Year 4, November 28th-29th, 2019: Thanksgiving with the Cooks and Johnsons

Morning came too soon! And I didn't know what time breakfast closed, so I had to set an alarm so I could text Gary at 8 am to ask.  Thankfully, it didn't close until 10.  Yeah! It was a gorgeous breakfast with a yummy omelette, fresh pressed juices, even smoothies! Lots of the regular options as well. Then we went back upstairs so Keturah and I could shower.  Yeah for hotels with hair dryers!  Although my hair dries pretty quickly on it's own. Meanwhile, the kids watched the Angry Birds movie off and on. We should have turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade because there was a Paw Patrol balloon in it! Leah took a picture of it, but I didn't want to show it to Abishai becuase I thought he would be upset and confused.  I kept pressing on and we were ready to roll out of the hotel on time to go to the church to set up the meal. We arrived just as Pam, Bill, Zion, and Andrea did.  Andrea is Zion's mom, but Grandparents Pam and Bill have raised him. They picked up Andrea so she wouldn't be alone on Thanksgiving.  Her boyfriend just passed away the week before from a lot of health issues, so I'm so grateful she agreed to come to Thanksgiving anyway and be around her family.  Lots of hugs and "I'm sorrys." were shared. And she did smile and seem to enjoy a bit of what was going on. She has a couple of other boys I think by her boyfriend, so I know it's hard on everyone.

I purposely ate small so that my GI tract wouldn't have issues, but I still needed more water and more veggies. There was no salad, no veggie tray, no fruit, no green beans no corn, and no sweet potatoes. The tables were full of tans, some meat but mostly carbs, especially sugar carbs. Except for my cranberry dessert, which not many people ate. I don't think you can count pumpkin pie as a vegetable, sorry. I think next year, Jared and I will make a nice garden salad instead.

Meanwhile, Grandma Cook joined us for the whole time! Her voice was raspy but she was still trying hard to communicate and she understood what was going on. Her mind is mostly there. I can't imagine being in such a frail state and yet, being aware of it all. Poor thing. But she ate a lot of food for an older person, even if it was in tiny bites, and she drank most of her cup of hot coffee. She is somewhat frail of course but she wanted to hold her fork and eat for herself. She looked better than I thought she would for her recent hospital stays. Bless her heart. Leah had brought an afghan that Grandma had made and presented it to Benaiah as a graduation gift (a little early). I think Grandma Cook appreciated it. She said she probably has made 40 or more of those afghans in her lifetime. Leah still has the one she went to college with. I think we have one or two other ones she made. Grandma Cook's daytime nurse also came with her, and let Uncle Ed mingle with the rest of the family. I was grateful to see that. I can't imagine caring for my parents like he has. I made sure they were taken care of, and they could speak for themselves for most of their time in the nursing homes. I wish I had paid better attention to their care, but it was such a short period of time, I was just trying to survive and take care of things at home with little ones, homeschooling, MOPS and the like. I know my parents didn't want me to be burdened with their daily care. We all did our best.

Meanwhile, Abishai spent the whole time during the Cook Thanksgiving playing in the nursery and wanting one of us to play with him. He did come out briefly to play, lol. When it came time to take group pictures, he threw a major fit. It was awful but we took the pictures anyway. Sometime during dinner, Benaiah and Zion went out to Meijer and bought the game called Risk. The older boys played it for two hours straight. When it was time to leave, they each took a picture of it so next year they can restart the game where they left off. They were all excited to start a new tradition. Just like Scrabble has been a Cook tradition for decades, I think it's sweet that these teenage boys wanted to do something other than video games together. Don't get me wrong, they did have their phones in their hands. But they had real conversations but all kinds of things, and joked around without being a pain to the adults. I think that says a lot about the legacy that Grandma and Grandpa Cook bestowed on their children, their grandchildren, and now their great grandchildren. Even when we didn't think the kids were listening, they were watching us and naturally absorbed our rituals into their own. That's so cool!

