Thanksgiving

Aidan's first Thanksgiving was a whirlwind of visiting family and tons of food. After meeting up with the Ruane aunts, uncles and cousins earlier in the week, we all drove up to Grandma and Grandpa Ruane's mountain house in the Catskills on Tuesday for the real party. The immediate Ruane family was all there (Uncle Gabe, Aunt Karen, and cousin Miya; Uncle Matt, Aunt Devon, and cousins Rae and Elsey; and Grandma and Grandpa Ruane), and more people poured in each day, including Uncle Jon-Michael Ross (who flew in from Purdue on Wednesday) and tons of second cousins, great-aunts and uncles and other friends and family. For Thanksgiving dinner we had 31 people in total, and we chowed down on a 41 pound turkey! Throughout the week, Daddy had fun playing wiffle-ball with his brothers, and Aidan was sprightly and flexible, despite being passed around among tons of ooohing and ahhing strangers. Here are some highlights from the week:

- On Wednesday, we chilled out and Mommy made three apple pies (a Ross favorite), while Aunt Karen made two banana-cream pies (a Ruane favorite).

- On Thursday we had the Thanksgiving feast at 6PM, after which Daddy's cousin Tim and his girlfriend Ulrike (who are professional musicians in Manhattan) spoiled us with an incredible piano and violin concert in the living room. Ulrike told Mommy that a musician must "fall in love with" their violin like they fall in love with a person - her violin was made in 1780 and her parents had to sell a house to buy it!

- On Friday we had a bonfire in the backyard, after which a Tango instructor came to the house and led the Thanksgiving crowd plus visiting neighbors in a night of dancing.

- On Saturday morning, the grandkids made bookends for Grandma Ruane by painting their hands with acrylic paint and making handprints on stones from the stream. Afterwards, we celebrated a second surprise 60th birthday party for Grandpa Ruane with more extended family, shared stories about him, and presents, including a Kubota BX24 tractor from Grandma!

- On Sunday, we packed up, took Uncle Jon-Michael out to Brio's (Mommy's favorite pizza in the whole world), and drove back to the City where we shared one last night with Uncle Gabe, Aunt Karen and Miya, before they flew back to California and we started another normal week.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We may need extra naps this week to recover, but we had a wonderful time.