My original Thanksgiving plans were thwarted when I received news that my dad would not be staying with my sister through the holidays as we originally thought. I had not seen my dad in a long time and it is much easier to jump in the car to see him 4 hours away at my sisters than 16 in his dinky apartment in NY. Thankfully my daughter has a non-retail job this year and actually gets the day after Thanksgiving off so her, little man and I could take off while Shane took care of Zero. I was able to spend Thanksgiving day with our moms and then hit the road at 4:30 am to spend the next 2 days with my dad, sister, niece and baby Stella. Extended family time doesn't happen often, but having my sister and niece closer has made it happen so much more and I cherish each visit.

Instead of chilling, hiking, decorating and scavenger hunting in Oakland Cemetery, I spent the weekend visiting, eating homemade pizzas, singing Hot-dog-hot-dog-hot-diggity-dog, beach combing, wine tasting, rum tasting, alligator hunting, sunset & sunrise watching and hugging my dad. I think I got the better deal.

The Cooks

We arrived in Sun City (Hilton Head) South Carolina at 9:30 am on Black Friday.

I absolutely think my dad is the most handsome man on the planet.

Me, looking haggard but happy.

Dad said it was too bright in his room, so instead of closing the blinds he put on his sun glasses. I just crack up every time I see this picture.

We decided to #optoutside for a few hours and head over to the ocean and check out how Mitchellville Beach Park fared during the hurricane.

We caught the sunset at the boat ramp across from Pinckney Wildlife refuge.

We went home a made some delicious homemade pizzas.

And drank lots of wine

And watched lots of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Processed with VSCO with t1 preset Processed with VSCO with t1 preset Processed with VSCO with t1 preset Processed with VSCO with t1 preset Processed with VSCO with t1 preset Processed with VSCO with t1 preset

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Saying goodbye this time was super hard. All I want is to spend one holiday with my Dad, mom and siblings and their families together. Just one. We have only all been together for 2 weddings, a birthday (my nieces 16th) and a graduation (my nieces high school). All the rest my kids were missing or my dad was missing. It really sucks living 1000+ miles from your family.

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