Thanksgiving and the climb up a Camel's back

Thanksgiving was great. The day, the whole week. Just fab. I left work early on Wednesday to meet my parents so we could pick up my brother from the airport. Apparently Wednesday was a huge travel day...we waiting 40 minutes to go about 1.5 miles into the airport. I didn't mind... I got to show my parents what a really bad traffic day is like for me. I don't think they enjoyed it very much and they might think I'm slightly crazy for enduring it. (Really, it's not that bad!)

Wednesday night we had our own little Thanksgiving dinner. Our new table hasn't yet arrived so we had a hilarious time fitting 5 adults around a newly purchased $30 card table from Wal Mart (have I ever mentioned that I LOATHE Wal Mart? Well, I do. But I sent Tim out to find a card table and he found one at The Store That I Despise). Anyway, I will post pictures later but it was quite an experience. One that I'm sure we won't soon forget. I'm sure we'll be laughing for many years to come about the Thanksgiving we ate around a card table. Food was still excellent, though, thanks to my mom. Oh, and as a side note, Tim just got a call TODAY that our new table is in and ready to be delivered. Come on! Just like 4 days earlier and we would have been set! I actually didn't even expect it this soon, though, so I'm just excited it's in.

Thursday we went to my dad's cousin's wife's parents house. (Yeah, I was confused too. It took me practically the whole day to figure out who I was and was not related to and how). Everyone was so nice. And my third cousin (who's my age) actually lives right by where I work...it's shame I've never met him before...he is so nice! He played basketball in high school so Tim and him are going to start a basketball team. And the really weird thing? He is a fed-ex driver that delivers EVERY DAY to my work. He knows people that I work with! How strange is that?

On Friday, a decision was made to hike up Camelback Mountain (it's called Camelback because it seriously does look like a Camel). My brother really wanted to go on a hike and after spending time with our relatives on Thursday, my mom had decided that hiking this mountain would be cool (I don't think she considered that the people who told her this was a cool hike are 25 years old). I've heard of this hike and have been meaning to go. It's one of the hardest hikes around... it climbs 1200 feet in 1 mile. No switchbacks, just straight up. There are actually 50 foot poles to help you up in some places because you are going straight up. After you get past the poles, you basically rock climb the rest of the way straight to the top. It's really rather challenging. I thought it was great and I can't wait to go back. My parents were hurting... my dad, brother, Tim and I made it to the top, my mom had to stop after one of the first pole climbs because it really is crazy hard. The view at the top is amazing, though... you have a total panoramic of the whole valley. Awesome. I was so tired Friday night though, that I could not keep my eyes open. It was so surreal. I would be in the middle of a sentence and I would fall asleep. Tim would be answering a question and I would fall asleep. I'm told it was really quite humorous.

Saturday we all played golf. Amazingly, my swing has come back! I was hitting almost as good as I used to. We played a scramble...Tim, Jon, and me against my mom and dad. We lost by three (although after the first 9 we were winning by 2). It was fun anyway. After golf, we went and laid by the pool until we had to leave to take them to the airport.

The weather was perfect all week. Yesterday and today it has been freezing here! And I may be reprimanded for complaining about how cold I am but it is FREEZING. The temperature yesterday was 60 degrees and the same today. Big difference from last week when the highs were upper 70s to 80. So, I'm double layered with a sweater on top. Laugh if you want but it is dang cold...although I know it could be worse.

Anyway, the week with my parents was great. I ate too many oatmeal raisin cookies and junk food but I guess that Thanksgiving is about eating right? I guess that justification enough. It was so good to see my family and I will get to see them again in just 3 weeks... and hopefully by then they will not be hobbling around anymore after the climb up Camelback.