Thanksgiving Excursions

We had a pretty low key Thanksgiving this year.  Since we are still living in the apartment we decided not to cook a big bird and all the fixins' (because that would heat the entire apartment) so instead we ordered a meal from Whole Foods and Brian's parents came up from FL to eat it with us.  Of course Monkey loved the food (and is continuing to eat it as we speak) and it was pretty good - but I still can't wait to make a homemade Thanksgiving in my double ovens next year.

While Brian's parents were here we had a little day trip out to Lake Lanier.  It's this beautiful lake about 1 hour north of Atlanta that has a couple of islands.  It's super popular in the summer with all of the water sports, but it was still beautiful to walk around in the winter.

Here is what it looked like when we went up:

Before we began our walk we had to do 2 things.  First Monkey fell in love with a stuffed dog he saw (and thus continues his dog obsession) so of course we had to buy it.  You'll see it in most of the following pictures.  Second, Monkey explored the pool area and of course ended up at the trash can (he is often drawn to trash cans - what does that mean?).

And then we were off.

Monkey walked all over the trails at the Lodge at Lake Lanier (and notice that he didn't always carry his own stuffed animal).

He got to ride on Daddy's shoulders.

And, we even found a slide for him to ride down with his doggie.



And of course the walk ended with Monkey finding a stick.

I love when we get to take Monkey on all these trips.  He gets to be outside and explore.  And I get to stand back and let him explore.  I've recently realized how important it is to me that Monkey see this world as something intriguing and exciting rather than something scary.  I want him to be excited about what he is doing now and what could happen next.  And my job is to be off to the side, supervising and ready to swoop in when real danger presents itself.  And I think Monkey appreciates this freedom.