Happy Thanksgiving in Kansas

For Thanksgiving, cousin Stella's 1st birthday, and early Christmas, we traveled to Kansas City Kansas, home of Papa Duane and Nana Karen. However, our adventure started a day early when we found out snow and ice might prevent our drive to the airport the next morning. We spent the night before the flight at a hotel near the airport. Brielle thought it was a lot of fun to explore a new environment. She woke up several times during the night to sit up and smile as she looked around the room.

The first night we had Papa and Nana all to ourselves. Brielle had a new house to explore and quickly located an apple (her favorite word to say).

Nana was busy preparing food for all the Thanksgiving visitors. She let Brielle help out.

We enjoyed a fun dinner out. Papa played with Brielle, resulting in a giggle fest.

The next day, Aunt Amy, Uncle Todd, and Cousin Stella arrived!

Brielle was extremely excited to see Stella again. She squealed with joy, laughed, pointed, and called out, "Baby! Baby!"

Brielle was good with Stella, using "soft touch" to pet her head.

Everything was great until Mommy messed up by holding Stella. Brielle did NOT like that.

Stella's birthday is in early December, so we took the opportunity to have an early celebration for her.

Nana and Papa got a beautiful, yummy cake for Stella.

Stella also received some really fun gifts...

...including a little vehicle to ride around the house. Unfortunately, Brielle is obsessed with cars and quickly took it over.

Brielle loved the car, but fortunately she later learned that she could enjoy pushing her cousin around in the car rather than stealing it for herself.

Next, it was time to get ready for Thanksgiving!

Brielle helped Nana and Papa clean up the house.

Brielle and Stella had special name plates for their seats.

It was an exciting evening with Karen's son and daughter and grandchildren, Sam, Ben, Nicholas, Jacob, and Christian.

Brielle had a fantastic time playing with her older cousins.

Brielle also had some important phone calls to make, to tell other family members "Happy Thanksgiving!"

We got the gang together for a group photo, which wasn't that easy with excited, squirmy kids.

Time to say goodbye. Kisses for cousin Ben.

The following day we had our first Christmas celebration of the year! Everyone helped to decorate the tree.

Stella was dressed for the occasion.

Brielle put the first ornament on the tree...and took it off...and put it back on, etc.

Then it was time for more gifts! Both Stella and Brielle received some great clothes from Nana and Papa.

Brielle also received a warm monkey-themed blanket from Aunt Amy and Uncle Todd and a fun baby laptop from Nana and Papa.

Our family enjoyed other fun activities during our visit. The weather was actually better in Kansas than in Portland, so we took the opportunity to venture outside.

Brielle rode Stella's car down the road and ran down the street to discover the neighbors' dogs.

As I already noted, Brielle loves cars. So it was particularly exciting for Brielle to climb into Papa's bright red Miata.

"Vroom vroom!"

The adults also enjoyed playing in the game room, including using the pool table and the Wii system.

We figured we'd start the tradition of taking the embarrassing naked photo of cousins in the bathtub together, but Brielle protested.

Brielle had a fantastic time seeing everyone. She had big hugs for Uncle Todd.

Brielle says "thank you" for a wonderful Kansas visit with everyone.

Now it's time for more Christmas celebrations. We're looking forward to continuing the fun with family in Los Angeles next month. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!