Thanksgiving!

Dansk (English below): 

Selvom Thanksgiving ikke er en dansk højtid, så er det noget vi har fejret sammen lige siden vi mødte hinanden tilbage i 2005. Første gang var i Iowa (hos en af vores Watermark-venner). Siden er det blevet til 18 år i Danmark med skønne venner. Nu her 20 år senere er vi så tilbage i USA igen og kan få den "fulde" oplevelse endnu engang. 

Drengene (og Mary) havde fri fra skole allerede fra tirsdag og resten af ugen. Vi havde bestemt os for at vi (endelig) skulle besøge Great Wolf Lodge. Dette hotel, med indbygget vandland (ala Lalandia), ligger tæt ved lufthavnen i Minneapolis, så hvert år, når vi kører forbi, har spørgsmålet lydt "Skal vi ikke nok prøve det i år". Takket være en fantastisk tilbud kom tiden endelig hvor forventningerne kunne indfries. Vi havde en overnatning fra tirsdag til onsdag med svømning begge dage. Det var to skønne dage med masser af hygge både i poolen, i arkaden og på hotelværelset. 

Arcade fun!

Game night

Torsdag var det så endelig tid til Thanksgiving. Dagen startede ud stille og roligt hvor alle kunne tage det i deres tempo. Vi var inviteret ud til Grandpa og Liz sammen med Johnny og Molly til kl. 15.00, hvor menuen bød på en lækker traditionel Thanksgiving feast. Inden vi tog afsted fik vi også oplevet Macy's Thanksgiving Parade" og en smugle Football som begge er ikoniske og en del af den fulde oplevelse. 

Video chat with our danish Thanksgiving friends

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on TV

Thanksgiving at Grandpa and Liz's

Vi havde en skøn dag, hvor vi endelig kunne få lov til at fejre den med vores amerikanske siden af familien. 

Fredag besøgte vi Marys moster og onkel i Winona hvor vi blev forkælet dagen igennem med både mad, selskab og gode oplevelser. Om aftenen var der varslet snestom, så vi tog køreturen (2½ time) hjem igen og lørdag vågnede vi op til 20 cm sne. Så resten af weekenden gik selvfølgelig med div. sneaktiviteter. 

En lille sidenote: Mandag var der forældresamtaler for alle tre drenge. De fik alle meget ros og lærerne fortalte at de var rigtig glade for at have dem i klassen.  

English (translated by Gemini): 

Even though Thanksgiving is not a Danish holiday, it is something we have celebrated together ever since we met back in 2005. The first time was in Iowa (hosted at one of our Watermark friends). Since then, it has been 18 years in Denmark with lovely friends. Now, 20 years later, we are back in the US again and can have the "full" experience once more.

The boys (and Mary) were off from school from Tuesday and for the rest of the week. We decided that we should (finally) visit Great Wolf Lodge. This hotel with an built-in water park (like Lalandia) is close to the airport in Minneapolis, so every year, when we drive past, the question has been "Shouldn't we try it this year?" Thanks to a fantastic offer, the time finally came when the anticipation could be fulfilled. We had an overnight stay from Tuesday to Wednesday with swimming both days. It was two wonderful days filled with lots of fun, both in the pool, in the arcade, and in the hotel room.

Thursday, it was finally time for Thanksgiving. The day started out calm and slow, where everyone could take it at their own pace. We were invited to Grandpa and Liz's, along with Johnny and Molly, for 3:00 PM, where the menu offered a delicious traditional Thanksgiving feast. Before we left, we also experienced Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and a little bit of Football, both of which are iconic and part of the full experience. We had a wonderful day where we finally got to celebrate it with our American side of the family.

On Friday, we visited Mary's aunt and uncle in Winona where we were spoiled throughout the day with food, company, and great experiences. A snowstorm was forecasted for the evening, so we took the drive (2½ hours) home again, and on Saturday, we woke up to 20 cm of snow. So, the rest of the weekend was, of course, spent with various snow activities.

A little side note: On Monday, there were parent-teacher conferences for all three boys. They all received much praise, and the teachers said that they were very happy to have them in the class.

Halloween USA

Last week was the holiday Halloween here in the US. Of course the decorating and festivities started a lot earlier, as Søren mentioned.  Halloween and Fall are synomous here, meaning they go hand in hand;  orange colors, pumpkins and ghourds.  And then there are the spider webs and skeletons, but I would say mostly just lots of Fall colors.  We noticed a lot of people have big blow up Halloween decorations now a days.  See this one of Bluey and family dressed up!  

The boys and I were excited about getting to do Halloween festivities for weeks before Halloween.  We had secured costumes at least a week ahead of time. ;-) Liam as a monkey, Benjamin as his favorite Barcelona player Jamine Yamal, and Silas (after a bit debate about not being allowed to dress up as scary or murderous things) dressed up as a magician.  

The day of Halloween we went to the Trunk or Treat event at our church.  The concept is that people decorate their trunks with a theme and park in a parking lot so people can come visit and get candy. The themes here were very light - popular cartoon characters, movie themes, etc.  My favorite was the Christian themed trunk that was a cat theme and said "God's love is Purr-fect".  It was a nice event to reach out to the community and spread happiness.

Afterwards the boys and I headed to Grandpa and Lizzie's house to say trick or treat! It was fun to get to see them, as we've never been able to do that before, and Silas got to show a magic trick.  

During dinner we were all prepared to hand out candy to trick or treaters, but as it was raining slightly we only had 2 guests before we ourselves went out in the neighborhood.   The boys were excited to go real trick or treating this year, as their previous experiences with trick or treating have included me going from room to room of our own house, changing hats and outfits, so they could say "trick or treat" at each door and get some candy!  They've loved it, but were excited about the REAL DEAL!

We all wanted to go together so we just left a bowl full of candy on the front step. 

Just a little candy ;-)

 Walking around in the neighborhood was such a joy.  All three boys had a great time and were very brave walking up to doors and saying "trick or treat".  Of course a lot of the people handing out candy wanted to talk to them, and ask them questions, so they really got a cultural experience out of it.  We also learnd that people don't just give out one piece of candy, they give out at least 2 or 3, and sometimes even a whole handfull! Some families had built a campfire in their front yards and were sitting around hanging out and passing out candy. It was very cosy.  We enjoyed seeing some houses that had really decorated a lot.  

A few places had moving statues that would sing a spooky song or start moving and blink their eyes, and that was fun too.  There wasn't a single place that had any really scary or gory items. It was just a festive night with lots of activity in the streets and friendly people.  All in all a great family experience. 

We walked around for almost 2 hours and when we got home around 8:30pm the boys quickly poured out their candy and started sorting it.  It was fun to see types of candy I had forgotten about, for example "Butterfingers"....there were lots of Snickers and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.  The boys got to eat a few pieces for bed, but I think we have plenty of candy for the next long time!