Travels of Mark and Pat: Wednesday-Thanksgiving-Friday, November 25-27

Hello from sunny North Carolina - hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and made new memories wherever and however you celebrated! We have been enjoying our family time but missing Anne, Patrick Liam and Connor) Here's what's been going on the past few days...

So, we've been having lots of fun with Luke and Blair, with Brady spending 3 nights on Daisy, several games of euchre and poker, football and basketball games, bean-bag toss, wrapping presents, eating, and more eating. We went to the Catawba Country Club for Thanksgiving dinner - it was fabulous with many stations to walk around in the beautifully decorated (for Christmas) rooms to pick 'n choose from a wide variety of traditional items. Brooke's parents, Bob and Judy, her brother Scott and Leigh, Caroline and Cooper were all with us - 18 strong! Had a great array of appetizers for the late afternoon as we cheered the Panthers onto another victory, more cards, visiting, etc.

Bob and Judy took Drew, Davis and Brady to Atlanta for a 2-day getaway and the big Georgia Tech/Georgia football game on Saturday. Michael, Brooke, Philip, Annette and Ryan all went to the lake to relax and enjoy some bonding time. Even got in a pontoon ride. That leaves Grandpa and me to hold down the fort with our 2 very busy, active toddlers!

So proud of Patrick Anne and the boys as he has been collecting and saving all his tip $ for the past year when he's performed either with his Jury's Out band or his piano shows......he gave a donation of over $1,100 to the Home Sweet Mission along with 2 turkeys. Nice article and picture in the paper.

A few pics from yesterday...