Thanksgiving Surprise!

Last week my Aunt Patty flew me back to the states for Thanksgiving!  My parents, brother, and two dogs were planning on spending the holiday at her house in Florida, and Aunt Patty figured it would be a great surprise for them if I was there too!

This meant that I had to lie to my parents, brother, and two dogs continuously for a month, and keep a big secret from the rest of my family. This is not easy. I am terrible at keeping exciting secrets, especially from my family. Actually, my entire family is terrible at keeping secrets from each other, so the fact that I was able to keep a secret is a big deal. So instead I told everyone here in St. Kitts about it.

My Aunt Patty and Uncle Bobby- Thanks for flying me up!

Last Tuesday (11/22) I flew into Miami and met my aunt. First order of business? Pizza. Pizza. Pizza. I freakin' love pizza, it's my favorite food, and I tend to move to countries that wouldn't know good pizza if I crammed it in their faces. Not that I would do that, it would be a waste of perfectly good pizza. So, we got to my aunt and uncle's local pizza joint RIGHT AFTER THEY CLOSED!!! I almost cried, luckily, I got my pizza anyway, cause they were all impressed with my adventurous international life style, especially the fact that I've lived through a revolution! After four slices of pizza, I pretty much passed out cold.

Wednesday morning I was all antsy for my family to arrive... I made the brine for the T-day turkey, read my book, and stared out the window. When my parents, brother, and two dogs finally pulled up outside, I couldn't wait for them to come inside, so I ran out to surprise them. They were shocked! My dad said at first he though, weird, Patty and Bobby have a friend that looks just like Stephanie. Then he asked my brother, "Is that Stephanie?!"  I think my mom hugged me for like 10 minutes straight. Roxy and Rhythm were ambivalent. They were mostly interested in peeing, pooping, and chasing lizards.

My brother, Zach, on his bike

After the excitement of the surprise, the guys decided to go for a ride (my dad and brother towed their Harley's down), and us ladies went shopping cause I needed some supplies to bring back home to St. Kitts. I had to go to a bunch of different stores, but I was so excited to see Target that I danced in the parking lot. Mom and Aunt Patty walked pretty far behind me. After a long day of getting everything I needed, we headed back home. We picked up the boys and went out and got Greek food for dinner. Yum yum yum!  I need to get my yiayia's avgolemono soup recipe (yiayia, if you are reading this, please send it to me!).

Thanksgiving day my aunt and uncle had over 32 people. My uncle has a big Italian family. We had a mess of appetizers, two turkeys, a huge honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted veg, sauteed broccoli with garlic, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed artichokes, some kind of eggplant dish, and my favorite part- stuffing. My mom and aunt make this insanely good stuffing (but only on holidays), and I realized for the first time this year, that I have no idea what they put in it or how it is so much more delicious then any other stuffing. I'm gonna have to figure that out in the very near future. I went overboard on the ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and stuffed mushrooms. I think I ate more on Thanksgiving then I have since I have been in St. Kitts... it was not pretty. But it was totally worth it.

Me and Zach on Thanksgiving

Friday the boys went for another ride, and my mom, aunt, and I poked around town, and tried to avoid  big shopping areas. Also, I was super excited, cause my aunt took us to a brick oven pizza parlor for lunch!! I had 5 slices of pizza with fresh slices of mozzarella and roasted plum tomatoes. Holy crap. So good. I didn't want to leave the place. All I could think of was the "pizza" I could get in St. Kitts- dominos (ew) or pizza boys (they don't even use pizza ovens!!!!) After lunch we met the boys at the new house my aunt and uncle just bought, and then ended the night eating leftovers and hanging out (at the house they still live in).

My dad on his bike

I was super sad that my family was leaving Saturday morning. Zach had to work Sunday morning, so they couldn't stay longer. Luckily, it would only be three weeks til we were home for Christmas. Aunt Patty kept me busy and not sad by helping me with a project. I found a super cute easy dress project online, so we made three cute dresses on Saturday. There were a few mishaps, but my aunt is a sewing genius, so there was no crisis she couldn't figure out!  Saturday night we ate super yummy Thai food. I went nuts on dumplings, wonton soup, and stir fry shrimp and veg with ginger. I also tend to move to countries that wouldn't know good Asian food from good pizza.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed to the airport... I was sad to leave the states, but even more excited to get back to Rob and the Caribbean beaches!  Also, if any of you talk to Rob in the next two weeks, be sure to wish him good luck on his finals!  Only two weeks til he is finished with his first semester of vet school- I am so proud of him!

Two weeks from tomorrow we will be on our way back to the states, and one month from tomorrow we will be moving into our new house in Half Moon Bay!