Despite the stomach flu that swept through our ranks, Thanksgiving this year will go down in history.  All the Cornells and All the Banks (Minus Brett and Kami’s fam) sojourned to Colorado to spend the holiday with us.  As we are all aware, having family visitors ranks #1 on the list of Banks Kids favorite thing.  They were in heaven surrounded by all their aunts and uncles and cousins, grandmas and grandpas. 

Carlie, Dan, Gwen, Cole and Landon left at 4am and arrived by about 12:30.  It was fun to have a few hours with them without all the chaos (the good kind) that followed. We had a rousing game of soccer in the park.  Basically it was all the adults trying to let Josh win without being blatantly obvious that was our intent. 

Everyone else trickled in as the day went by.  We all ate soup, roasted smores, visited, and participated in the annual Banks tradition of breaking the bread for the stuffing. 

Thanksgiving day started bright and early with the Redline Turkey Day 5k.  Sickness didn’t wait long to strike, and Carlie woke up with a fever of 103.  Natalie succumbed to the stomach bug later in the day.  It was quite a bit colder than I would have liked, but everyone raced really well, and Halle and Bridger completed their first 5k with Grandpa Banks. Rusty and I ran back and ran with them for about the last 1/2 mile.  It was so fun, and I was a very proud running mama!  Alan won an apple pie in the raffle, and Rusty had a shot at the grand prize of $500.  He had to guess how many cones were along the course, but his guess wasn’t close enough 🙁  Michael blew away the family competition with a 21:36.  Tara, Natalie, Rusty, Ralph and Cory, weren’t too far behind. 

The little kids got to run in the 1/2 mile kids race.  Blake decided to be stubborn and as a result, took dead last.  But that’s ok—we still had fun. The kids were so proud of their finisher ribbon. 

Now on to the main event….dinner!  This year I did a completely gluten free/dairy free meal.  There was a lot of trial and error involved, and weeks of menu testing, but I think the end result was good.  Never fear…Natalie’s rolls, Sharon’s stuffing and a couple of regular pies were still on the table for everyone but me. I have to confess…..I’m not a huge fan of Thanksgiving food.  It is not all that delicious to me.  So next year I’m already scheming for the menu to our Non-Traditional feast.  Stay tuned…..
And yes, we use paper plates on Thanksgiving.  Don’t judge. 

We had a pretty good time being silly in our Thanksgiving Photo Booth

After everyone had time to digest, we ended the day at the movie theater seeing “Frozen.”  It was the best Disney animated movie in a long time. We all loved it so much we immediately downloaded the sound track, and haven’t stopped listening since. 

The next day we were off to explore Boulder. It was a gorgeous day so we headed for the hills.  We “hiked” at the Flatirons.  I’m guessing our 1/2 mile walk took about an hour to complete.  But we enjoyed each other’s company and got some killer pictures.  We also explored Pearl Street and made a visit to TapInfluence headquarters.  Gwen was super sick the night before, and Dad was down for the count this day as well.

Saturday was my turn to be sick.  Luckily this virus was short and sweet.  Most people only felt yucky for about 12-20 hours.  But, they were a pretty miserable 12 hours.  I stayed home to rest while everyone else headed to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. 

Now for the event I had been waiting for….Adults night out!  I roped two cute YW into tending all these adorable kids and the adults headed to Downtown Denver for dinner and then to see Manheim Steamroller.  We ate in Larimer Square at Tom’s Urban 24.  It was yummy, and it’s always so nice for the adults to get to visit without the distraction of the kids.  We then had fun roaming around downtown looking at all the lights before the show started.  Rusty was the latest sickness casualty.  He started feeling sick at dinner and didn’t think he’d make it though the show. Mom too.  So, my Dad got to be my date instead.  It was fun! I have to admit, I was looking for Manheim to put me in the holiday spirit but the show was a little weird.  As evidenced by the giant pair of rotating lips that sang “Merry Christmas” and then split into many, many pairs of lips.  I’m still glad we went, it just wasn’t quite what I expected. 

It was a great ending to a great holiday weekend.  Everyone packed up and left early the next day.  We can’t say thanks enough to all our family for taking time out of their lives to come visit us.  We truly appreciate it.  It means a lot to Rusty and I and most especially the kids!

 
I think this is the first picture I have with all my siblings since Landon’s mission farewell.