Thanksgiving 2013

Each year at Thanksgiving (and/or the weekend after Thanksgiving) all of my dad's family gathers in the middle of nowhere in Climax, GA.  Yes, this is the middle of nowhere, but to all of us, it is a very very special place.  We are thankful to my grandparents, who are no longer with us, who bought this land years ago and made it such a peaceful and wonderful place.  The cabin and pond sit on the edge of roughly 480 acres of land.  The name of the pond house is "Covey Rise," and now generations of us Clevelands enjoy coming here to be with family and have a great time!  There was a whole crew (maybe around 30 of us) who gathered this year.  This is really the only time of year that us cousins see each other, but our children play and have fun like they are buddies who live in the same neighborhood.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip!  Nevermind that Reives fell into the freezing cold pond on Thanksgiving day!  (He was a trooper though, was right back out there fishing the next day....thank goodness I am a life jacket nazi.)  We spent 4 nights down at "The Pond" (as we fondly call it).  The weather was beautiful but a bit on the chilly side.  The boys traveled great and for the most part, slept great.  All of us in one hotel room went very smoothly, and we enjoyed having fun in the great outdoors and catching up with our family that we don't get to see nearly enough.

Here are some pics from our fun filled Thanksgiving trip...

 Reives and Brooks with their cousins, Ellis and Hunter

 All of the Cleveland 2nd cousins who were there (minus Caroline who was sleeping). They are all waiting on the annual "Swine Time" parade to begin!!

Going for a "gator" ride

 Just hanging around before Thanksgiving dinner :)

 Some of the boys playing on the porch...

 Ashley with Jaymie and Caroline (the two youngest "Clevelands")

Making of "the dressing"

Some of The Thanksgiving spread

My cousin Melanie also took some pics of us with her super good camera while we were there...

 My two very handsome boys!!!

 Happy Thanksgiving 2013!  We are so thankful for all of the friends and family that God has blessed us with :)