Boating

Wow, was Thanksgiving ever busy!!! Monday, David and Michelle came into town, and we also we celebrated Shelby's birthday.

Tuesday, Mom D and Dustin and family stayed overnight on their way up to Daniel's.

Thursday I made the first full Thanksgiving meal I think I ever have!! Other than the once a year turkey for the church ( for which I am NOT known for my expertise!!) I never cook like that! Usually our Thanksgiving is just us, and we keep it simple, and just have a good family day. This year we had us, David and Michelle, Joshua, and Arturo. It may not seem like alot to some of you, but it was nerve wracking for me!!! I had a 23lb tom that the package said would take almost 8 hrs to cook. It had a neat bag of gravy stuff in it too, so that was a relief, I would not have to figure out how to make turkey gravy! I wasn't really sure where to put the meat thermometer, after all, exactly where in the thigh is the thickest part????? I stuck it in the best I could and lo and behold 2 hrs later it said tom was done!! NO WAY

So I tried my old tried and true kitchen trick....

I called my MOMMY.

Even she said NO NO NO!! just cant be... but 500 miles away, she could not tell me in picture words EXACTLY where to stick the thermometer, so I tried my next best kitchen trick...

the Internet!! * see note below post for a wordy picture of where to stick it!!

Tom was most definitely NOT done... although he did get finished in 5 1/2 hours instead of 8 , the gravy was awesome, and everything else came out great too!! Whew, am I ever glad that's over. We are headin' to Ryans next year!!!!

Friday,we took the boat out, , then Mom D and the rest came back through to stay over again.

There was a submarine on this boat.

Tybee Island Lighthouse

Really old building

Ok, this was funny, Jaren held his hand up like he had a chip, but he didnt have ANYTHING. This silly bird followed us for the longest time, then David decided to feed it a cheese puff.....

Then we had few more

THEN we were attacked. even the pelicans came. All Gods creatures like cheese puffs!!

Pretty boat

Really old mill

okay, the first balcony on the left is the room at the Old Harbor Inn that my parents always stayed in when they visited!!They took their first vacation there.

Big bridge over Savannah

See the silver bars? They slide down the bridge so 'someone' can change lights and do repairs under the bridge. ( NOT ME, noway, nohow)

Cockspur Beacon Lighthouse off Ft Pulaski, built in 1847

Ft Jackson

I wanna go there, oh, yeah, I went crazy a LOOOONG time ago!( also check out the name of the boat "SCAT"

I ASSUME they mean GIT outta my way, NOT bear droppings!!)

yes, it was cold

City Hall has a gold dome on it. we thought it was a mosque at first

Beautiful River Street Savannah

I love these old buildings

Saturday, we put up some Christmas decorations, but gave that up to take Destiny and Diana to the park. The guys played tennis while Jennifer and I watched the girls play. Shelby had such a blast playing with them, and I enjoyed getting to fellowship with Jennifer a little. We really never have had the chance, it seems when we get the family together, we are always on the go. When we got home everyone gather outside for volleyball, and even some of the neighbors joined in!!

We had a great time, and it was wonderful spending time with Dustin and Jennifer!!

Sunday, of course, was church, and it was wonderful!!

Monday, I was so mentally exhausted I could not string 2 thoughts together to save my life!! But, I managed to get to the grocery store anyways, it was rather important as we were looking more and more like Old Mother Hubbards!!Forgot half of what i needed, but hey, we wont starve, or have to live on popcorn!!

Tuesday started out great, but around 4 Jaren came in the house" MOM! YOU GOTTA LOOK AT SOMETHING! " he had a little one inch pocket knife and had sliced the side of his hand open!!

It was too deep for bandaids, so we got to meet our friendly ER here in Effingham County!!

He was hoping for bondo, but that particular Dr NEVER puts bondo on hands ( I dont know why) so we had our first set of stitches . It was just a few, but it took 6 shots to deaden it... Jaren was soooo not thrilled! Fortunately it was on his left hand, so he's back in school today!! hehehehe

**Okay, take the tom, put in the pan with the breast side up. Aim the big cavity toward you. See the drumstick legs pointing at you??? Well, take the thermmeter and push in in UNDER those drumstick bones, aiming back toward the turkey. It should line up with the bones of the drumstick, but not poke out bottom, or the side. It actually goes in several inches!! THAT, my friends is the "thickest part of the thigh'"!