Thanksgiving

Dahlia and her parents traveled to the East Coast for Thanksgiving, where they stayed with three different sets of relatives in three different states over a period of six days. Needless to say, the trip was quite a whirlwind!

Maryland was their first stop. Dahlia and her friend Ethan went to the Playseum in Bethesda. Little did they know that Ethan's sister Hannah would be arriving the very next day. Dahlia had a great time at Playseum. She enjoyed going shopping...



...and playing on the drums:

The best thing about Dahlia's trip to Bethesda, however, was that she got to ride the Metro! Dahlia is a huge fan of planes and trains, and she especially loves public transportation:

The next day Dahlia caught up with her friend Ian, whom she hadn't seen since visiting him in San Diego in January. As you can see, Ian is quite a gentleman. Rather than getting upset when Dahlia claimed his wagon, he offered to be her chauffeur:

After some quality time on the playground and a nice long nap, it was time to celebrate Thanksgiving. Dahlia's headdress and Pilgrim hat were a big hit with Cousin Adam and the rest of the crowd:

New Jersey was the next stop for Dahlia and her parents. That meant that Dahlia got to spend some quality time with Cousin Abigail. Here the two of them (accompanied by Mimi, Dahlia's pink blanket) settle in for Shabbat dinner. Notice the matching purple yarmulkes and Elmo plates:

A good time was had by all:

The next day Abigail and Dahlia took a short walk to a nearby playground. Dahlia was impressed with the jungle gym...

...and the slide...

...but it wasn't all peaches and cream. The cousins happily shared a wagon, for the most part. As you can see here, however, there were two cousins but only one basketball. That caused a small disagreement:

Eventually the two cousins worked things out, and Dahlia's visit ended with the two of them on the best of terms. Dahlia and her parents then made the short drive to New York, where it was time to visit with the Yamada family. Ojiichan was very happy to see Dahlia, and he had several sticker books on hand in an effort to win her affection. It looks like it worked:

Dahlia also got to spend time with Cousin Eli. Here the two of them show off their scissor skills at the kids table:

Dahlia met her Cousin Evelyn (Eli's sister) for the first time. Here the three of them are posing for the first of many portraits:

Dahlia's Obaachan dusted off a plastic slide that Dahlia's mom and her sisters had used growing up. Dahlia and Eli had a great time chasing each other up and down the slide. Here they're taking a brief break:

Three generations of Yamadas pose for a picture:

The following day Dahlia and her parents went into Manhattan, where they stopped at the children's museum. Dahlia loved the bus and fire engine on the top floor. At circle time, she sang "wheels on the bus" and learned the uniquely NY-verse of "the metro-card goes transfer-okay" in addition to the usual wipers swishing and bus driver honking verses.

After lunch, everyone headed back to Eli's apartment. Dahlia thinks that Eli is one of the luckiest kids in the world. Look at that train set!

After six action-packed days on the East Coast, it was time for Dahlia and her parents to fly back to Austin. Dahlia's exhausted parents resorted to a portable DVD player for the first time. Dahlia was captivated:

Thanks to all of our generous hosts. We had a great time!