Because I still have way too many Thanksgiving pictures to post...
and because I know there's a Mama in Germany waiting so patiently to see all of these pictures...
it's time for my last Thanksgiving post with... well... lots of pictures.

And because I have a Microbiology project to work on...
which translates to having very little time to blog and spend time writing beautiful explanations for all these pictures...
this little photo album of sorts may not make lots of sense to everyone.

Even so, I hope you enjoy these final family pics from Thanksgiving. We enjoyed experiencing them. :)

First up: Thanksgiving lunch. Papa treated us (his almost complete family) to a yummy lunch with lots of seafood. So Florida and so delicious.

Right after lunch and just before heading to the beach, this place caught our eye. It was the "gluten-free" sign on the outside that did me in. I had to go there.

Inside was a little piece of heaven! Gluten-free and organic everywhere. And this lady was brilliant when it came to Celiac and blood type diets. I have so, so much to learn.

Papa was brave enough to down a shot of wheatgrass with us. Yummo.

Can't you tell on all of our faces how delicious it was?! Uhhh... yeah. 

Canaveral Beach.

On Friday afternoon, Papa Newby and Shawn and I got to take a long walk on the beach.
It happened to be the same beach Papa grew up going to, so it was extra special.

I like to smother him with kisses. Yes, I do!

What a perfectly wonderful afternoon!
Thanks, Papa, for showing us your neck of the woods. :)

Thanksgiving dinner.

Speaking of non-traditional...
Eating Thanksgiving dinner around an open fire outside was a first for me. A delicious first.
Roasted cornish hens, corn on the cob, potatoes, and collard greens... yum.


Lawn chairs, good conversation, a warm breeze.
And most importantly, family.
Family that Shawn had not seen for more than 3 years and I had only met very briefly when we were dating.






After Thanksgiving dinner, we skipped right to Christmas for a few minutes to give Grandma Newby some gifts in person (instead of having her open them later when we weren't there).

This precious woman was such a delight to be with - and our real reason for driving 12 hours one way over a weekend. She has less than 10% of her vision after a recent surgery, and never complained once. We described the painting I gave her and as she looked close, she could pick out a few details and kept saying how beautiful it was.

It was a Thanksgiving dinner - mostly spent around that smoldering cherry wood fire - that we will not forget.

How we spent Thanksgiving Day, part 1.

Thanksgiving this year was pretty nontraditional for the Newby family.

We spent it in the car, driving to Florida.

This was Shawn's view:

And this was mine:

Thankfully, the Lord blessed us with clear skies and very clear roads.

I mean, we kinda assumed the clear roads part. Everyone else was enjoying turkey, not driving down the interstate. :)

We tried (in vain) to take some self-portraits:

And then we decided to stop for a yummy Thanksgiving lunch in Valdosta, Georgia. We looked up all the possible locations and decided on Outback Steakhouse (gotta splurge for Thanksgiving, right?) and to our dismay it was closed... along with every other restaurant in Valdosta. Literally. Even the grocery stores were closed.

But look who saved the day: 

Our first sight of this sign was glorious: 

And even better was our first sight of water:

See that sun pouring in? Yep. We must be in Florida.

As soon as we got to the hotel, we quickly changed clothes and hit the beach.

Sooooo worth the 12-hour wait!

More to come...