::a very texas thanksgiving::

we have so much to be thankful for this year.

we desperately missed being with our families on this day of thanksgiving, but we tried to enjoy everything texas had to offer.

we kicked off the day by participating in the houston turkey trot.  it was a tradition you could count on in my family growing up (followed by starbucks for the drive home!.) and i am happy to say it has definitely become a tradition for our family, too.

we got up bright and early and packed the kids, and blankets, and breakfast, and snacks and strollers into the car.  we got there to realize that a texas sized turkey trot is a very different beast than an indiana or virginia sized turkey trot.  we had to part far away from the start line and rolled up to the start amidst the masses to the gun already going off.  we quickly wound our way into the starting corral and started the run.  we found that we and the kids were way overdressed for the weather and quickly had to peel layers off.  we enjoyed running with the thousands of houstonians and the entire time lily was very eagerly awaiting her very own turkey trot.

after we finished our race, lily and finn were very ready to head to their start line for the kids' trot.  i had not planned on them participating in the race, but lily was so excited about the prospect that i could not turn her down.  she and finn practiced "racing" both in and out of our house for days leading up to thanksgiving.  there were two nights in a row she couldn't sleep because she was so thrilled about her race t-shirt.

when the time to start came, lily took off and finn decided he'd rather ride than run.  lily was adorable and loved every minute of the race.  she and finn wore their medals until bedtime.  she just seemed so free and alive that it almost brought tears to my eyes and she ran to the finish.

this is the part of the race where a man running the kids' 1K race almost takes her out.

then we were able to celebrate texas style on our deck this evening with ryan's wonderful co-fellows.  we played outside and enjoyed a feast in the backyard.  this may be the only year we can ever eat thanksgiving dinner outside and we decided we ought to embrace the opportunity.

we hope you all have had a wonderful thanksgiving.  we are abundantly thankful for all of you.

happy thanksgiving!!