More long weekends please!

We have come to the end of a four day weekend which has been such fun and so relaxing. We've felt quite festive - firstly because people here are starting to put up their Christmas lights and decorations, and secondly because Christmas is when we typically have a long stretch of time with Joe off work like this weekend.

After our fun on Thanksgiving Day (see previous blog), I went to a rigorous yoga session at the YMCA and have been aching ever since - having done an estimated 20 vinyasas (sun salutes) during the class. Painful but much needed and very enjoyable! While I sweated it out in the class Joe and Lucy went on a car shopping expedition which both of them enjoyed immensely. Joe is looking for a car to replace my old RDX, and as ever is having a fabulous time researching and test driving. Lucy got a thrill from the test drive that they took together in a VW GTI (Golf) and has been talking about it ever since.

Friday afternoon we had Lila and Lucy's friend Graham over for a play date. Graham loved Lucy's little train track and town that we made and Lucy enjoyed being read to by Lila. I made a second batch of I think the best cookies I think have ever made - chocolate chip, hazelnut and cranberry oatmeal cookies. I added extra choc chips this time and they are awesome...especially when fresh and gooey out of the oven.

Saturday we took a trip to King Of Prussia mall to find some bargains. Thanksgiving weekend is THE weekend for sales in America. Black Friday follows Thanksgiving Day, and most stores have a huge sale which typically starts at silly o clock in the morning. These days the sales continue on for the rest of the weekend. I got some clothes for Lucy at half price - a pair of jeans and a cream fleece jacket which is really lovely (if a little impractical colour-wise!). Lucy loved the stop-off at the toy shop and fell in love with a dolls pram, so followed us around proudly with some dollies in it and giving us directions periodically :)

Today we had a leisurely morning in our pyjamas and then headed out for a walk into town and to the park. It's been mild here for the past few days and the sun shone beautifully today which was a treat. We almost always go into Starbucks when we walk to town, and now that Christmas is around the corner they make gingerbread lattes which are a draw for Joe. I tried the vanilla brulee latte this morning - it sounds better than it tastes.

This evening we visited our good friends Al and Ealise (Nana and Pop Pop to Lucy) in West Grove, about 45 minutes away. We had delicious homemade pasta and meatballs, salad, and my homemade apple pie for dessert. Their house was decorated for Christmas and the nine foot tree was up in the sitting room looking lovely, so we had fun talking about Christmas more to Lucy. As we left she said 'sing Happy Birthday?'...so we have a little more explaining to do! But she did see a decoration in the bathroom and recognized Father Christmas (Santa) and his reindeer. She thought that the candy cane in the sleigh was FC's tail :) Pop Pop read her some Dr Seuss books which Lucy adored, and we wished we had remembered the battery for our camera (we took the camera but forgot the essential power!) as she sat on his knee, entranced. It was lovely to see Lucy so comfortable with Al and Ealise. They are treasured people in our lives and we always have an enjoyable time with them.

It's hard to imagine that Joe will be back at work tomorrow as the past four days have seemingly gone on forever. It's been so nice to have a good mix of activities - relaxing and lounging about doing very little, some outings and socialising, two trips to the YMCA for me and plenty of jobs around the house done. When you have double the days at the weekend, time doesn't fly away so quickly and it doesn't feel like every minute counts. Needless to say, we vote that every weekend be four days long. Roll on Christmas when Joe plans to be off for 10 days or so.