picture this

This year my family decided to change Thanksgiving up a bit and have a New York City style Thanksgiving. My parents came down and we hosted Thanksgiving in my apartment.
We were so excited because Wednesday Erin and Bill were able to join us to watch the balloons get blown up around the Museum of Natural History before heading off to Bill’s family in Buffalo.

thanks to some insider information we were able to avoid the crowds and stand of the side of the street for residents only

Thanksgiving morning we all woke up and lounged around chatting with parade preparations on tv in the background. When they were announcing the start of the parade we headed outside and down the street to Central Park West to watch the parade. It was the first time any of us had ever gone to see it in person.

We got there just in time to see the leading balloon…SNOOPY… go floating by!

This turkey float has always been my favorite!! An oldie but goodie!
Now for the balloons!!
I couldn’t resist posting all of them…it’ll be like you were there!

diary of a whimpy kid was a little camera shy

there was always a roar from the crowd as the balloons poked their heads around the corner…”it’s ronald mcdonald!!!”

it was like a carnival with all the balloons and cotton candy (at 10am)

some balloons just weren’t as good as the others

SHERK!    he was huge!!!

Spider Man….he may have been our favorite…sooo cool!!

The Big Apple float

Horton Hears a Who

to Infinity . . . . and BEYOND!

yup…these two balloons followed each other…go figure

peekaboo candy cane

our faces hurt from smiling so much by the end of the parade

hehehehe

kids watching the parade from the Dakota…reminds me of Miracle on 34th St

Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus . . . and here he comes!!!

Believe!!

The parade was wonderful! We were all happily surprised and impressed!
Then it was time to head home and start preparing our feast!

that’s right….we cooked a full turkey in my little kitchen

Mom and Dan hard at work peeling the potatoes

no more then two people in the kitchen at once and we still were able to make a delicious meal

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving and were able to spend it with family and friends. I am so thankful everyday for all of the loving  and wonderful friends and family I’m lucky enough to have in my life. Love you all!