After some of the food had been consumed (yeah for leftovers), and everything was cleaned up, and group pictures were taken, Bill said maybe we’ll start a new routine next year by splitting off with our own families.I said I didn't like that idea because I like our current routine and traditions. Even the teens said they would still like to get together every year. After the pictures were taken, I was able to show Grandma Cook the pics we took of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and we prayed over her specifically. She’s a strong one. And everyone spent some time with her as this might be her last Thanksgiving with us. It was bittersweet and I know there were some tears shed externally and internally.

Now we were off to Muskegon and the Johnso side of the family. We left Lansing about 4 pm. Leah and Benaiah drove back to Indianapolis so that Benaiah could work the next day. Gary took all three kids in his little veloster. He suggested Jared and I take our time and go to a movie or get a coffee or something. Bwahahaha that was not going to happen. First of all, we aren't that spontaneous. Second of all, we had been giving each other the silent treatment all day because of some miscommunication in the morning. I spent 45 minutes or so typing out the basic outline of this day into my phone so I wouldn't forget, and then spent another 30 minutes trying to explain myself with no response from him. We did reconcile the next day though, which is a record for us. It was a tough car ride. I was tired and hadn't touched my books or cross stitch first. The long car rides and napping in weird positions are hard on my body. I had a headache as well and I was trying not to take medications because I didn't want a rebound headache. But I also hadn't drank enough liquids through the day. I looked at my step count later that day and I had well over 5,000 steps! I must have walked back and forth from room to room more than I had sat down all day. That's crazy!

We were the first ones to arrive at Ron’s house and he was the only one home. But we moved in our stuff and waited for the others. We debated who was going to stay where, but finally concluded that it would be wiser to all stay at Ron's. And it was a good thing, too, because Donna got the stomach bug overnight! Nina wasn't home because she was babysitting Jojo at her house. The first thing Gary said when everybody was settled was, "Is anyone hungry?" Um, no, we just finished a big Thanksgiving meal 2 hrs ago. The American vacation: sleep, sit, eat, nap, eat, walk a little ways, sit and watch TV, eat again. Sheesh. After a a little snack, Gary played Risk with Justin and Keturah for awhile. Benaiah had let Justin keep Risk until we got home. Then it was off limits unless the kids ask Benaiah first since he bought it. I tried to cross stitch and talked to Donna when she stopped by. Then Keturah left the game early to watch Home Alone with Ron and Jared, and then Gary conquered the world over Justin! Of course he did. He later told us that he and his buddies in seminary used to play Risk until the early morning hours. So he didn't take him long to remember the rules and win.

Meanwhile, Abishai played with all the toys in every room and dumped out every bucket he could find. I went around the house reminiscing about staying there over the years starting with Grandma Johnson’s death and funeral. I even remember what I wore. I remember which of Nina's kids slept where and that her mom, Grandma North, lived in the bedroom that Jared and I actually slept in this time. We might have stayed at Grandpa Johnson’s house with me sleeping on the rose couch and Jared on the floor when Grandma Johnson was dying, and then switched to Ron's house. I can't remember those details well. But I do remember reaching down from the rose couch and holding Jared's hand, lol. The last time we were here in Muskegon was for Donna's wedding. That was the last time we saw her brothers R.J. and Eric. I want to say we stayed at Ron's house, but I don't remember.


Anyway, after board games and movies, we tried to get the kids to settle into their beds in the basement. They finally knocked out about 10:30. Abishai had had a nap in the car of course. Abishai ended up sleeping on a recliner, Keturah on a blow up mattress, Justin on the pull out couch in the basement. Gary slept on one of the upstairs couches. Abishai was beyond exhausted and threw a fit about where he was going to sleep. It was a mad house. I ended up watching a little bit of Fox news with Gary and Ron just out of curiosity. Oh my goodness, while I agree with a lot of Fox news' points and opinions, it is just that, opinions, very slanted, and they YELL their opinions at each other, even when they agree! There are better, more neutral shows and YouTube channels to watch out there. There's a way about telling the truth that doesn't harm the other person. It was a great reminder of what I don't want to be watching.

