Never thought a few days off could be so tiring

After being off since last Monday I was excited to get back to work today.  My husband's 14 year old daughter visited us from New Brunswick, Canada for her first American Thanksgiving.  Dave created a jammed pack itinerary of activities that tired us all out.  I was so excited to have a relaxing day at work. ;-)

It started Tuesday with painting pottery and bowling.  Wednesday was a visit to this new-ish area in Maryland called National Harbor.  We walked around (it's like a town center), had lunch and then went to the ICE! show, a huge indoor arena filled with over millions of pounds of ice sculptures.  It was very cool- literally (it was nine degrees!) and figuratively.  Thankfully the ice skating rink at the Sculpture Garden was closed for technical difficulties.  :-)  Thursday was the big turkey day.  Lauren got to meet my husband's step-brothers, their wives and children for the first time, which I think was a bit overwhelming.  Friday I got her up bright and early at 5:00 a.m. to hit some stores for Black Friday.  I think this was a highlight of her trip since Canadians miss out on this once a year phenomenon.  Friday afternoon we were off to Dave and Busters for some games and a chance to visit with my mom, sister and her fiance.  And Saturday we packed her up and shipped her back to Canada.  What a LONG weekend.  Dave and I each took a nap for several hours Saturday afternoon. :-)

I took tons of pictures but since I don't want to bore you I tried to pick just a few highlights.

Bowling- this was the first time Lauren did 'real' bowling.  In her province they only have what I think they call candlepin, which is tiny pins and a little ball.  After about 10 gutter balls in a row she decided that their bowling is much better.

ICE!  Tons of fun.  If you have this show in your town you definitely should go.  And as a bonus you'll get to wear one of the stylish blue parkas, which will keep your bum dry on the ice slide.

Black Friday- Target was a nightmare (the line to check out at 6:15 went around the perimeter of the store twice) so we decided to try Best Buy.  We never made it inside as the line to enter the store had at least 100 people.

Dave and Busters (my sister gloating over how many tickets she won) and goofy pictures in the mall.

The aftermath- Hubby and Preppy Puppy (in his fave pink and green sweater) taking a much needed rest Saturday afternoon.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  And thank you for reading my little blog.  I appreciate you all!