Thanksgiving in the Valley, the Fox Valley

Wednesday

I took the day before Thanksgiving off and Scott picked up a job "on the way" to my parents house.

OK, so Tomahawk isn't quite a straight shot, but it wasn't too far askew.

I so wanted to take a walk through Bradley Park along the Wisconsin River during this snowfall.

I'm not sure why, but I just wanted get to Little Chute.

Both my parents had to work late. Soon after we arrived my dad stopped home between jobs. We hadn't eaten since breakfast earlier this morning so we decided to go out for dinner. On the way we stopped at my dad's shop.

I love Mr. Mike's away signs. He's a busy guy.

We had our first out-to-eat dinner of the weekend at Cinder's.

Endless french fries and really good burgers? Yum!

Meadow was confused that she got ice cream for eating all her food when we didn't. I agree Meadow, I want ice cream for eating all my dinner.

Back at the in-laws I put together a super-duper version of caramel corn that Brooke found on Pinterest. Only when we got there I had to find an archive of the website since it was gone.

It looked awesome.

I also had to try the new-old brew by Pabst. It's decent, but not as good as Beer Advocate would suggest.

Thursday

As usual, we were the first to arrive at my aunts house for Thanksgiving. I always say it, but she really does have the best house.

We always joked the kids table will need a kids table for our kids. This year it came true.

The adult table seems to get smaller.

My dish to bring was a winter fruit salad. I didn't want all the fruit to get brown and mushy so I prepped it as everyone arrived.

Aunt Jill's house has the best lighting.

And beer.

The old parlor is so cozy.

Everyone wants to sit on grandpas lap.

The popcorn was a hit.

Oh, we're praying. I guess I'll take a picture.

My fruit salad never turned brown so that's good to know.

I don't think the kids eat more than two bites. They were having too much fun giggling and talking about poop.

My Trump joke did not get the same amount of laughter.

Apparently I was the only one ready to go on the after dinner-walk.

We all got off our bums when Hayden brought out his motorbike.

Mr. Mike nearly slid off when he tried to show off.

The kids wished they had a motorbike like Hayden.

Apparently my aunt had put in some giant gardens in her backyard. Check out all that lettuce.

I had never been in her backyard in all these years.

The kids loved swapping bikes.

We went to see the horses down the road, but they weren't out this year.

Meadow really wishes she could ride a pedal bike.

Then it was pie time.

Apparently Hayden is Marina's favorite person. She kept calling him, "Big Kid".

It turns out Jill has the same dress as Meadow.

Almost.

Bubye, Aunt Jill's. See you in two.

Friday

We decided to #optoutside for Black Friday this year. Not that we do Black Friday shopping anyway. Despite the chilly drizzly weather we headed up to Green Bay to check out Fonferek Glen County Park.

I was a bit less enthusiastic. Glasses and rain stink.

We only saw 2 other families when we were here.

The geology of the place was very reminiscent of High Cliff.

We were guessing this area was a quarry at one point.

Always having to climb on all the rocks.

We took some random trail that I think lead to private land. We followed the creek back.

Well, there was blood on the ground from deer hunting, but I think that was still in the park. Hunters can use public land to hunt.

Following the creek back was a good choice. It led us to this stone archway.

This would be fun when its warmer in the summer.

Meadow doesn't care.

She just wants to climb piles of rubble.

After our adventure we had to go out for frozen custard.

I wanted to go to a place I had gotten custard at on a Street View job years back. It was closed, but it turns out Zesty's is the local custard institution.

It's always a treat to try a new custard joint.

After trying to get together many times we finally got to see Amanda again and meet baby Makenzie.

I wish we saw them more so the girls could play together.

Hopefully it won't be three years until the next time we meet up.

Where's Meadow?

Then we decided it would be fun to join my dad at the hunting cabin for the night.

But first we stopped for dinner at B-dubs. This was my first time ever stepping inside a Buffalo Wild Wings.

The log cabin on my grandpa's land has had a few upgrades since I was here last. LED lighting and USB plug ins.

All powered by the sun.

California brandy. A Wisconsin tradition.

I think we need to come here in the winter.

Saturday

My dad and uncle woke up well before the crack of dawn to go hunt while we slept in late.

The pancakes were already cooked, so all I had to was heat them up.

Meadow kept herself warm at night by wetting the bed.

Always helping herself to snacks.

I would have liked to explore the woods, but not with the guys hunting.

We headed over to my Grandma's house to visit instead.

Then Brittany and Marina met up with us.

Meadow decorated my Grandma's fridge.

We tried to play outside for awhile.

Sometimes I'm a fun dad and uncle.

Marina is such a fun little girl.

Then we had lunch at our favorite restaurant in the area, El Popo.

I ordered a chorizo and egg torta. The very white waitress called it "Weird."

Then we drove back to downtown Redgranite for some Mosier's shopping.

I have to remember to come here for Meadow's future life jackets.

So much fishing equipment, old and new.

And lots of other random stuff.

Meadow got a few activity books and super girly tattoos for only a few dollars.

Then we went back to Great Grandma's.

The girls were excited to try their new tattoos. Marina went with the classic pirate tattoos.

Sunday

We finally squeezed in a chance to meet up with Donna and Macolm again before we had to leave.

Their house is one of my other Wisconsin favorites.

Why don't you just move there.

Nope.

It's always good to catch up with the Hills.

Until next time, Pippa.

We had plans to stop in Marshfield on the way home.

But we had to wait. We didn't want to arrive in Marshfield before dusk.

Meadow got extra time to play with her cousin.

Grandma made a fire and the kids stuffed their faces with marshmallows.

Lots of them.

Eventually we left and stopped at the Rotary Winter Wonderland in Marshfield. Sorry Duluth, but this was almost as good as Bentleyville. If there were free cookies it would be pretty close.

Too bad it was rainy out. We'd have stayed a while longer. Until next time Wisconsin.

It started downpouring as soon as we got back to our car.