Later on, I stayed up watching my own shows, while we heard Ron enjoying his tv time in his room. Actually, I think we came to the conclusion that he was laughing and talking in his sleep. It was so loud that it had woken up Gary! Whoops! You just never know what's going to happen when there's a bunch of people in one house!

Abishai doing his morning warmups? He was roaring and banging the mirror.  Check out that belly!

Representing Benaiah's choice of colleges. Hopefully, he'll get to go there. We haven't finished any admission processes or FAFSA financial aid form since it will be another 1 1/2 yrs before he goes.  But they keep sending us stuff, so we'll keep using it!  Besides, many of the other young adults we know go there now. It's a great school!

Yup, Working on leaving the hair down. Wash it, let it air dry for as long as I can, and then blow dry the rest (usually the under layer around my neck. I just don't like how it takes tangled in my purse straps or flops down into the sink if I'm brushing my teeth. It lasted through Thanksgiving with the Cooks, but I put it up in a clip as soon as we got in the car to go to Muskegon.  So, 5 hrs.

Yes, it's getting super long. I'll grow it out a bit more, and then donate it. Virgin hair, so no color, no curl, no products other than shmpoo/conditioner. Light blow drying but not in any stylish way. Brown stick straight fine hair. That's what the Lord gave me.  I just keep it healthy and shiny.

Grandpa Johnson got into the air hockey fun.

Keturah, the non social one, with a 2nd cousin, Michael, I believe, and one of Andrea's kids.

Found the preschoolers room where Abishai stayed for pretty much the whole time except to eat.  We floated in and out and took turns, all without saying anything to each other.

If you have to put a warning label that no one under 18 should drink this, then no one should drink this. Ewwwww, and the pea protein made it smell weird and Benaiah said it tasted weird.

Catching up with Gaby and Charles Bates (in the background). Charles is a nephew to Gary and Leah. They live in Knoxbille, TN and surprised everyone announcing that Gaby is pregnant.   Yeah!  Charles is an only child, so this is his parents first grandbaby. Sweet!

Abishai and I played restaurant and he ordered very specific food (which happened to be the pieces of plastic food that was out.)

Some more cousin time. Lucas, Keturah, and Michael. Lucas belongs to Paula.

Great Grandma Cook has arrived! She brought along her helper, which let Uncle Ed mingle with his siblings. I think she's looking pretty good!

Millennials, Zachary, Benaiah, and Zion talking about who knows what, cars, phones, energy drinks? They are all 16-18 yrs old.

Mother and Daughter time.

Aww, don't they look alike, at least a little bit?

Time for food!

Yes, that is all snacks/desserts. Yikes!

And this table is full of the main course. Again, no veggies, mostly tans. Mashed potatoes, turkey, ham, brisket, deviled eggs, olives, crackers and dip.  It never looks exactly the same every year, unlike my Thanksgiving meals growing up. We always had green beans (not the casserole), mashed potatoes, jarred gravy, sweet potatoes from a can (no marshmallows), cranberry sauce from a can, turkey, boxed stuffing (with nothing extra added). Plain and simple.

Abishai had his hands underneath sometimes to catch the puck as it fell through the goal.

Keturah is in the middle of all the cousins age wise, so she has no one really to play with or talk to, poor thing.

Although Grandma Cook couldn't really talk, I know she understand what was going on. Leah had saved this blanket that Grandma had made and wanted to officially present it from Grandma to Benaiah for his graduation from high school this year. These great grandchildren, do appreciate and respect their great grandparents and grandparents. It's an incredible thing to see.  And I know that Benaiah will treasure it more and more as the years go by. He's at least been taught how to appreciate handmade gifts, lol. I did find it in his bedding at least. Sweet!

