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Blogging from just north of Apia in the South Pacific today on our way home to Australia from Thanksgiving.  MSP > DFW > LAX and now we’re ten hours into our last leg to MEL.  Only six hours left.  The seats on this plane recline more than on our last one, so my laptop screen is bent over at a 45 degree angle while I’m typing because the woman in front of me is still sleeping.  Or still hogging the space, depending on how you look at it.  I’m feeling a little misanthropic at this point, so I’ll go with the latter (aside:  How, HOW do people think it’s okay to walk around a plane with bare feet? In the bathroom??).   Dawn is breaking in the Pacific now, and our Airbus 380 has a tail-cam, so Isaac is amusing himself by watching the islands go by that we are flying over.

I think we're actually over Australia here - light was better once the shades were up on the plane. 

 The trip so far has been uneventful.  Ruth spilled water on her sweatshirt on our way to Dallas, so we tried to find a dry one for her at DFW.  The only ones we could find came with a big “Don’t Mess With Texas” logo on them, though, so we decided she’ll just bundle herself in blankets for the rest of the trip.  We ate leftover turkey and cranberry sauce sandwiches on the plane, and Isaac even had a little container of leftover stuffing in his snack box that he was just crazy about.  My parents really brought their A game with the stuffing this year.  

Isaac's favorite holiday!

Absolutely delightful to be back in Minnesota for a few days.  The kids loved the snow, loved the cold weather, and loved being with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We had a special surprise visit from our cousin Nicole, who flew in from New York with my sister Katie.  Nicole stayed with us for four days before heading home to her own kids for Thanksgivinig.



 By far, the best part of the holiday was seeing how nicely all the cousins played together.  This was the first year all six of the American cousins could play nicely.  Even my almost-three year old niece hung with the big kids (ages 5, 5, 5, 6, 7) really well.  We could let them have sleepovers and they really slept, didn’t fight too much, and shared pretty well, too.  My brother and sister-in-law Jeff and Julie took on the lion’s share of the kid entertaining.  My kids wanted to move in to the house with the bounce house in the basement and the paint table in the living room.  My brother-in-law Lawrence was responsible for bedtime baths and stories for his daughter and Ruth, who were pretty inseparable on this visit, and slept together almost every night.  We skated, we sledded, we swam, we climbed.  

 

Not an outdoor pool.

My only regret was that we had so little time to see everyone we wanted to see.  Hopefully next time we’ll have more time to get around to all the family friends.  This trip was very family- and kid-centered.  

Some photo highlights, only to be found for me in my hometown:

20 degrees F is the perfect weather for deep-frying a Thanksgiving turkey.

Earning their keep.

Just don't eat the yellow snow.

Sledding . . .

Grape salad . . . (looks a little gross since it was half-eaten at this point, but it was really delicious.)  Of course it was the first time any of us had ever eaten grape salad.  If you're not familiar with the Minnesota grape salad controversy of Thanksgiving 2014, see this link:  http://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2014/11/nyt-settles-grape-dispute-with-nod-to-wild-rice/

Sliding on the ice rink behind my parents' house . . .

 

 

 And of course, no snowy holiday is complete without making snow angels.

 Update:   Made it back to Melbourne with few disruptions.  Qantas was again awesome.  They have a cool feature in the onboard entertainment where you can sort through thousands of songs, make a playlist for yourself, and just listen to those.  I actually got about four hours sleep on the plane listening to my custom playlist of soothing songs on repeat.  Our big transport success – we had a printer in the US which we left behind in my parents’ house.  We packed the printer in a suitcase, and it actually made it back to Australia in one piece, and works, with a power converter.   And Dad, customs let my wild rice in the country!  Not that I’m cooking it any time soon – it was close to 100 degrees when we arrived.  I miss the windchill.  

 

A little tricky getting our three full-size suitcases, three large duffels, four carry-ons and four people into our Honda Civic, but we made it home, albeit not comfortably.  Upon arriving home we were greeted with a fresh challah and bagels from one of my brothers-in-law (who also took care of our rubbish bins and mail while we were gone – thank you!) and a quick birthday party with Peppa Pig cake for my niece who is turning three today.    Sadly, also greeted with my first (hopefully only) speeding ticket.  Speed cameras are EVERYWHERE.  I got caught in a two block area that drops to 40 kph from 60 kph, then goes back to 60 kph.  

Glad I didn't see this before I left, or I couldn't have shopped as much at the Mall of America.

 I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving.  Happy holidays, y’all.