Thanksgiving

Briant's brother Gordon, and his wonderful wife Katrina, came to visit us from Sweden for Thanksgiving with their four kids.  We feel so lucky that we have family just a ferry ride or a short flight away!  The odds of us being posted this close again is probably pretty slim!  Our kids had been counting down the days for weeks to have their cousins visit them after we visited them in Sweden in October.  They were excited to see and play with their cousins again!  Gordon et al., arrived on Thanksgiving day, so we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving officially until Saturday.  So after they arrived on the Tallink ferry from Stockholm, Briant and I took them to the central market to show them around and pick up some Latvian treats.  Everyone was a little overwhelmed and indecisive at first as to what to eat, but then we narrowed in on some doughnuts and pastries.  Briant introduced Katrina to some great homemade Latvian pumpernickel bread which I think is now her favorite. ;)

 Our cute, sweet nephew Henry!
The whole gang with Charlotte and Nick in the front, and 2 year old Brady running away behind us.  We're also anticipating the birth of another adorable nephew in the spring!
Of course we had to make it to the dessert hanger to check out the meat hanger where we saw all kinds of interesting things.  Here's Brady pointing to some animal hearts.
 And Henry, trying not to be totally disgusted with all of the body parts of pigs behind him.  ;)  Latvians don't waste!

We got home and the kids played for a while before I went and got Rhea from school.  She joined them in watching a movie and relaxing after a long day.

Thomas and Savannah then got home from their after school activities and joined in the fun.

Over the next few days, the kids played and played!  I don't remember there being any drama either--it seemed that everyone got along and enjoyed being together!  The only thing that we parents struggled with was the talking that the kids wanted to do instead of sleeping when it was bedtime!  Their first night together, the girls slept in the same room along with Nick, and Thomas and Henry shared a room, and we couldn't get them to stop talking, even at 10pm!  They were tired the next day, so we had to make different sleep arrangements after that!  It probably didn't help that we adults were playing games down in the dining room, making noise that indicated we were having fun without them!  Or should I say, they could hear all of us complaining about Katrina beating us!  ;)

Gordon started the pull-up craziness by doing pull-ups himself, so of course he was joined by the kids!  Haha!

Friday our kids stayed home from school (except Savannah had to run in for a science experiment test), and Bri had to work a half-day.  So we hung around the house and Thomas and Henry took a long bike ride around town, stopping at one of the little grocery stores here in Pinki for a treat and drink.  They had fun "exploring" Pinki and being big boys on their own.  After the boys got back, we ran over to the forest next to our housing development and took a walk (Thomas and Henry rode bikes), and then we walked to the little playground on the next street over.  You have to have a paid pass to enter the forest and the playground, which our landlord didn't pay for, so we borrowed our friend Tracey's.  We had a blast and at the end of our fun, Bri called and said he was home.

 I wanted Gordon and Katrina to have time exploring Riga on their own without kids, so they ran into the city with Briant and got to walk around Old Town and into a few antique/gift shops.  At one point while the older kids were playing and making snowflakes, I sat down with Brady to read.  After 15 minutes or so, I noticed some heavy breathing, so I joined in and closed my eyes too.  ;)  I love cuddle naps!
Saturday we had our official Thanksgiving meal. 
I like to make a habit of talking about the things we are grateful for, but I was distracted by the kids or something and I forgot!  Oh well--good meal with our family favorites of a pecan cream cheese dip, mashed potatoes, turkey, green beans, boxed stuffing, and store bought rolls (we had to order in the pumpkin, stuffing, chocolate chips, cinnamon chips).  As we started cooking everything, I realized that my ambition for making homemade rolls and pie was gone since it would have pushed our eating time later and later with only one oven.  Still though I was able to find a recipe for making "Cool whip" so I could make gingersnap pudding still, and we had our traditional pumpkin cookies and some store bought desserts that were so cheap I had to get pictures!  About $1.00 for each (apple strudel pie and cinnamon roll bread with sunflower seeds). Sunflower seeds on desserts here is pretty common!To prepare for our relatives coming for Thanksgiving, I asked the kids to make name cards for the place settings.  They all chose who they wanted to make them for, and then each of them did their own thing.  Savannah and her crafty, artsy self, decided to do little peg people for Katrina and Gordon and tried to make them look like them.  Thomas did Brady's and Henry's in different fonts of his own making, and Rhea created colorful, personalized cards for Charlotte and Nick.
After eating, the playing continued and then we had a little talent show.  Savvy played the clarinet, Nick made us laugh, Thomas played the piano, Char and Rhea did gymnastics together, Henry sang, and Brady was cute.  ;)
That evening, we took everyone into the city and walked around a small area of outdoor markets.  The larger outdoor markets were set up the weekend after unfortunately, so they missed those.  We saw some cool lights along the way though.  I was told by a friend that lived in Russia that Christmas colors are blue and white there instead of green and red.  Here we see both, but I can see the Russian influence for sure.

The boys had fun playing, including the dads in a little playground area in the shadows of the Riga Cathedral.

Sunday, our last day together, we went to church and then came home for lunch and said goodbye to our family.
There were real tears from my kids, off and on, for the remainder of the day because they missed their cousins!  "When are we going to see them again?" they asked repeatedly.  It's hard sometimes to live so far from family, and it seems like it's even harder to say goodbye once you've had them close for a few days.  We love our family and are grateful they made the trip out to see us, especially during the holiday season!