I went with Abby to a field trip to the UNF nature trail. The national parks have spoiled us for nature trails. I'll just say that. Abby took a million nature photos while I caught up with one of my high school pals, also a chaperone on the trip. I finished the book club book, Deacon King Kong just in time for book club at Lauren's. I loved it! My brother, Matt was in town for the week. I met up with he and his new girl friend, Tara at Mellow and then the Casbah after book club. The Hogans popped in, too. Tuesday, the younger two had a Thanksgiving lunch at school. Phil worked from home and it was nice to have two lunches with just them. Suzanne met us out for dinner at High Tide then Buckners with Tara and the Sassers. Ellie spent the night at Olivia's. We got up early on Wednesday for the 4th Annual Turkey Tri. It was the perfect misty morning with a rainy ride home. We rode to TCC on bikes, ran about 3 miles in Venetia then swam our age in laps (I did half my age). Then we rode home (Ellie ran). It was a great work out. We hosted my parents and Matt for dinner. I made a Mississippi pot roast. It was nice to have a family dinner before heading to Miami the next morning. We were on the road by 7:30am and had a pretty easy drive down. It was Phil's idea to go on Thanksgiving morning to avoid traffic. I was pretty bummed to miss the Macy's Day parade but I got over it. We arrived in time for lunch and then forgot that Phil's family eats Thanksgiving dinner, not lunch like my parents. So we were ready for dinner when it came later that evening. I ate way too much. We had a nice walk around the neighborhood. Abby loves the vegetation in Miami! We went Black Friday shopping the next morning. Vanessa, Ryan and the kids met us for lunch. It was so nice snuggling my niece, Isidora. She's so big! We were fighting over holding her. Leftovers for dinner were perfect. We left the next morning for the grueling drive back to Jax. We tacked on an extra hour of traffic. Ugh. We said goodbye to Matt and he did half the drive back to VA. We gassed up and took the boat to the boat parade (my favorite thing Jacksonville does!) It was a perfect night. I made a snackle box. We got the FSU-UF football game going on Ellie's laptop. The kids were starting to annoy me and then it started raining. I was so bummed we left before the fireworks but it was probaby a good call. We watched the rest of the FSU game snuggled on the couch and we barely pulled it out in the end. It was great! This morning we went to mass then TCC bfast with the Hershorins. Now we're working on science projects on a rainy Sunday. Here are our pics of the week.