Then we drove over to Sanibel where Gramma Dot's, our favorite seafood place, was open! We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving evening dinner of chicken for Steph and me, and shrimp for Brad and Mom.
On Friday we woke up late and vegged in the morning. We went over to Ralph and Chris's house for the big meal and had a lovely time. It is also tradition to celebrate Brad and Shelley's birthday, so we had cake along with the pumpkin, pecan, and custard pies. Yum. The whole meal was very, very good. After dinner it was time to take the Bressler Family Picture. Here is the most successful attempt:
And my favorite one of Beth, Rico, Kena, and Kaya, who had just thrown up after sneaking a sip of milk out of her sister's sippy cup. She is explosively allergic to milk, but was feeling a bit better after losing all of her lunch:
Mom as Mrs. Claus:
One of just the three girls:
And of course Kena needed to jump in:
On the way home the four little piggies stopped at Cheeburger Cheeburger, home of the very best chocolate shakes ever. There were some palms in the parking lot which Mom thought made the perfect backdrop for a picture:
And as if you need another picture of us... but this one is so great of my handsome husband, I couldn't resist:
Afterward we went home and Mom and I snuck back out for a little shopping trip to Old Time Pottery. Think big warehouse full of cheap everything-- kitchen items, decor of every kind, bedding, fake flowers, you name it. And LOTS of Christmas decorations. It was really fun to take our time, examine every ornament, and get in the Christmas mood.
On Saturday we went for a tour of the citrus place, which turned out to be only a video tour. Wah, wah, wah. But it was fun anyway.
We sampled some oranges and juices (amazing) and went for lunch at Moe's. Then we went over to Sanibel for a family picture at the Holiday Inn, the place we stayed the very first time we visited Sanibel.
We took a bunch of pictures on the beach, in the sand, sitting, standing, walking, in the hammock, by the tiki hut, by the palm trees... you name it. When we got back to the car, just as we got in it started to sprinkle. Perfect timing! Except that we never got a sunset shot with the photographer. So as we drove toward dinner, and the sunset was breathtaking, I made us all jump out of the car and pose for a pic taken by a foreign tourist.
What we forgot was bugspray, and we're all itching this week from the no-see-um bites. Little buggers.
Then we went to the Mucky Duck restaurant on Captiva. The main draw is the fact that it is on the beach-- the front "yard" is sand, and 50 feet out is water. But it was dark, so we couldn't see the beach, and the food was so-so.
They did sing happy birthday to Brad, though.
On Sunday we slept in and had a lovely late breakfast out on the lanai. We celebrated Brad's birthday again with Mom and Steph.
Steph got Brad a cute Charlie Brown Christmas thing that plays music and the little people ice skate around.
Mom and Steph left Sunday afternoon and made it home ok, despite rain in Atlanta and delayed flights.
I spent Monday getting my requirements done to be a substitute teacher. I'm off for most of December and every Friday next semester, and the extra money would be nice. I got fingerprinted, got a physical and TB test, and attended the orientation in which I learned about asbestos, hazardous materials, and blood-borne pathogens. Did you know you aren't supposed to lick a bleeding kid? Yes? Well, then, you can be a substitute teacher! Now I'm just waiting for them to process my paperwork, and I'll be on my way.
On Tuesday Brad's office buddies got a cake for him and for Marie, his assistant, whose birthday is one day prior. I got to go to the celebration, which was much fun. The people he works with are very nice, and even bought him a wine-scented candle! It's their tradition to buy each other wine for their birthdays, and they knew Brad doesn't like wine, so they got him a wine-scented candle! So fun of them.
After work we went out and tried a new pizza place for dinner. Why have I never had meat pizza before? It was delicious! Pepperoni, ham, bacon, ground beef...! So yummy and salty. Gotta love those cured meats.
This week is the last week of classes for the semester. I'm doing extra classes to pay back a colleague who covered for me, so instead of 16 I have 20, and I'm beat. My back is acting up again so I know I need to rest in the evenings. And I probably should rest this weekend, but I just got in to another craft fair and I just wanna.
Next week I'll be on campus on Tuesday and Wednesday, helping students review for their final and starting to get reading in the statistics book I'll be teaching from next semester. Lucky for me it's not like the classes I have now where I teach a lot and then answer questions-- I'll be in a room with the professor. He'll do the teaching and I'll just help out when the students work on problems together. I still need to study up for it as stats and I have never gotten along well.
We hope to get our Christmas decorations up sometime soonly and might, as my mother suggested, just get out one box at a time and do it bit by bit. It is such a lovely season, and for some reason God has filled both Brad and me with a strong desire to bless others-- much different from the complain-y attitudes we've had thus far. As a result He has been throwing hurting people at us left and right-- some obviously hurting, and some just in need of a smile. Funny thing is, we are the ones who get blessed the most when we reach out to others. It's a good reminder of how much God loves to bless us, and it makes us all the more thankful.
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