Goliad State Park & Thanksgiving 2020

We ended up on Plan C for Thanksgiving 2020, and while it wasn't how we initially envisioned spending this holiday break it was absolutely delightful! Plan A--waaaaay before COVID was even a thing--was a Disney Cruise. Once we cancelled the cruise, Plan B was to spend Thanksgiving in Dallas just the five of us sightseeing and visiting the museum, aquarium, etc. As Thanksgiving got closer and closer, we started feeling a bit apprehensive about our Dallas plans since much of our trip would be spent in indoor locations with possibilities of crowds. So we nixed Plan B, and Plan C was born--camping! Finding an available campsite on short notice was no easy feat. Clearly we weren't the only ones who were trying to look for outdoor options for the holiday week. We ended up at the only nearby-ish state park with availability--Goliad State Park. If it weren't for this pandemic, we may have never visited Goliad--but we had a great time & learned a LOT of Texas history while we were there. We will probably never forget this trip because our car battery died while there. Thankfully a nearby camper jumped us, and we were able to drive to a nearby town about 30minutes away that had a Wal-Mart! Thank you to Beeville, Texas!!!

Pictured below is Brady getting some Z's in on the way there--he has been taking advantage of every opportunity on this break to catch up on his sleep! Brady has transitioned as beautifully as possible to going to school all five days a week this year, but with Shelby getting out of school at 2:15 it makes naps pretty much impossible during the week. Going to school all 5 days + being outside essentially from 8am (when we get to school each morning) to 1pm (when Hadley, Brady, and I can leave) + no nap makes for one exhausted 4 year old!

If you look closely in the picture below, you'll see a fuzzy caterpillar on the end of Brady's leaf. These caterpillars were EVERYWHERE!!!!

We ventured into Downtown Goliad on our second evening and found the absolute BEST park! And the weather was picture-perfect to boot.

{inaugural camping trip with our new tent!}

Back in the car headed home & that meant time for another nap....

We got home on the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving. We immediately set to work unpacking, doing ALL the laundry, and SHOWERING! Once everyone was clean, we broke out the Christmas decorations! Hadley was the most eager to get started, and she was SO helpful! While Hadley and I trimmed the tree, Derek was busy storing our camping gear, Brady napped, and Shelby was in the midst of writing a story.

On Thanksgiving morning, these three cuties came downstairs eager to see the tree again! We had a nice, slow morning at home eating pancakes and watching the parade.

We have spent MANY a Thanksgiving at Cracker Barrel, and this was the smoothest year yet with the shortest wait and best service. 

The weather was beautiful on Thanksgiving, and we spent the afternoon playing outside while Derek worked hard getting our Christmas lights hung up outside. 

This week together has been such a gift. We've relaxed, we've adventured, we've decorated, we've ordered Christmas cards and presents galore, we've played games, we've baked...but mostly, we've just been together. After going back to teaching this fall, I appreciated this holiday break more than ever this year! Now we've got three busy weeks until CHRISTMAS! Let's do this! 

Halloween 2020

Just like everything else in 2020, this was certainly a Halloween for the record books! 

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year {with the most gorgeous weather!}, so we carved pumpkins on the day of Halloween.

Brady wanted to wear his beloved tiger costume again this year, and I was hesitant to buy new costumes for the girls because I wasn't sure if we would be trick-or-treating or not this year due to COVID-19. But thankfully, our neighborhood was actually pretty normal for Halloween! And it felt so good for something to finally be "normal." Sure, there were less trick-or-treaters on the streets, and there were more dark houses than usual...but it felt so good to be out and about with our neighbors! We only saw one family the whole night with masks on. 

I had seen lots of "candy chute" systems showing up on Facebook, so I got nervous at the last minute that we would be the only house not social distancing as we passed out our candy. So at the 11th hour we brought our slide downstairs from the playroom, and we slid the candy down to our trick-or-treaters. :)  But as it turned out, we didn't need to do the slide. The vast majority of our neighbors greeted their trick-or-treaters as normal or sat out at the end of their driveway. Some did pre-packaged baggies of candy, but most gave out candy in the traditional manner.

Shelby had recently read in a National Geographic Kids magazine that 85% percent of parents sneak their children's Halloween candy after they're in bed for the night. The picture below is of Brady sternly telling us not to sneak any of his candy from him. ;)

One of my very favorite parts of Halloween is watching the kids sort their loot when we get back home.

All sugared up & clean for bedtime!

{Shelby's face in the picture above is because she doesn't understand/appreciate Hadley & Brady's affinity for peace signs in pictures, ha!}

The picture below was taken the morning after Halloween...they immediately went back to their piles upon waking up. :)