Listening to Grandma Johnson tell the story. Great Grandma Cook made at least 40 blankets she said. They are floating around all our homes, I'm sure.  The best gifts are homemade ones. And I think I can see a bit of that Cook side in Benaiah and Great Grandma Cook's features, don't you think? He definitely gets his bigness from Great Grandpa Cook.

Them boys, hashing it out, learning to play conquer the world. Girls can too, but it just comes more naturally to these guys.  Protect those kingdoms!

Good old Scrabble. A classic with the Cooks.

The whole Cook clan! Yup, Great Grandma Cook, all 4 of her kids, 4 out of 5 grandkids, and all but three great grandkids. I'm so grateful we can all be together and not fight. And that's because we all share one thing in common: Christ.

I built these walls, Mommy, so that the cars couldn't fall off the racetrack.

Do you want a cookie? Abishai role plays so well! Thank you YouTube for both him and I because I've learned how to play better from watching other Moms play with their kids on their channel. It doesn't come naturally to me.

The preschool room has this cool little home made ball pit in the corner. Sweet!

Oh how precious! So many tears were shed. This is family. This is the legacy of that Great Grandpa and Grandma Cook has passed down to us. On our knees in prayers of thanksgiving to God. We don't know how much longer she will be with us but we know where she is going. She knows where she's going. She's aware of her surroundings most of the time. That's got to be so hard. And what an example to our generation of how to care for our elderly loved ones.  It's absolutely ok and understandable to use assisted care facilities. I did. But when you have the ability to physically care for someone who has physically cared for you, it's such a blessing. Great Grandma Cook isn't alone. There are so many elderly people that are never visited by their families. I'm so grateful our family doesn't do that. I wish I had visited my parents more. But we did what we could at the time. We should never ever ever bash the older generations.  We can tease them a bit that they don't quite understand our generation and our gadgets, but we should respect their knowledge and wisdom of having lived through so much history. Great Grandma Cook has seen WWII and the rest of the 1900's. That's a lot of history that changed so fast. But what hasn't changed is our faith. Our legacy in Christ. And we will see her again here or in heaven. All of us. That's amazing and a blessing.

Don't miss this video! 

Praying Over Grandma Cook

Andrea beat Gary! Gary is losing his edge!

So, what are you prognosticating, Justin?

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Now, on to Muskegon, Michigan and the Johnson family!

Early evening arrival at the Johnson's house in Muskegon. Haven't been to this house in years! Just to their cottage.  Check out those brothers! Oldest and middle children. And yes, they definitely look more and more like their dad as they get older.

Nina's house is so cute! I love her nutcrackers!

Say what?! We asked him something about where he wants to go on vacation or what he wants to see. Watch the video below to check out his response! He's my child because I mispronounce geOGrapy as GEO graphy!

Benaiah let Justin bring Risk to Ron's house so he could play it with Grandpa and the cousins. That was very kind of Benaiah.

Abishai obviously found all the toys.  We let him play with some of the army men from Risk, but only right there at the table.  He was very, very careful with them.

So, Gary said, "Anybody want dinner?" Um, we just ate a huge meal like 3 hrs ago.  But I guess Abishai was still hungry. I don't think he ate much at lunch. That piece of pizza is bigger than him!

That's the way to eat it when you're small!

Board games on vacation trips!

I guess Abishai was hungry!

Creative play.

Keturah gave up on Risk so she could watch Home Alone. Jared watched, too, so Ron wouldn't feel alone.

I'm a little jealous of this beautiful nutcracker collection.

World domination by Gary, again! He said that in seminary, he and some guys would play Risk into the wee hours of the morning. It's just a long game to play, that we hadn't gotten into it before. But of course Gary won!

Keturah loves exercise bikes!  But not pictures!

Yeah for partially finished basements!  Great for kids! Abishai was rolling around on the ball like a hamster would.

Ugh, this reminds me that I really should get him into soccer!

