Potato Chip Nachos

America will always be #1 ...and this is why...

Deep Fried, Potato Chip Nachos.

American Turkey Day IN AMERICA!

The last Thanksgiving we spent in the United States was in 2007...  We were living in Portland, Oregon and had driven down to California so we could eat turkey with the family.  The day after turkey was eaten we drove back to Oregon ...very sad to say bye to family knowing we were soon crossing an ocean. 

We stayed in Portland for a couple more days ...just long enough to finish shoving our things into a shipping container and ...oh, and to realize I was pregnant with Andrea.  We quickly stocked up on prenatal vitamins and boarded a plane to Denmark.  Seems like it was yesterday ...but not really.  :)

Now we are home!!!  :)  ...and I just thought about it, but a few days after this Thanksgiving I will again board a plane and head across an ocean.  This time I (alone) am going for only a few days to meet up with some friends for one last trip to the famous German Christmas Markets.  

Anyways...  This is our families first Thanksgiving "at home" in a very long time and we have a 40 pound turkey in the refrigerator to help us celebrate the occasion.  40 pounds.  HA!  Everything's bigger in America!!!  40 pounds... Geez, it's kinda like cooking Andrea.  I'm not quite sure why we have a 40 pound turkey, but leave it to the MAN to come home with a bird bigger than my four year old.  

(Apparently a friend of a friend sells turkeys and I guess this year they were well fed.  I hope I can eat it though.  Just knowing that it was alive and running around yesterday is a little gross.  Paul is definitely in charge of touching this one.)

...and with Thanksgiving comes Black Friday!!!  ...which for some reason has spiraled into midnight shopping the day of Thanksgiving, but like a good consuming American who is simply doing her part to stimulate the economy, I will take my girls and we will roam the halls of the mall until we decide we can't shop any longer.  Our mission this year... clothes... I think... it seems every time I look at the flyers I have a new plan in mind.  :)  I already spent three hours in a Toys R Us last weekend.  YAY!  :)

AND Christmas lights!  We get to have real Christmas lights this year!!!  Bright, colorful, obnoxious, twinkly, lights ....maybe with some inflatable fabric creatures ...giant glowing snowman, reindeers in the yard...  It's got to be big!  We get to start fresh too.  Currently we do not own a single Christmas light.  This means all mine will match.  Jealous?  :)

Even though I'm having a great time in America, I still miss my friends.  I do have a couple friends here thanks to a great friend who is sharing her friends with me, but I just miss my regular friends.  :)   I will see them soon though!   I can't believe I leave in nine days!  ...and this time I'M the one packing candy, toys, cereal, crackers, and baking supplies to distribute to those in need.  :)  

AND, I also might even get to see my one and only bestest CA friend, Trini, who was there for every one of my children's births; not during, but the next day.  :)  I hope she makes it.  Oh, wait.  She wasn't there for Andrea.  :(  Now I feel like Andrea missed out...  I did talk with Trini on the phone though.  :)  Either way, I'm excited to see her too.  

I think the next few months will be fun.  :)

Rescue Mission

A story I would like to have remembered forever ...to prove my love for Poozie...  or at least my love for Brown Bunny.

Over the summer we drove to Canada... a solid nine hour drive.  On the way back to New Hampshire we had three hours to go when we stopped for our lunch break at a McDonalds in the middle of New York.  We quickly ate, let the guinea pigs nibble on grass, stretched our own legs, and hopped back into the car.

We got home in record time, early enough to spend some time doing nothing before getting the kids to bed!! YAY to us for being awesome road trippers!!!  Only one small detail  ...and I knew it the minute the car stopped.

Bunny.

We left him in New York.

I was beside myself.  One might have thought I had left an actual child behind...  I started tossing things from the car hoping to find Bunny.  The driveway was covered with our belongings and I knew he wasn't there.  He was in New York.

I was devastated.  Poozie had no idea, she was already happily running up the stairs into the house and I was left alone in the driveway ...in tears ...without Brown Bunny.

I did what any mother on earth would have done.  I went back for Bunny.  Paul insisted I call the McDonalds first and luckily I had actually noticed the name of the exit we were at.  I called and they had Bunny!!!!  No, mailing him wasn't an option.  I didn't want Rabbit leaving McDonalds.  I wanted him safe in one spot.  I begged with the woman on the phone to keep him safe and I told her I'd be there in three hours.

At midnight I pulled into the parking lot of the Mohawk Ridge McDonalds in NY.

I stood in line patiently and ordered one Brown Bunny.  The cashier brought him out and it was such a relief just to see him!  As I stood there crying with Bunny in my arms I couldn't even explain to the confused cashier of how appreciative I was for everyone who was involved in the return of Bunny.  I'm pretty sure the customers behind me thought I was nuts.

I got into the car and drove the three hours back home.  Bunny sat on my lap the whole time.  I ate an entire bag of sunflower seeds just to stay awake.

Bunny and I got home at 3:00 am and we crawled into bed.  I slept with Bunny all night.

Bunny was returned to Poozie the next morning ...she quickly grabbed his long, floppy ear and ran off ...with little visible appreciation and zero knowledge of the six hours and $150 in gas that it took to get her best friend back.

Poozie loves Bunny and so do I ...maybe a little too much.  :)