Suzie's Stories: Thanksgiving 2011.....

We had a blast!!! Holly and Matt are such great hosts. I feel so blessed that we were able to spend Thanksgiving with them this year...their 1st in their new home. I arrived Sunday night (Momma has to get a few days solo...selfish, yes...I don't deny it). Matt's parents arrived Tuesday evening and Mauro came in on Wednesday night. Two newlyweds, 4 parents (that actually like each other) and 3 cute lil pups! Holly and Matt had a houseful.

Maggie Lu, Peanut and Tiffy

I got my groove on with Holly at Physique 57 (two times, I was thrilled). Got some much needed corrections and now feel rejuvenated to keep up with my Physique 57 DVD's at home. I've actually set my own challenge...I'm gonna try to Physique every day until Jon & Steph's wedding so I get into that beautiful dress and look great so I make Jon proud when we do our Mother/Son dance. I'm on track, but I must be honest, I was so jet lagged, I skipped yesterday, but pulled out my arms and abs booster tonight and now I feel really good. This ol' body doesn't recover from my east coast travel quite as easily as I used to.

So anyways, back to Thanksgiving. All of us got up bright and early, 3:30 am, on Thursday (Happy Thanksgiving), loaded all six of us in the Cube (Matt's mom's car) and headed thru the Holland Tunnel into NYC to brave the masses for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!! Check that off my bucket list...Woot Woot!

We bundled up (luckily Penny and Dale had blankets and towels in the back of the Cube), walked a quizillion blocks and found our spot. We, with a ton of other people, sat, visited, tried to keep warm, and waited, and waited, headed down to the Starbucks for a quick bathroom break while the gettin' was good, then waited some more. Holly and I pulled off our best layered look to keep warm while we waited for the parade to start.

The six of us had a great spot right next to the Dakota, which is where John Lennon was shot and Yoko Ono still lives (just a little bit of trivia for everyone!).

Penny, Dale, Suzie, Holly, Matt, Mauro

The parade was amazing. I'm so happy we braved the cold and the long wait to see it. Watching it all these years on TV is just not the same.

The balloons are a site to see; it is so amazing to see how many handlers each balloon requires. I took a ton of pictures, got several of each balloon...here is a sampling of some of them.

Neil Diamond, Scotty McCleery, Mary J. Blige, Johnny Weir and Santa, just to name a few, all joined the fun too.

Dinner was amazing. Holly made a homemade apple pie that was to die for. Holly's Physique 57 friend Laura joined us for dinner and we had enough food to feed all of us for three days.

Our Amazing hosts.

The moms and Holly

Delicious!

The best desserts anywhere

Tiffy had a long day!

Friday we all headed into the city after Holly was done teaching at Physique 57 so we could check out the Macy's holiday windows. They are just beautiful and so creative.