We got up at the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning, piled in the van and headed South! We saw a Buc-ees and had to pull over. I thought these were only in Texas, but turns out, they also have one in Florence, SC!
After a 10 hour drive (from 7am - 5pm), we finally arrived at my sister's home in Lexington, SC. And her husband Kevin greeted us with Aflac ducks that quack "Aflac" when you squeeze them (he works for Aflac). And then we waited for everyone else to start arriving...... my cousin John and his wife Miho from Florida, their son Johnny and his wife Younjin and their two kids Ollie and baby Heidi from Virginia and my other cousin Chris and his wife Kimberly and their daughter Rebecca from Tennessee.
After a late night of visiting, I woke up Thanksgiving morning and did a two hour, 6 mile walk exploring the area. It was beautiful!
And then, per Mitchell family tradition, we picked up donuts for everyone!
And then, after some World Cup soccer games on TV and some pretty competitive ping pong matches at home as well as lots of cooking in the kitchen, it was time to eat!
Tanner was, of course, among the first in line!
Somehow, some of the snack food never got put away and so the "hot cheetos" were still on the counter when dinner was served..... and was the very first thing Lacey put on her Thanksgiving plate 😝
The "kid table" with Becca, Lacey, Riley, Ella, Ollie and Tanner.
We spent the rest of the next couple of days doing a little bit of everything including playing games....
doing nails....
The finished product.
We also went on a little outing to Lake Murray.
And spent lots of time holding baby Heidi! Lacey said this was her favorite part of the whole trip!
My turn!
Riley with Heidi.
And Ella.
Grandpa (my cousin John) getting some Heidi snuggles.
She was quite the star attraction!
Tanner also practiced his piano piece (he will be performing in Church this Sunday) with Aunt Lindsay.
And, after a little rain, we hit the pickleball courts and all took turns playing.
Ellie and Ollie.
More Ollie shenanigans with Lacey and Tanner.
And a few more snuggles in front of World Cup matches with Dave and Riley....
And Lacey and Heidi.
My Grandpa John would always say when a brand new little baby would fall asleep on you like this....."Best feeling in the world."
As I was transferring my pictures from my phone to my computer, I came across this gem 😏
Lacey loves to grab my phone when I'm not paying attention and take random pictures that I discover later. But I figured I'd keep this one as documentation of the hours and hours and hours of studying I have poured into studying for my upcoming Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) exam I have coming up next week. I brought all my study materials with me on this trip and studied whenever I could squeeze it in. It'll all be worth it if I can pass this thing!
Another gem I found on my phone. Sneaky photographer Lacey.
On Thursday night, we gathered around and all shared family stories - meaningful ones, pull at your heartstrings one, random ones and hysterical laugh-until-you-cry ones. And then on Friday night, we gathered around and played Left-Right-Center using quarters.
It was very fun!
Johnny emerged victorious!
My mom is one of four siblings. And those four siblings had 16 kids between them. Kids from three of those four siblings were represented at our little mini family reunion, which is 25% of the 16 cousins. Not bad considering how spread out we all are!
The whole crew!
Back row: Johnny, Youngjin (holding Heidi), Dave, Kerry, Lindsay, Kevin, Miho, John, Chris, Kimberly
Front Row: Riley, Lacey, Ollie (on Lacey's lap), Ella, Tanner, Rebecca
Thankful for family near and far!
