Happy Thanksgiving!

One great thing about Majuro is that we had access to everything that we needed for a normal Thanksgiving dinner! The turkey was a Butterball and the cranberries were fresh! Even though it's a ton of work, I really love making it, and it was so fun to put it together with Autumn. To make it even better, we had family here to share it with!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Making a bunting craft with Kylie

 

A beautiful evening sky

 Pumpkin pies to donate to a community dinner

 Fresh cranberries!

 All set!

 The Barefoot Contessa's "light" cheesecake

ONLY 2 1/2 lbs of cream cheese!

 

 YUM!

Gobble! Gobble!

We spent all of Thanksgiving day out on the farm with loads of friends, family and food! We were so thankful to finally get to celebrate Thanksgiving at home for the first time in 5 years, and it was such a treat to take part in the preparations! Thank you to everyone for making this such a special day.

 Traveling buddies reunited!

 Good morning!

 Steamy sunbreaks

 Peeling and chopping potatoes

 Texting and basting

 Wine is breathing

 Best friends

 The calm before the storm

 

 Ready to mash

 Roasting the pig!

 Gettin' the party started!

 Uno!

 Yum!

 Our head chef and dinner marshall

 Our sommeliers

 Moon rising

 

 Tile rummy!

The Kowitz's

Thanksgiving in Salvador

We couldn't make it all the way home for Thanksgiving this year, so we took advantage of cheap flights on a non-Brazilian holiday, and flew to Salvador in the state of Bahia just a little over an hour south of Recife. Salvador is the 3rd largest city in Brazil, and had a ton to do! Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating. But, we made the best of a rainy day, reorganized our tourism schedule and spent the day indoors (as much as possible).

 A soggy start to our vacation!

 Palacio Rio Branco

 The Lacerda Elevator connecting the upper city "Pelorinho" to the lower city marina.

Old stuff!

 View from the top...

 ...and down below.

 A soon to be remodeled shopping!

 Mercado Modelo

 Ready to shop!

We're in a junkeria-zão!

 Still raining...

 ...nothing a caipirinha (or three) can't fix!

 Sleepy lady

The rain turned into a torrential downpour that lasted for hours,
so we were left with the option of "sun meat wint milk pirão" or grilled chicken...

...we opted for the grilled chicken!

We braved traffic back to the hotel after lunch, and hunkered down for a quiet night in with an almost pizza. However, we made up for it on Sunday when we got back and cooked a full turkey dinner. YUM!

Thanksgiving

This year, we had a small Thanksgiving dinner (part II) with Virgile, Sterling, Katie and...surprise...my dad! We made the turkey, stuffing and gravy, and pumpkin pie martinis. V&S made wasabi mashed potatoes, a spiral ham and a pumpkin pie. And, Katie made the cranberry sauce, cornbread and Dutch apple pie. Everything was amazing! Kylie's first Thanksgiving was a smashing success. We even got to use Autumn's grandma's china for the first of many dinner parties to come!

It's Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for my Aunt Tiffany, who gave me the under the sea play mat.

It keeps me happy and quiet!

 The perfect Thanksgiving table!

 I think our table-scaping and signature cocktail would make Sandra Lee proud!

 Grandma Hanson's china!! Yay!

Look who got all dressed up for the occasion

 Grandpa Mark and Miss K

Thanks for the great visit!

 The star of the show! Delicious and moist!

Ugh! I ate too much! ;)

Of course, I didn't snap any photos during the actual dinner...
...maybe next year!