Wilkinsons visit and Thanksgiving

We were excited when the Wilkinsons emailed and said they wanted to come to Shanghai again.  They planned on coming during their fall break in October.  They made it to Seattle, but unfortunately the flight to Shanghai didn’t allow any standby passengers due to high winds (even though the plane had over 50 open seats).  We were all disappointed, especially Kate, who I could hear crying on the phone when Karen called to tell us the sad news.  

They said they would try again around Thanksgiving but when the date got closer the flights didn’t look good.  I woke up Monday morning, November 21st, to a surprise email from Karen saying everyone made the flight. How fun to have them here again and to introduce them to Mia!

 

Tuesday morning Karen, Amie and Brad attended my Zumba class.  Amie and Karen took pictures of Brad in the middle of all these Asian ladies to get PE credit for college.

 

 

That afternoon we spent several hours shopping.  They bought boots, slippers, pearls, ties, work out clothes, and had suits made for Brad, Luke and Mike.  That night we ate homemade Cafe Rio and made an appointment for all 12 of us to get foot massages.

   

 

Tessa, Kate and Mia

 

Wednesday my kids skipped school and we all went to Shanghai Disney (except for Mia who went to school and John had to work).  It was 41 degrees and misty.  But that meant it wasn't crowded.  We rode every ride and several rides more than once.  What a magical day!  At 5:00pm we left the park so the boys could pick up the suits they had made.  

It was a quick trip for the Wilkinsons and we were so grateful they came and added excited to our Thanksgiving week.  Thursday morning everyone made the flight home except Mike.  Mike taxied back to us from the airport just in time to go to our school's Thanksgiving assembly where Tessa sang in the choir.  That night we had our Thanksgiving feast with the Millers at their home.  Heidi is such a great host and cook!  I only had to bring pies, sweet potatoes and corn.  The next morning Mike made his flight home.

We have so much to be thankful for!

It is Miller tradition to wear these hats while we eat Thanksgiving dinner.  Luke, James, Tessa, Mallory, Eliza and Mia

Every Thursday John chairs a meeting with the senior leaders for Ford in Asia Pacific.  On Thanksgiving he opened the meeting with a quote from William Bradford and shared that this was his 13th great grandfather.  The President was impressed and asked John about it again on Sunday as he wanted to share it with his family when they had their (delayed) Thanksgiving dinner.  We have a rich heritage!

Friday morning Eliza went with the Millers and Christensens to Taiwan for a quick weekend Temple Trip.  She had such a great time with some of her Young Women friends — Mallory, Bekah and Maci.