Thanksgiving in the UP

This year in our holiday rotation, it was time for Thanksgiving in the UP, aka Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad.

My family has always spent Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family.  Back in the day, I would dress up in an homemade Indian girl costume made of paper bags, rope and construction paper (embarrassing, I know) and then we would all head over to my Uncle Ed's camp for the day.  As my (already large) family continued to grow and my cousins (many of whom are closer to my Mom's age than my own) started families of their own, the tradition changed.  All of the UP area Piche families did their own thing instead of gathering together at Piche camp.  For the most part, all of my aunts and uncles on that side of the family have quite large families of their own, but my mom, being the youngest of 7 kids just has my Dad, (& at the time) my brother and I.  Thus, as the families began to celebrate within their own immediate families, my Aunt Carol's family took us in and we began the tradition of celebrating with them at their camp.

So, on Thanksgiving morning, Eric and I loaded up the van and headed up North to spend the weekend with Mom and Dad and the day out at camp with family and friends...

Eric & Asher with Uncle Joe's camp hat

Asher enjoying his first Thanksgiving meal.  Although this was his 2nd Thanksgiving, last year he was too young to eat any of it, so I let him try a little bit of everything to see what he liked.  He seemed to think that stuffing was better used as play-doh, and sweet potatoes were not as interesting to him as they were when he was a baby.  However, he LOVED the cranberries and couldn't get enough of them!

Dad, Aunt Judy, Mom & Asher eating lunch.

Me, Asher and his new buddy Herb.  He had never met him before and crawled right up to him and snuggled into his arm!

Asher and I enjoying some time outside.

Camp

The rest of our day was spent just hanging out in camp, going for a short Gator ride through the woods and visiting some good friends down the road.  Then we headed back to Mom and Dad's for a good night of rest.

The next morning, I woke up to this...

One of the many beautiful sites of the UP

Mom had to work today, and Dad was out hunting, so Eric, Asher and I spent a relaxing morning at home.  When Dad got back from hunting, we went out to find our Christmas Tree.  Asher was pretty excited to walk around in the field, but not nearly as excited as Emma who thoroughly enjoyed bounding through the snow!

Taste testing the snow.  At least it was white!

Kisses from Daddy

 Dad wanted us to wear some orange, since it was still hunting season...it may be the Yooper in me, but I think my guy looks good in orange! ;)

Asher watching Daddy cut down our tree.

My & My Boy

As we finished up with our Christmas Tree excursion, Asher started to get very tired and whiny.  Dad wasn't finished yet, but had driven separately so we headed home hoping to get Asher down for a nap...

...unfortunately, I got him out of the car, in the house and out of his winter clothes without waking him up, but when I put him down in his crib he woke and that was the end of nap time...so we went back down into the basement to play and ride Grandma & Papa's Harley.

In the late afternoon, my best friend growing up came over for a visit with her hubby.  It was so great to see them, but I am kicking myself that I didn't take a photo.  I guess I will have to wait a few years now.  :(  Then, when Mom got home from work and Dad returned from his afternoon hunting, we all headed out to one of the few restaurants within 10 miles of my parents' and enjoyed some tasty pizza together.

On Saturday, we enjoyed a long relaxing day at home with Mom and Dad.  Eric and I also enjoyed the UofM/OSU football game...at least until the end. :(  

A quick nap during the football game.

Finally, on Sunday it was time to head home.  We enjoyed church in Carney with Dad (while Asher enjoyed playing with the big kids in Toddlers with Mom).  Then we headed down to Menominee for a great lunch at one of our favorite restaurants with Mom and Dad before we made the rest of our way home.  When lunch was over, we made one more stop...Menards.  While Eric and I were browsing the Black Friday sales papers, we found an amazing deal on ceiling tiles from Menards for the playroom and wanted to get them before we headed home.  They had an awesome Menards truck shopping cart for Asher to ride in and he was in Little Boy Heaven!  :)