Thanksgiving Surprise, part 2

So I said last post how we drove 1,000 miles to spend Thanksgiving with Senpai's extended family, because his Papa's health is failing and everyone would be there. I also said it was a surprise to all but one aunt.

We pulled up into that aunt's driveway just before dinnertime on Wednesday. I recognized the house from when we visited two years ago, but there was a moment of uncertainty if we really were at the right place when we saw many faces peering out the windows at us... the aunt lives by herself. We walked in to find another aunt and a host of cousins there for dinner, too. The other aunt (visiting from out of town as well) was borrowing this aunt's oven to bake numerous pies, and the cousins found out from their mom whom our aunt had to ask to borrow a baby gate from. So the secret had been spilled to a limited few, but we were still excited about the big reveal on Thanksgiving the next day.

The next morning, Senpai and our aunt drove to town to take food to the hall where the family dinner would be held; there were too many people for any one house to contain us all. An uncle walked in and saw Senpai. Before the uncle could say a word, Senpai held his finger to his lips, called his Dad, and asked him how his Thanksgiving was going, saying how sorry he was that we couldn't be there. The uncle got the hint. An hour after the dinner was supposed to start, we were all scurrying at the aunt's house, trying to pull together last minute dishes: deviled eggs, stuffing, and even a fried turkey. We drove separate vehicles to the hall. When we pulled up, we saw Senpai's Mom holding the door open for the people coming in with dishes. She didn't notice Senpai's car (a very unique vehicle- a Scion xB) park behind his aunt's large SUV. We huddled behind the car, waiting for her to go inside, but that didn't seem like it was going to happen, so we brazenly stepped out into the open and started walking toward the hall. Senpai had given his phone to his cousin to record the surprise. Here's what he got.



So you know who everyone is, well, it's obvious who MIL is. The aunt who helped us with the surprise is the lady walking in with a dish just before MIL starts exclaiming, and FIL is the man in the blue shirt who leans over. He also is the one who asked us if we drove.

In spite of how many people the secret had already been leaked to, there were still many more people with surprised looks on their faces, Nana and Papa included. While we were there, we also revealed another secret to the family, but I'll save that for another post. Nana slapped Senpai in the face for keeping not one, but two big secrets from her.

Here's a pic of Nana, Papa, and all of the siblings and their significant others. There were pics of all of the cousins, too, but we didn't take any ourselves. Sorry, that's my fault. Since Senpai was standing up there, I should've had my camera out. Oh well.


The next couple of days were all about spending quality time with family. Nothing too exciting to report, I don't think. Senpai will correct me later if I forgot something important.

We drove home on Monday. The drive home went a lot like the drive over, except that I spent more time behind the wheel, and R spent more time glued to the portable DVD player. We drove through snow in Indiana. Here's a video of her seeing snow for the first time this season.



And our detour this time was to Baja Fresh. I loooooooove Baja Fresh, but, sadly, there is not one within 500 miles of our home. We drove through New Jersey to find this one.




It was a fun trip and I'm glad we went. Next year, though, I want to spend Thanksgiving with my Chicago-ish relatives like I had told them we would do this year.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles...

Once again, I find myself in the position of having way too much to blog about. How much info will I try to squeeze into this one post, or will I conservatively space it out over multiple posts? Guess I'd better start typing and see what happens.


We drove to upstate New York to spend time with Senpai's family this Thanksgiving. I have relatives 5 hours north of us near Chicago, and I had told them we'd be spending Thanksgiving with them this year, but then Senpai heard that his Papa's health was failing, and we both agreed that NY was where we needed to be. Senpai's Dad has six siblings (seven kids total), and what made the event even more special is that it would be the first time in a very long while that they all would be together. Senpai and I upped the "special" ante by making our visit a surprise. We only told one aunt (the one whose house we would be staying at) we were coming, and she helped keep the secret from the rest of the family. Senpai's Mom and Dad had no idea.

It was a very long drive. We started on Tuesday morning after we ate breakfast at home. We left an hour later than we had wanted to, but we made up for it on the road. Senpai drove the entire day on Tuesday. The weather was bad. It was either foggy or raining down torrents the whole day, and Senpai braved the storms. I sat in back keeping R entertained. My memory has lost exact details, but I think her behavior was good that first day. It must have been, because I managed to crochet myself a hat while I was sitting back there. We stopped at malls for meals whenever possible to give R a chance to run around. We stayed the night in a motel.

The next day had better weather, so I flexed my driving muscles in the morning. Senpai had planned a side trip to the Museum of Play in Rochester. It was a bit off our path, but the extra time spent running around a fun environment for R was so worth it.

There's a map of the museum here. We started by grabbing lunch in the cafeteria, then R browsed the Yo Gabba Gabba toys at the gift shop while Mommy and Daddy took our respective potty breaks. Next order of business was Sesame Street. The exhibits are smaller than you'd expect, but the keepers certainly cram as much as they can into the small space. R's favorite part of Sesame Street was the taxi cab. She likes cars.


Her favorite parts of Reading Adventureland were a pulley system used to transport kid-drawn notes from one side of a treehouse to another, and a light harp (as in the strings were beams of light). She then met the Berenstain Bears, but was not impressed enough to stand still for a photo.


The American Comic Book Heroes section was fun. I particularly liked the Spiderman photo op.




Senpai and R liked the Green Goblin flight simulator.


The three steps to the side of this Hulk statue is where R got the nose boo-boo that you'll see in photos from the rest of this trip. She usually won't attempt to go down stairs on her own, because she knows she needs help. But Daddy had just showed her on a previous set of steps how to hold on to the railing and do it herself, so she tried it when Mommy was distracted (without holding on to a railing) and scuffed her nose on the carpet when she fell. Poor lady.


The second floor contained the actual museum aspect, with old toys (stuff I grew up with!) on display behind plexiglass walls. It also had a huge Lite-Brite board.


Recognize these?




We also introduced R to Star Wars memorabilia.


Gosh, this post is getting long, and I haven't even gotten us to upstate NY yet! Another post then. Concluding our visit to the Museum of Play, I took R on the Carousel. She <3's carousels.

Then we hopped back in the car for the last leg of our journey. To be continued.

Goodbye

I am saddened to admit-- but extremely relieved to have done so-- that I have blocked all phone calls and text messages from my mother-in-law. I also added a filter to my email to send her messages directly to the trash. I write this here in case she wonders why I'm not getting back to her. It's because I don't want to ever hear from you again.

She is certifiably paranoid. Every single person in the world is up to no good and out to get her. She believes it so hard that it comes true. I was a nice person, until I got to know her. Spend too much time with her and she twists you into exactly the rotten person she wants you to be. It justifies her madness.

I'm done with it. I'm done with her.

Everything is a secret. "Don't tell anyone; it's a secret. Keep it in the family." She can keep her own secrets. I will talk when I want to talk about whatever I want to talk about and she has absolutely no right to stop me. She zippered my mouth shut while she stabbed me in the heart. Repeatedly. I'm done. I have unzipped my lips and I am prepared to never hear from her again because she's afraid of what I'll say. That's fine with me. I'd live a much happier life without being accused of stealing her checkbook, her credit card, or more ridiculously, her husband. So now I've zipped her lips shut. No, that's not true; she can talk all she wants. I have closed my ears and won't listen anymore. The secrets, the suspicions and paranoid delusions, they were always hers. I refuse to hear another word of it.


Mother-in-law, I wish you all the best. I really want you to succeed in life. And you most likely won't believe a single word of those previous two sentences. So be it. For my own sanity, I can't listen to you anymore. Goodbye.