Thanksgiving surprise

We went to the beach for Thanksgiving. Navarre Beach, Florida, to be specific.

This was the house we rented for the week, along with aunts, uncles, my parents, brother, sister and brother-in-law, nephews, cousins and their kids. Fun!

This was the view out our back door. Navarre Beach is a very narrow strip of land just off the Florida Panhandle in the Gulf of Mexico. Our house was on the Santa Rose Sound side, but just a short walk from the Gulf side.

The day we arrived, the water in the sound was smooth as glass. Like a mirror. I’m glad I took these photos then, because the next day was windy, making for choppy water in the sound. We had beautiful views, delicious meals, fun time spent together, and one big surprise. Early in the wee hours Thanksgiving morning my youngest sister (who was expecting their fifth son) and my brother-in-law, who actually live in nearby Pensacola but were staying at the beach house we all rented, drove to the hospital (my aunt who’s a doctor went along on the 45-minute trip -- just in case!) because little Thomas, our newest nephew, decided that Thanksgiving day would be a good time to make his entrance into this world. So my sister and brother-in-law missed Thanksgiving dinner, but they had a real good excuse, I’d say.

Here’s three-year-old Eli, formerly the youngest of four brothers, now the next-to-youngest of five, waiting for his Dad to come back from the hospital for a short visit and a shower before returning to be with Erin and the new baby. Remember when you could fit on a windowsill?

Here are all the kids fueling up with a pancake breakfast Friday morning before trooping off to the hospital to greet the new arrival. We had a lot of grown-ups, too, but for some reason my camera always gravitates toward the kids.

In the picture below, it looks like five-year-old Joshua is trying to use

 his telekinetic powers to make the maple syrup come to him.

Here are the kids in the waiting room at the hospital, 

waiting for word that it’s okay for everyone to come in to visit the new baby.

Notice how they’re all being very nice and quiet and still. 

Oh, wait. They’re kids.

And now, baby pics! Of course there are hundreds more, and at least one with every other person in the room holding little Thomas, but here’s just a couple of samples.

Thomas with youngest big brother Eli, and oldest big brother Zachary.

And Thomas with yours truly, and Grandpa (my Dad).

By the way, there was a dry-erase board in the room, too ...

... and whenever there’s a dry-erase board in the vicinity ...

... kids HAVE to draw on it. It’s kind of like a rule.

Everyone’s an artist!