Arrow Chief’s Feast

Yesterday was the last day of school before the Thanksgiving holiday.  I spent the morning preparing my great grandmother’s fabulous cranberry salad for our family gathering in Orlando on Thursday.  It’s the most simple recipe with most amazing flavor.  One bite and I am transported back to my great grandma’s house.  There is magic in food, especially this time of year.  Remind me to post the recipe some time.

J was able to leave work to attend Wildman’s feast.  We arrived just in time to see the class check out Fred.  Apparently a family in the town just south of us has a pet turkey that they were taking around to local schools on Tuesday.  The turkey’s name is Fred and he is 9 months old.  He seemed to enjoy the children’s company quite a bit and made a show of gobbling every few minutes.  The kids thought he was the coolest thing!  I have to admit I thought he was pretty awesome too 🙂

I am happy to report that Fred will not be Thanksgiving dinner for anyone since he is a pet!

We went back to the classroom with the children after our visit with Fred.  Mrs. L had put all of the tables together to form a long banquet table down the center of the room for the feast.  Parents brought in all sorts of goodies from turkey slices to brownie bites to mac and cheese.  I was in charge of drinks and brought in a cooler full of Capri Suns.

J helped Arrow Chief fix his plate.  Mrs. L made homemade dinner rolls.  The children made the butter themselves!

The feast got two thumbs way up from Arrow Chief!

We spent a lot of time watching the children perform Thanksgiving songs/poems.  J and I also went around the room checking out all of the awesome art projects!

It was a wonderful way to spend lunch.  Wildman really has a great teacher and is in class with some of the nicest families I’ve ever met.  Fellowship like this is what Thanksgiving is all about.

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ICE and SNOW

J and I took the boys to ICE and SNOW at the Gaylord Palms Resort on Saturday.  If you’ll recall, J won two adult tickets to the event when he won the pumpkin carving contest back in October.  We were happy that J did not have to be in DC on our ticket date although the friend who gave them to us would have happily traded tickets with us if we found ourselves in a bind.

I took the boys to ICE last year with B and Steph.  While the event was awesome in 2009, I have to report that it has much improved for 2010.  Santa Claus was there, we were treated to steaming cups of hot chocolate, the boys were able to e-mail Santa their Christmas wish at kiosks set up in the hall…  It was all very neat and definitely put us in the Christmas spirit!

Many things were the same like the nifty blue parkas, the ice slides and amazing colored ice displays.  Nine degrees once again proved to be too cold for my camera.  It locked up after an hour or so of below freezing temps.  At least it worked long enough for me to capture some good pictures.

Perhaps the best improvement to the event was the addition of SNOW!  Wildman was thrilled as you can see!  Cutie Pie was feeling a bit under the weather and refused to participate in anything snow related.

That didn’t prevent Wildman from enjoying the powdery stuff with gusto…

It was perhaps the only chance that Wildman will ever get to go tubing on snow in Central Florida!  He had so much fun!

The cherry on top of our wonderful day came when Wildman won the hourly raffle at SNOW!  He played several carnival games for raffle tickets and ended up winning his pick of prizes when they called his number.  The prized husky now has a place of honor on Wildman’s bed.

I think going to ICE and SNOW needs to be a family tradition!

Dad Came Home Early

Look what happens when the boys find themselves with some unexpected time with their father!  In the words of Wildman, “It was the best day ever!”

I love our little family 🙂