Ah,this is the Fox news picture. Both Gary and Ron were watching it. The current program was showing interviews from the last few months. While I agree with some of it, the way that all newscasters communicate, even when they agree with the people they are talking with, is quite annoying. Fast paced, loud, in your face, etc. Calm down people! Quit shouting!

Getting ready for bedtime.

Abishai bed was this extra wide recliner. Thank goodness our kids are pretty flexible.  It took a bit to calm them down after a long day of socializing, but they did finally get to sleep.

Friday we were able to sleep until 8am.  Yeah! The room temps are a cooler, but not as cold as Gary and Leah's house.  We ended up staying at Ron and Nina's because I didn't want to travel too far without my personal stuff and I didn't want to wake up early to Jojo's noise. And it was a good thing, too, because Donna got ill with a stomach bug!  Oh no! So I guess Nina had gone over to pick up Jojo and bring her here so that Donna could rest.  Bummers! I'm glad I was able to talk to Donna for a few minutes last night.  The kids spent the morning playing and then watched the new animated Grinch that came out last year.  I hadn't seen it yet, but I know Movieguide.org had given it great reviews.  It was really, really sweet.  Again, single mom, but same message as the other Grinches. Jared left for a little bit and came back with some a small cup of Tim's coffee for me!  Yeah! He didn't "double double" it so I don't think there was sugar in it and not enough cream and no mocha, but he got the raspberry shot right. The kids had a bit of lunch and then headed out with Gary to get some fresh air near Lake Michigan.  He took them to see the small submarine that is on display here that we hadn't gone to but had planned to on one of these trips.  Then they, too, got to go to Tim Horton's to warm up and get some donuts, so that errand is done.  I was looking forward to my gluten filled donut, so I don't know if I'll still do that tomorrow on the way out of town or not. We'll see.

Jojo is one of those "something else" sassy princess "I know what I want and I'll get it" kind of single childs. Oh man she's a handful and she and Abishai make quite a pair.  Abishai loves to play with her and seeks her out, but they argue a lot, too. He has to learn to share, and so does she. And Nina likes to let them graze, too. I mean I sometimes do, but I make them get a full lunch as well. Oh well.  At least we had some quiet time with my three gone for awhile and Jojo having some quiet time with Nina and watching TV.  The TV's have been on all day it seems.  Blech, blech, blech. I just told Keturah that yes, they can watch some TV but it needs to be off by the time other people start arriving 2 hrs from now.  Yikes! At least I was able to get some blog work done while they are gone. I just have to tweak what I wrote yesterday on the phone and then finish up this part of the post. Ron and Nina have really fast internet and it's made it easy to upload photos, yeah!  Here goes!

Wow!  I must have been on my feet a lot on Thursday! I didn't overeat, so hopefully that balances things out a bit.

Justin, stop picking your nose! And check out those long legs!

Watching the new animated Grinch movie from last year, first thing in the morning!  It must be vacation!

Abishai and Jojo watched, too.  Abishai kept running into the other room saying he was scared and he was concerned that the Grinch was being mean and stealing Christmas.

First Tim's delivery by Jared to me! Small coffee with cream and raspberry shot. No sugar. No mocha. He's trying to save me some calories, crazy boy!

The epitome of basement rooms with kids!

Gary took our three to see the small submarine that is now a museum here.  We've toured it a long, long time ago.  Nice playground made out of a different submarine.

Nice!

Awww

The real submarine turned museum.

Second Tim's run. Abishai ate his whole doughnut! Justin got his Boston creme filled one, Keturah probably got a sprinkle one I'm assuming.

What a pretty box! These were brought home to share. I'm tempted to eat one, but we'll either go again on our way out of time tomorrow so I can have a real mocha with raspberry shot with maple cream doughnut, or we won't. Is it worth the pain for the next 5 days?  I wanted to try gluten again just to see. I usually try it once it year.  We'll see!

Eric's birthday (Jared's cousin) is in late November, so they always put a candle on one of their pies and sing to him.  Sweet!  Kills two birds with one stone!

