We had planned on driving to Effingham, IL and staying at the Holiday Inn Express that is right off the interstate. We've stayed there twice and they allow large dogs (I hate how hotels will allow puppies and small dogs but most will not allow a large 8 year old dog who happens to be perfect...I'm pretty sure small dogs bark more than Max and puppies, well, destroy things. Just my opinion.) Effingham is where we got stuck last Christmas during that horrible ice storm we tried to drive through coming home from Indiana. We also stayed there during our move.
Anyway, back to Thanksgiving. We got to Effingham at 7pm on Friday so we decided it was too early to stop. We ended up driving to Rolla, MO and discovered that not all Holiday Inn Express hotels allow dogs. FRUSTRATING. It was almost midnight and we needed to find a place to stay! Finally we found a Comfort Suites that let us have Max.
We got to NWA around 2 on Saturday. Sarah and Travis were so nice to let us (and Max) stay with them for several nights. We had a fun time with them even though Carsen was sick. Poor little guy!
Frank, Donna, and Hayden
We had our family Thanksgiving on Sunday afternoon. Travis fried the turkey and it was really good. Unfortunately Grandma Jewel was sick so we didn't get to see her this trip. But we did get to meet baby Gibson, Waylon's cousin's new baby.
Grandmas feeding the babies...Donna and Carsen; Ro and GibsonWe also celebrated Waylon's mom's birthday! Happy "50ish" birthday Donna! :-)
Hayden helping Donna read her birthday card
While we were home, we were able to see some of our friends too.
AveryChristmas came a little early for Hayden and Carsen...
Wednesday we got up and went to Fort Smith to spend some time with my family. We had such a fun day! We went to Red Lobster for lunch and I got to eat my Coconut Shrimp. SO YUMMY. I even had two left over to eat later but I left them in the car all day and decided not to eat them. So my brother did.
of course mom has a huge bridal portrait on display (before the frame...lol)
After lunch we did some family shopping which is ALWAYS fun and entertaining. We went to Target, Books a Million, Best Buy (where my dad spent a good 15 minutes talking to the salesperson about Play Station 3...strange, but true), and Sam's.
me and mom
On Thanksgiving, my uncle Tom came over as well as Bill's friends Cory and Dave. Cory brought his dog also named Max and so the two Max's played outside all afternoon (if you were there, we are leaving it at that...they just played!).
After my dad's sudden interest in PS3, Waylon and Bill went out and did some shopping. They came home with a PS3. (Waylon's early Christmas present.) So Waylon, Bill, Cory, and Dave played a lot of video games after lunch.
the guys playing games...while I'm using Waylon as a chair as we chat with Uncle Tom
I am not a fan of Black Friday so we didn't do any shopping in the morning. My mom and I did go out in the afternoon to go to some local shops that I don't get to shop at anymore. And I completely forgot to go to Dillards. By the time I remembered, it was too late. Boo!
Waylon and me before we left
Then Saturday we decided to drive home in one day. We thought it would be nice to be home on Sunday before Waylon had to go back to work. However, a 15 hour drive was not fun. We thought it was 12 but when you add in doggy breaks and a Check Engine light, it ends up being 15.
And one more with Maxwell
Thanks Dad for the pictures since I didn't take any!!!!
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