Thanksgiving in New York

*Warning: picture overload!

This Thanksgiving we decided to take a trip to New York to spend the holiday weekend with my family.  Before I married Tommy, my family would go up to New York every other year or so to spend Thanksgiving with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, who live in Thornwood, and we always had a blast.  My parents and grandparents were going again this year so Tommy, Lilly, and I joined in on the fun as well.  It was a full house and as expected, we had a blast!  Lilly had so much fun and I am looking forward to sharing with her, the memories of her very first Thanksgiving.    

We left at 6am on Thanksgiving morning.  Lilly did great in the car. We stopped half way to stretch and use the rest rooms (diaper change) and she even had a blast there.  I was nervous when I took her to the changing station that she would be squirmy like she always is making it super difficult, but she was mesmerized by the hand dryers and just laid there so still-it's amazing how fast you can change a diaper when they don't move!  She slept a good deal of the trip and when she wasn't sleeping she was singing and chatting it up in the back by herself.  The last 20 minutes she was a bit fussy but 3.5 hours in the car virtually fuss free was a blessing.  We were so excited when we arrived and Lilly was so excited to see everyone!



We have arrived!

As soon as we walked in the door the eating frenzy began with some yummy NY bagels!  We had been up for 5 hours with only coffee and those bagels were so good!  Lilly was loving all of the attention she was getting as soon as we got out of the car!  The rest of the morning we hung out and watched the parade.  And we kicked off Thanksgiving with some Thanksgiving cocktails and a toast to good food, family, and friends! 

Playing with Steph and Matt

She loved the parade!

Lilly's first Thanksgiving-2011

Since Eugene never had a Thanksgiving photo shoot...

Family photo!

Jules and Lilly

Bear gets in on the relaxing action

The girls!

Thanksgiving toasting!

So much to be thankful for!

Cheers!

Let me tell you that when I say my family cooks/bakes the best I am not kidding.  Anyone who has ever been to a family party of mine can attest to that.  The food is better than GOOD and there is always way more than you can ever eat.  Go big (with lots of butter) or go home.  You better believe that everything down to the pie crusts were made from scratch.  To start, we had some yummy appetizers which included fresh mozzarella, asparagus with prosciutto and mozzarella, cheeses including GOUDA (haha) and shrimp!

Dinner was phenomenal!  We had it all and then some!

Gram always carves the turkey!

Lilly's first Thanksgiving place card

Ready for food!

This is good people!



The cool table

Dessert....ohhhh man...dessert made me wish I had worn my maternity jeans.

Get a load of the crumbs!!!

There were 6 pies...3 of them were pumpkin!

Coconut Pound Cake

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Home made whip

Lilly's first cookie.  I made a special one minus chocolate chips. 

It was a hit!

Post dinner we vegged out and watched some football.  Well I may not have watched football but it was on.  Enrique performed at 'some games' half time show and Lilly loved it.  Here is a shot of her dancing with Daddy:

Baby I like it!

Lilly had a great first Thanksgiving.  Can you just see the fun she's having!

Post-meal bath time in Aunt T's sink!  It's almost as big as out bathtub!

The next day everyone did their own thing.  Some people went shopping, some people slept.  After a morning walk with Allison, Aunt T, and my mom-Tommy, Lilly, my dad, my grandfather and I headed to Rockefeller Park for a walk and to enjoy the day.  It was gorgeous.

My dad took this picture of Lilly when we were on our walk-It's like she's saying "I love you!

And this one she is showing the attitude

Playing with Great Pop

Coolest tree ever!



Family photo in the tree at Rockefeller Park

 

Lilly in the tree!



My Happy girl!

Sitting on the foundation of the Rockefeller mansion.  What a beautiful view of the Hudson!

Friday we also dug out leftovers, took naps, and we even went out to see the Muppets Movie which was sooooo good!!!  Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from our trip.

Eugene bonding with Lilly



The bond was strong-One day Eugene will teach Lilly all about worms..



We did Lilly's 8 month photo shoot in my Aunt T's study-this is her reaction when we showed her a giant Hello Kitty plush-she loved that thing!

 Caroline and Lilly

 Joe and Paul

 Me and Alli C.



Last but not least-our hostess with the MOSTess-Aunt Theresa!

We had a wonderful holiday weekend and I was sad to leave.  A HUGE Thanks to my Aunt Theresa and Uncle Noah for having us-we had SO much fun and Lilly thoroughly enjoyed herself as well! 

We came home Saturday morning and it was nice to have 2 more days home to relax and get ready for the week.  It was beautiful both days and we took some time to go for long walks, do laundry, grocery shop, and just recharge our batteries.  I started listening to Christmas music in the car and Lilly loves it!  We are gearing up for the the next few weeks which will be full of  hunting for Christmas trees, Christmas shopping, decorating, baking and enjoying the holidays!  I am so excited to enjoy all of the fun traditions with Lilly!