Too many options on Netflix. Our kids got to watch things that are ok but not great to watch. Oh well, at least they know and we can discuss why we don't prefer to watch those shows.

Pull out couches and games. We love pull out couches!

JoJo is here! Time to get our playing game on!

These two both have bossy tendencies, so we have to watch them closely sometimes. But Abishai was excited to see Josephine again. Donna became ill with the stomach bug overnight, so she stayed home.

Luke and Clara are here! More cousin time!

Where'd Luke go?

Keturah was like, "I'm so over these boys!" And for the record, had I known that she brought those sweat pants with her, I would have banned her from wearing them. She has better clothes to wear but claims she can't get her jeans on with the cast on her arm.  I beg to differ but I decided not to fight that fight.

More rolling around time.

Cousins! R.J. is just a few months older than Jared. He's Ron and Nina's oldest and dad to Clara and Luke. We know he has some strong opinions about some topics, but thankfully, we talked about other things.  He works in a factory that makes the propellers inside jet engines, so Jared loved to talking to him about that of course and knew what he was talking about, especially the different kinds of metals and the actual type of engines.  Yeah!

Dinner was ready, but we were waiting for the birthday boy, who only lives a few minutes down the road, to show up, lol. They say that it's a typical thing for him to be late.  Ron was getting impatient though.

Clara gave Jojo a crown for her birthday which is in a couple of days.

I think this is very fitting for Gary.

Uh oh, don't let Ron see this!  He would throw a fit! I'm ok with it just as long as they know that if they break it, they replace it. It belongs to Donna.

The littles all eagerly waiting for food.

Turkey time, again! That makes 3 turkey dinners in 10 days for us!

Littles and middles.

Clara is 5, so a bit older than Abishai, just like R.J. is a bit older than Jared. I'm so glad we all have kids about the same ages.

Johnson men.

Cousin Eric, Ron and Nina's youngest, and Gary. Again, the Swedish genes are strong! Eric is the smart one. Oh man, he knows the economy and works in purchasing. He's single right now though, but has his own place and such. Good on him!

This is Eric's dog, Athena.  She was rescued as a pup and had a traumatic start in life.  She gets very anxious when she is left at home by herself in her kennel. But she is the quietest, calmest beagle/hound I have ever met! Eric has done an excellent job of loving on her and training her. Yes, she sat at his feet during dinner and she would jump up on the couch next to you to smell your food, but she wouldn't grab it from your plate like my beagles would. She did howl at all. She just wanted to curl up in your lap and be petted. I loved her so much! Jared wanted nothing to do with her though. I think because my beagles were so crazy but still, give her a chance. Sweetest dog on the planet next to Socks! I think they might have gotten along well. Or Athena might have cowered in a corner. She is about as old as Socks, too.

Birthday boy, Eric, always gets a pie instead of cake for his birthday since it's close to Thanksgiving. He turned 34.  Donna's husband, Willie, is in the background. He came by to pick up Jojo.  Donna asked him to come home early from his hunting trip because she was feeling so yucky. He did catch two deer though! Go Willie!

Athena laid down calmly and slept a lot like Socks does.  No crazy antics from this beagle/hound. Again, sweetest dog ever. AND when it was time for her and Eric to leave. She insisted on checking in with everybody to say goodbye. No licking or in your face, but she walked over to as many people as she could. Sweetest thing!  Makes me cry!

One more game of Risk. Who has the patience?

Meanwhile, preschoolers were playing a game of hide and seek. Clara and Abishai both can count to ten and truly hide their eyes or go hide elsewhere. They are growing up! And Abishai doesn't need to go to school to learn these school yard games.  I love it!

I guess Justin was comfortable watching the newest Karate Kid starring Will Smith's son.  I had seen it before and loved it. But it was hard keeping the boys and the movie quiet enough so Gary could sleep in the other room. Oh well, that's vacation for you.

The End