Happy, Happy Thanksgiving! And Happy Birthday to Fillibus ! He is finally 8 !
This year we decided to go to Antlers, Oklahoma with some very good friends. We rented two cabins in the woods of Rebel Hill Ranch. A third generation working horse ranch. The cabins were quaint with a little house on the prairie feel. Both had wrap around porches with beautiful views !The men were not happy with the limited phone service access and wire less internet available, but at least the one TV in each cabin had Direct TV to watch the holiday games !
Lucy and I cooked on Tuesday before we left, so we just had to cook the turkey at the cabin. Thank you Nana for bring your roaster the turkey turned out just right! Delicious! We ate a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings at a table in the cabin looking over the lake! We ate left overs everyday so we really did not have to cook, except for baking a ham on Friday. So relaxing ! No black Friday shopping for us !
All 5 kids in tow, Noelle, Ethan, and Conner Woods, and Olivia and Fillibus Dimka, 2 moms, Lucy, and Kristy. 2 Dads part of the time, Dungak, and Brian who cam in on Thurs after he got to fly back from Nassau and join us and sweet Nana, who cooked, washed dishes and played with all of us. We all had a great time!
The kids especially had access to paddle boats, canoes, kayaks right in for of the the cabin. The weather was a little colder and cloudy than the forecast predicted, but we bundles up with coats and and rain boots, hats and gloves and had a great time! The kids got soaking wet several times, and muddy, but they played all day outside. It was a great unplugged weekend, with limited TV and electronics.
We had bonfires every day and night, cooked hot dogs, and made smores!Yummy Dungak was the king of making bonfires, he taught the boys the trick of the trade, even tough he did have to use lighter fluid a few times as the wood was wet !! The, dads took the kids fishing on the lake, no luck, but the kids thought it was great fun! Horseback riding on Friday with the kids was really special! Fillibus' birthday this year was on Nov 24 Thanksgiving Day, and he rode a horse for the first time ! He really enjoyed the ride !
The ranch has 600 acres and we rode through many acres. they have Lamas on the land, as well as an Elk preserve, beautiful trees with autumn leaves falling, it was a great ride!In the evenings the girls played Rummikube. Kristy had never played before, but by the end of the first night she was the champion after a 3 way tie and a play off! Thank you Lucy and Nana for staying up way past their bedtimes to play !
The ranch has several dogs, or should I say many dogs that run wild through the ranch. The kids had fun learning their names and playing with them, even though they had to watch out for poop every where. The dogs came around when they smelled food, so we had to shut the door in there faces many times! As there were signs posted saying '" Do Not Feed the Ranch Dogs, or let them in the Cabins"! Too bad they did have not a sign that said " Watch out for Cow Poop !" As it was every where as the cows roamed through out the area! Conner told us about his special stink too while in the ranch ! He was very proud of that ! We all laughed until our ribs hurt over that boy !
Brian had to leave on Friday night, as he had a flight back to Nassau on Sat morning! We all wanted him to stay.....the Dimka's left on a cold and rainy Sat afternoon, and the rest of the Woods stayed until Sun morning.
We had so much fun ! So thankful for friends and family this Thanksgiving ! We may decide to make this a traditional trip ! Hope you and your family had a great day and special time too ! We are thankful as well for all of you ! Safe travels!
