Family Update: Thanksgiving

"Bar light, bar bright, first bar that I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, find someone to hold me tight..." blares from the stereo. Worse than that is the fact that Jenna and Hudson are singing, at the top of their lungs, and know every word.

I find myself in a position that is surreal - we're in the pick up for a 4 hour trip to West Texas (which means no on board DVD player to entertain the kids for some of the 4 hours) to deer hunt (not my favorite), the truck is completely packed with food, ice chests, bedding, clothing, and guns. My son is wearing his boots, and my husband is wearing a camo hunting shirt and his hunting/preaching shoes (his hiking style boots). We're heading to the middle of nowhere to a cabin that does have a potty, shower, and functional kitchen - but, gasp, no heater other than a couple of space heaters in conditions that are supposed to be in the 20s overnight.

While I try to recover from the shock of my kids singing this song, they break into "Tight Fittin' Jeans" and then "Redneck Girl." If you know me well, you know that "old" country really grates on my nerves like fingers on a chalkboard, but worse.

The redeeming attributes of this trip - the Gordon family. Each of them. I can feel my blood pressure lower and feel myself mellow out when I'm in the presence of Leah. So, despite the cacophony (check that out, it's a vocabulary word) of music, the trip was amazing! We had great times around fires (grill and in fireplace), a delightful steak dinner for Thanksgiving, and meaningful times all in between.

Here are details from the evening "family" deer hunt. Jer and H got up both mornings and were in the stand while it was still dark while Jen and I slept "in" until 8:00, but Thursday evening, we all sat in the stand together. By the way, I did take this level with the horizon, but the stand leans a little. The whole time Jenna kept saying how she felt like she going to fall forward!

Now, with this picture, I want you to picture a doe and feeder about 50 yards in front of the stand and Jenna declaring, "I have to go to the bathroom." So, as quietly as possible, Jenna went from the top of those stairs - I'll let you figure out how she and I maneuvered that one. The best news, the deer was still eating when we returned inside and sat down!

Thanksgiving morning, the kids and Jer went with Jeff to go find a deer that had been poached and cut the horns off. Jenna, who had just helped gut a deer the week before, touched the deer and then her eyes. Jeremy came back, visibly panicked, and said, "Where's the Benedryl? Jenna's having a reaction." This is a picture a few hours later after some Benedryl had kicked in (she was very sensitive at first, so there was no initial picture). Imagine the left eye completely swollen closed, the right one swollen like the left one is, and hives all over her face. Breathing was never compromised, though!