Weird Turkey Day

We began the holiday this year with a disclaimer..."Chalk it up to a weird Thanksgiving."

Koen and mommy got sick on Monday, the day that Grandpa arrived to play. :( So we spent the entire week at home, laying around, doing indoor activities, and monitoring fevers. Koen's fever lasted five days! A personal record for him.

We barely made it to Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. In fact, Koen and I simply made an appearance at our friends' house. Sam and Matt did a spectacular job putting the evening together in style (see spread below). They insisted that we come and just keep our germs to ourselves. But it was hard. Koen was out of sorts and Finn was tired. So I took them home after an hour. The one nice thing about this was...I went home without feeling like my stomach could explode (as I do most turkey days). I barely had time to eat anything at all...AND had to skip the pie event altogether!

We also missed Collin and Shandy that day! They were attending another feast on the east side. And to make matters worse, it was Shandy's birthday!!! We didn't even get to give her a birthday hug! Sorry, Shandy. Happy 29!

Yes, it was a weird Thanksgiving.

But, holidays aside, it was a good week. We enjoyed plenty of quality time with Grandpa. There was more than enough time for reading books, snuggling, and watching movies. Grandpa helped Koen construct an awesome train track, complete with tunnels and curving bridges. They played hide-and-seek (a recent favorite at our house). Grandpa and Koen colored with crayons, painted with paints, and had a wrestling match.

Finn & Grandpa

(adorable bib courtesy of my very talented friend, Margaret!)

In true form, Koen was acting his age and answered every question with, "No." Grandpa got such a kick out of this. He laughed every time, and soon began to test Koen, trying to catch him off guard.

Grandpa: "Koen, do you like your lunch?"

Koen: "No."

Grandpa: "Do you want another carrot stick?"

Koen: "No."

Grandpa: "Do you want to get down and play?"

Koen: "No."

Koen would quickly look up and smile, changing his answer to 'yes'. Ah, ha!! Gotcha! Then we'd all crack up!

Grandpa took a crash course in Toddler Painting 101. Believe me, it's so very hard to sit back and let the toddler control the canvas, leaving massive globs of paint that will take days to dry, and mixing all of the paint colors together. It has taken many months for me to learn to bite my tongue and simply watch Koen paint, uncorrected.

No matter what Grandpa's vision was for this painting they set out to create together, Koen had another. And wherever Grandpa's paintbrush touched down with color, Koen's paintbrush was standing by to 're-do' the area. In the end, we just laughed. What else can you do? And the finished product was actually quite nice.

Watch out, Monet!

The warriors and their war paint.

On his last day with us, before we went to the airport, Grandpa took us out for sushi. Oh, man, what a treat! I haven't had sushi in over a year! Together, we discovered a little sushi joint in our neighborhood. It's called Kisaku. I've been wanting to try it out for a couple of years now. And wouldn't you know, it's been named "Seattle's Best Japanese Restaurant 2009" by Zagat Survey. Sweet! We'll definitely be eating there again.

I'll also mention that Finn has officially graduated from the baby bucket car seat to a 'big boy' convertible car seat. Woo-hoo! Exciting, I know. But for those of you with kids....and those of you who share my belief that car seats are a conspiracy (albeit a necessary one)...you know that this transformation is a double edged sword.

No more outings with the luxury of carrying the sleeping baby around in a seat. Now baby has to somehow sit in the grocery carts and restaurant high chairs on his own. Never mind that he can't even 'sit' on the floor yet! So I mention this because during our sushi lunch, Finn sat in a high chair for the very first time. Oh, he knew he was big, sitting up to the table with the rest of us. It was pretty cute.

Looking back through the week, I realize how much fun we had doing nothing, really. I lamented most of the time about being sick and wishing that we could take Grandpa out for adventures in the city. But, after it was all over, I feel like we got a whole bunch of quality time with him and it was really nice. :)

Thanks for coming, Dad! We love you!