the parents of my BFF from high school (who was also in town with her sweetie!), which was my second home back in the day. They say you can't go home again, but I got pretty close! In the unseasonably warm weather (even for Florida!) we went swimming in the pool and had a great time at the beach. It was wonderful catching up and I wish we could have stayed longer.
Then it was time for the long voyage home. After an obligatory shopping trip at Wally World (the regular sorts of goodies plus I needed another suitcase for all the Christmas presents I'd purchased!), we spent another day in the car and caught our flight home the next day.
It was a wonderful trip, but as I said, far too short. Next time we visit, we will definitely stay at least two weeks. I would really, really like to be able to go again in the Fall of 2013 when Fry is turning five. At that point he'll still be in Maternelle and can miss a few days of school, and I'd really like to take him for Halloween. So mark your calendars, family!!
ho hum, another rocket launch
meeting the locals
Fry becomes a virtuoso overnight
Shuttles just lying around everywhere
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