Thanksgiving Fun

Thanksgiving was awesome this year!  While most of our family partied at Carrie's house, we had fun with my niece Emily and her sweet family.  Lucky for us (and Abby,) the Harpers stayed in Houston.  The Hamiltons arrived Wednesday evening and Abby and Violet became instant BFF's.  We had a great time introducing them to Houston - Shipley's donuts, kolaches, and many of the landmark sites around Houston.

The first event was Thanksgiving dinner and the "pie wars" - initiated by Bethy.  At first Emily was a little taken back by our competitive spirit, but quickly dove into the fun - making, decorating, and photographing our pies.  I will admit, Bex is a better baker, but we gave her some stiff competition!

 The next day we were pretty stuffed, after eating all that pie.  Since Shady had coupons for the Children's museum, and it was a little cold for Brazos Bend, we decided to give it a try.  The girls LOVED it!

They tried the construction zone . . .

physics challenge . . .

 crafts . . .

 and a special visit from Santa!  Kate charmed old Santa with her bubbly, chatty
personality.

 The maze was a little claustrophobic, and I ended up having to crawl through to"rescue" someone .

 Anatomy and physiology . . .

 and shopping at the HEB!

 This was my favorite station!  Doesn't she look official?

 They actually acted like they knew what they were doing, without any prompting!

Future physicians?  (let's hope not)

You'd think they'd be tired after all of that excitement.

Of course not!  We headed to Chic-Fil-A for refueling, where the girls decided they wanted to go to Herman Park to ride the train.

You just can't leave Houston without riding the Herman Park train.

 Even Charlie had fun!  He was a trooper!  (especially when he was with Papa)