A Georgia Thanksgiving

Mark and I went to Georgia to spend the long Thanksgiving weekend with his family (brother Brian and wife Camille, parents Mark and Beth, nephew Ethan) there.

Brian prepares the propane tank to fry the turkeys. There were two, but we only broke into one.

Brian dips the second turkey as Alan watches.

Brian uses the meat thermometer to check the temperature of the turkey. We had driven to three stores on Thanksgiving morning before finding the thermometer at Walmart. It was almost a year without turkey.

Ehtan, Mark and Danielle enjoy the sunshine on a chilly November day in Georgia.

Danielle, Beth, Ethan and Mark chill out under the sun on a swing at the park. (Oh, yeah. There's Coco the dog, too.)

Mark takes a spin on the bicycle through the Waterford neighborhood.

Ethan and Alan (known to Ethan as Pa-Pa — pronounced paw-paw) ride along the road. Ethan just loves riding his Arctic Cat.

Mark embraces Ethan at the top of the slide in the treehouse.

Mark gets the idea to ride down the 5-foot slide while nephew Ethan watches. The opening is a little narrow, isn't it?

Mark emerges from the narrow frame to get onto the kiddie slide.

Mark finally reaches the bottom of the slide. Go, Mark, go!

Danielle and Mark take a self portrait.

One of the errands Mark was looking forward to most was his haircut at the Andy Griffith Show-themed Floyd's. Here, he flinches as the stylist at Floyd's cuts his hair. Notice the poker-themed cape.

Alan smiles during his haircut at Floyd's.

Post-haircut, Mark poses in front of the famous Floyd's of Cartersville, Ga.

Mark watches as Danielle tries out an ear candle for the first time. According to the directions on the package, the candles create a vortex that cleans out the ear canal and helps with congestion, migraines and more. As for me, all I noticed was the cool sound the candle made as the flame ate away at it.

Mark sits with Albert the alligator, UF's mascot, while Alan waits with the luggage on our last day in town.