Faux Thanksgiving Weekend

Every year in October or November, Eugene and I go up to Madison to have a Faux Thanksgiving with our college friends. It's a real Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the traditional side dishes, just a little early. I don't remember how many years we've been doing this, but it's been going on for a long time.

We drove up to Madison Friday evening; I left work early to prep for the trip. (I even managed to clean the living room carpet before we left.) When we picked Alex up from daycare, they were playing outside, and he was zipping backwards and forwards on a riding toy. We let him play for a bit, but once his teacher spotted us and told him, he came running.

We stopped along the way but still made good time. For dinner, we just wanted something quick and easy, so we went to the Food Court in the nearby mall. We had a hotel suite so we could put Alex in a separate room. Although he didn't seem to mind sleeping in his old Pack'n'Play at first, all the strange noises woke him up, and we wound up sleeping with him on the sofa.

The hotel offered a free breakfast, but it wasn't stocked very well when we got there--only one glass (so we split it among us) and no skim milk. Other things weren't available either. We wound up having a second breakfast at a coffee shop. Then we took Alex to the Children's Museum. He loved the toy cars in the first exhibit so much he didn't want to leave. Eventually we moved on to some other play areas, though. He seemed to have a good time. We left around 1:00 so he could nap in the car. (We took turns visiting the bookstore while he slept.)

Normally we bake a dessert, but it didn't work out this year, so we picked up a couple of tarts from Whole Foods. Alex was obsessed with them--until he tried them. He didn't eat well during the dinner; he mostly ate crackers. I guess he was too busy checking out all the toys. He was more social than he was last year, which is good. I was with him a fair amount of time, but I got to socialize too. I didn't take any pictures, though.

We met our friends again for Sunday brunch, then we headed home. We stopped to visit my parents for a few hours, so we got home a bit late. Alex had taken a late nap, so it took him a long time to fall asleep. I wish we'd had more time to go around Madison while we were there; we missed some of our usual haunts. Ah well, something else to look forward to when WisCon arrives....