Thanksgiving

As everyone who knows me knows, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. All of the fun of family and friends, none of the hassle of presents.

We started our week of celebration with a visit to my grandparents in Oklahoma.

Then it was on to camp, where we canoe on dry land and hike down to the pond in the rain.

Benjamin, Noah, and my mother-in-law all caught fish, despite the rain. No catfish this year, though, only bream and black bass.

Due to the non-stop rain, Noah had plenty of time to catch up on his schoolwork, and we all had plenty of time to eat and play games inside.

Benjamin has already realized the harsh reality of how short Thanksgiving camp is, and wasn't pleased to have to go to Houston to fly out the next day.

Fun, Games, and Education

We visited the St Louis Science Center one day, and my 8th grade science teacher joined us. We were happy to have our own knowledgeable guide! We learned about geology, weather, ecology, architecture, neurology, dinosaurs, and space.

We got to watch two live experiments, one about static electricity, and the other about "boiling hot and boiling cold."

The boys played "Mindball" - each player puts a sensor-band on his forehead, and the ball on the table rolls towards the most relaxed player.

To my surprise, Noah won!

They built a couple of Arches. And we still can't afford to send them to the moon yet.

The Arch!

The boys got to go up in the Arch for the first time. We had tried a couple of other years, but each time it was either too foggy, or raining. It was chilly this time, but fair weather.

The Arch museum and grounds are still under construction, so we went over to the Old Courthouse afterwards to see some of the exhibits they've got set up over there in the meantime.

The Old Cathedral and the Arch both look great with the autumn leaves!

We must be in America

Cotton: check.

Graceland: check.

Gun show: check.

First Days in the US

The night before we left for the US, we heard about the horrible events in Paris. I hopped online quickly the next morning to let everyone know we were ok and still planning to head out. Fortunately, our flight was not cancelled, and we were able to leave with only an hour and a half delay.

Frédéric's mom came with us this trip, to the kids' great delight! We started our trip off right with a visit to the farm. Our family there treated us to a delicious pre-Thanksgiving home-cooked meal, and s'mores around the fire pit afterwards.

The next day, thanks to a confused GPS, we didn't find family at church since we ended up at a different one... we only realized our mistake after opening the auditorium doors and realizing we didn't recognize anyone, but at that point there really wasn't anything else to do but go in and sit down, so we did! They were thrilled to have visitors, so I guess it all worked out!

When church service was over, we drove back over to the farm, and visited the cows and chickens before we had lunch with the rest of the family.

Then we headed over to the church building we had intended to be at that morning, to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday.

Another qualified swimmer!

This kid passed his Ecole de Natation Française 2 and 3 tests!

He had to do various types of dives, a "synchronized swimming" routine, and a 100-meter medley. He and the other kids from his club all passed, so they are all qualified to compete now.