Belated Thanksgiving Pics

So, I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and look at pictures...

I'm putting up a slideshow of our Thanksgiving adventures in Gregory, South Dakota.  Matt, the girls, and I flew out and spent Thanksgiving with Poppy, Grammy, Uncle Jordan and Aunt Heather, and two families that are great friends of the Russell family.  Every year, some people from each of these three families meet in Gregory to pheasant hunt.  We haven't had a chance to go to South Dakota since we were first married, so Matt was super-excited to get back and spend time with family and friends.

I was a bit apprehensive at first, since we were taking the girls with us, but we had such a great time.  Audrey and Claire loved exploring the lodge.  The great room had a juke box, and we had dance parties almost every day!

In the slideshow, you'll see pictures taken mostly inside Stukel's - the lodge where we stayed.  The lodge is really nice, but it is filled with an abundance of animals.  It's a bit of a shock (for me, at least), and that is why I had to snap a few photos of our "friends".  The animals didn't seem to bother the girls at all, and they were particularly fond of the bears!

Audrey also got to go out with the hunters and field walkers one day and help them hunt for pheasant.  Matt said she was quite a trooper, happily yelling "Up birds! Up birds!" in order to send the pheasants flying.  I think she rode on Matt's shoulders a lot, but it still wore her out.  She fell asleep in the van in between fields!

Thanksgiving in South Dakota turned out to be a nice break for us in the midst of our move!