A Different Thanksgiving

 Mary and Mark were celebrating with his family in West Virginia.  Matt and his girlfriend drove to Portland to be with her family and also with Scott so we were just going to have John, Monica and Isabella for Thanksgiving dinner.  Cooking a big dinner for a such a small group didn't sound like a good plan so we went to Chuck-a-Rama.  We all have lots of good memories of enjoying the big buffet with George's Dad.  He loved places that were reasonably priced where you could load up your plate and even put some rolls in your pocket to take home! 

Seems like lots of people had the same idea.  I was surprised but the hour long wait to be seated wasn't that bad.  Being with family makes everything better!

The food was actually very good and the huge selection meant that there was something for everyone to enjoy.

Isabella ate chicken and French fries but she especially loved the slushy drinks.  

A 'two fisted' drinker!  With this plan you don't have to pick just one flavor.

The rolls were delicious, especially with the honey butter.  I WAS tempted to put a couple in my pocket but I resisted!

Such a great meal with fun conversation and no dishes to do when it was over!

We were all stuffed and happy!

Afterwards we played games at our house....and eventually ate some pie that I had made.

One of the  'girls" won each of the 6 Uno games so we were the Champions of the World, much to Isabella's delight!

Then we played a new one, a geometric cube matching game which proved to be a hit as well.  We didn't keep score so no world champions for this one!

And we ended the night with some time playing pool.

I think the hat made John look like a pool shark!

Grandpa gave Isabella some pointers.

She will be better when she gets a bit taller but it was still fun. 

Isabella also spent some time with a tried and true favorite, the Frozen magnets.  

She has decided that she loves wearing glasses. 

A quick Isabella story - Last Sunday she and I sat down with the book that contained all the 'thankful turkey feathers' that we have written over the years.  She was especially interested in the ones her Daddy has written starting when he was about 3 years old.  When he was on his mission he signed his feather, "John AKA Elder Lewis'.  We didn't talk about what that meant, we just read it together.  I was surprised when she wrote out her thank you feather and signed it, "Isabella AKA Izzy'.  She explained that one boy in her 1st grade class calls her Izzy.  I love the connections her mind makes and how quickly she learns and remembers things.  Grandpa explained what AKA meant but somehow she had figured that out and remembered just from the signature from her Dad's mission.

Just a bit of Grandma bragging about my smart little granddaughter.