thanksgiving break + a road trip

We left Grand Forks bright and early Thursday morning.

First stop, Starbucks. Nate had a couple gift cards and since he doesn't like coffee, I kindly asked him if I could use one. :) He said yes. #bestbrotherever

I just wanted to fill my travel mug with regular brewed coffee, nothing fancy.

The lady asks if I wanted the Thanksgiving blend. Sure...

It didn't taste like turkey and mashed potatoes fyi.

She was impressed with my Pike's Place mug from Seattle and even more impressed when I said I used to lived there. Ha.

So why did you come here, she asked. my short answer: school.

3 pounds of entertainment. 

This (plus music) kept us going.

We saw a  whole lot of nothing and farms (sometimes).

second stop: bathroom.

third stop: Subway.

A little less than 6 hours later, we made it to our grandparents' house on my mom's side.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with them and about 12 other extended family members.

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving was Skyping the family in Hawaii! They had my cousin over at their place while her mom (my aunt) was with us! 

kinda crazy, kinda cool. It was a big old Skyping reunion. 

Oh, and we even got to witness Elias eating his first food: poi! :) 

He hated it, but his facial expressions were priceless!

I should practice getting more pictures of PEOPLE...

In the morning, Nate and I headed out on the icy roads to REI then the Mall of America. Just because we could :) I wasn't out to buy anything; I just wanted to walk/explore/window shop.

Remember me talking about recognizing people everywhere I go?

Well, I saw two people I knew from school on this trip. haha! ;)

Late afternoon on Friday, we headed a little north to my Great Uncle and Aunt's. The rest of the day included relaxing, playing pool in their basement, chemistry homework, Chinese takeout and a movie! Thanks guys!

The next day we were able to meet up with some friends from Grand Forks/church, and have lunch with them.  That night, my Aunt's sister had us all over for dinner, and we were able to meet more extended family :) Surprisingly, almost half the people there were graduates of the school Nate & I are going to! small world.

This is Bob. He thinks he's more important than chemistry.

As long as you get the questions correct on my chemistry homework, Bob, I'm more than happy to let you lie right on top of my papers and laptop.

Oh, such a silly cat. :)

We were going to spend the night at my other grandparent's house in St. Cloud, but they were feeling under the weather, so we ended up just going out to lunch with them on Sunday. Better than nothing :) They aren't exactly the most tech savvy people, so we were able to help them "fix" their new digital camera while we were there. Oh, they're so cute! :) I only had to push a button twice, and it was fixed!

I'd have to say the trip down to Minnesota was successful.

We're blessed with so much, and I'm so thankful to God for all of it!