A Day In the Life With The Claudio's: Our First Thanksgivings Back in the States

It was a couple weeks before Thanksgiving and we found out that the boys would be out of school for the week of Thanksgiving for "Fall Break". We already knew that we would be spending Thanksgiving in Georgia with Vic's family. I talked to Vic and asked him about driving to Ohio for a few days. I figured since the boys would be out of school why not do a pre-holiday road trip. We headed out on Thursday after the boys got out of school. We drove until 3am and finally had to stop for some shut eye. We were about 40 miles from Louisville Kentucky. Not bad seeing as how we didn't get on the road until about 3:45pm (central time). We finally arrived in Ohio on Friday. It was a long trip but so worth it. It was great being around family and friends for the holiday season. My mom and grandma put together a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. They were exhausted but it felt great to be back at my grandma's house for Thanksgiving. It reminded me of when I was young and going there every year for Thanksgiving. My mom was generous enough to include Vic's sister and family as well. It has been years since Vic has had a Thanksgiving with his sister and the 1st time all our kids had one together. It meant a lot to Vic and I as well as Bern. We had a great time and we miss everyone!!!!

PS: A special thanks to Pat for helping grandma prepare dinner until my mom could get there. Good thing you and grandma were able to find the turkey you lost.....ha ha!!!!

Pat & Tate enjoying their drinks...ha ha!

Pat & Tate enjoying ice cream together

My niece Kyleigh & Colsen

My 2 favorite girls!

Vic & Logan..he actually smiled!

Before we headed to Georgia we went to breakfast with Kari and Bernie. The other 3 boys were out having fun with their Aunt Bern, Uncle Doug and cousins. Bernie brought Nicholaus and Kari brought her youngest son Joel. Like me she has 4 boys as well. We are the President and Vice President of the "all boys club"...ha ha! Aaron and Vic were there as well. We had a great time and shared in a lot of laughs. I was home in July when both Joel and Nicholaus were born. They are 4 days apart. I couldn't get over how much they have grown. They are the cutest little boogers. The next time I see them they will probably be ready to take their first steps or already walking. Time surely does fly by way before you are ready for it.

Tate wanted to give Nicholaus a taste of the good stuff

Joel's turn

aren't they all so dang cute

Kari & I switched babies...when you have 4 they all start to look alike...ha ha!

On Wednesday we headed south to Georgia to have Thanksgiving dinner with Vic's family. His grandma, aunt and uncle came to Debi's house for Thanksgiving. We hadn't seen any of them since June. It was great seeing all of them and enjoying our 1st Thanksgiving back in the states. Debi and Audrey put together a wonderful dinner. There didn't seem to be that many of us but we somehow put away a 20lb turkey and part of a ham. On Friday, Vic and I went and did a little bit of Black Friday shopping. The stores were not over crowded but we of course didn't go until the afternoon. We also went and saw 4 Christmases with Audrey and Marcio. A must see movie. I thought Vic was going to roll down the aisle he was laughing so hard. Then on Saturday before Gram, Peg and Joe left we celebrated Vic's birthday with an ice cream cake. Colsen didn't want to wait until we got back to Florida to give him his presents so he got his gifts as well. That evening Debi and Lance took Tyler, Holden and Colsen to the movies. Lance and Holden saw Bolt both of them said it was really good. The other 3 went and saw Madagascar 2. They all liked it as well. We had a great 4 days in Georgia. We really like the area where Debi lives so who knows maybe we will retire there.