Thanksgiving visit

My parents, sister, and brother came to visit us for Thanksgiving. They live in California and arrived on Monday evening and were greeted by a surprise that Jacob had prepared. He blew up about 20 balloons and dropped them over the railing from the playroom when my family walked through the front door. My mother brought a cute little craft that she and Analee spent some time putting together. They made a turkey napkin holder for each person. They turned out very cute and Mom and Analee had fun making them.

Playing "Apples to Apples". Mom won by a landslide.

Balloon fighting with Aunt Charon. These balloons are from Jacob's surprise greeting and were used in a daily morning balloon fight.

We spent Wednesday in Fort Worth. We started out with the Fort Worth Herd, which is a small cattle run of Longhorn Steers. They came down the street with the cowboys. Those steers are really big.

This is one of the cowboys herding the cattle. Several cowboys hung around after the run and talked with people and took pictures.

Cowboy, Analee, and Aunt Charon. The horse is "smiling".

The cowboy went into the middle of the street and cracked his bullwhip several times. It sounded really cool and was very loud.

After lunch at Risky's BBQ, the kids wanted to do the cattle shute maze across the street. There was a small jail cell where the kids pretended to be in jail. Sam said he needed a harmonica and Jacob wanted a tin cup to rake across the bars.

This is the top view of the maze. We stood on the observation deck and tried to direct the kids in the direction they should go but it was still confusing. They spent about 20 minutes inside before they found all the hidden points and made it to the exit.

Analee, Jacob, Sam and Uncle Evan

Finally coming out and turning in their tickets for a prize. At first I thought their prize was going to be a sticker that was given to each of them and I thought, "Lame", but then they got to pick something small out of a prize bowl. Sam picked a rubber popper and Analee and Jacob picked Chinese finger traps that they needed help getting out of.

A close-up look at the steers from the cattle run. So big.

Inside the Stockyard building is a museum where we saw the "Bad Luck Wedding Dress." Every person who wore this dress or was about to wear this dress, met with heartbreak. The husband or fiance of every woman associated with this dress was killed or died from illness. The dress was eventually put away and no one wore it again. It's too bad because the dress is gorgeous.

Here is the little turkey craft that Analee and Mom made for everyone. Super cute.

The napkins wouldn't fit very well into the turkey so we just put them at the top of each place setting.

Very good Thanksgiving food and company. We had salmon and a pheasant that Kyle brought back from his hunting trip earlier this year in Oregon with his dad. We had butternut squash and roasted tomato and basil soup, herbed garlic potatoes, crescent rolls, olives, avocados, pumpkin pie, lemon cheesecake, peach cobbler and caramel apple pie.

Since we hail from Minnesota, we had to do our own "Polar Bear Plunge." Our spa works beautifully so Kyle, by himself, took the plunge from the far side of the pool over to the nicely heated spa.

Analee, Sam, Jacob, Kyle and Uncle Evan

Foosball tournament. Kyle and Analee won the first game but Grandpa and Jacob won the second.

My family left on Friday afternoon. We had a really good time with them. We live the farthest away from both of our families so it is always a treat to spend time with them. We are very thankful for so many things this year. We are thankful for our good health and the ability to enjoy being together.