Our family drove down the night before and arrived safely. However, the northern contingent of the Thomas family had some car trouble during the drive and were stranded a couple of hours away and didn’t get here until the wee hours of the morning.
However, there’s nothing like waking up to the smell of Thanksgiving Day fare!
Photo credit: Matthew Thomas
Before the meal, my brothers and the Thomas guys went on a brisk four-wheeling ride around the area.
The Long family had also been invited.
Yes, the Wongs and the Longs under one roof! 
How much cuter can you get?
After our delicious Thanksgiving meal, we read from writings of William Bradford and later held a Pilgrim-quiz.
My family and I also took advantage of the highly-anticipated opportunity to speak with the “Brain Doctor” and to be brain-typed. Okay, that may sound a little weird, but we’d been interested in Brain Types for a couple of years and it had been a topic of every day discussion and study while we were in Florida.
As opposed to personality typing, the Brain Type Institute scientifically analyzes your body’s motor movements to determine your brain type – NOT necessarily your personality. Your brain type not only influences your athletic aptitudes and potential, but also influences how you react under stress and how you communicate.
It’s been very interesting to study and has helped to our family to understand the differences (and similarities) between the individuals in our family.
If you want to learn more, you can become a BTI insider at www.BrainTypes.com or you can pick up one of their books.
So, after dinner we stepped outside for the annual archery competition.
Shooting a Recurve Bow
Uh-oh, the functional guy, Benjamin, brings out the non-traditional Compund Bow
Time for some bean-bag competition.
Mr. Long takes on Matthew:
Kate and I compete head-to-head. (I’d rather not share the results….)
The final championship round! Matthew vs. (reigning champion) Mr. Thomas
They draw the bow with a very similar form…
…the release…
…and Matthew wins!
Now, back to the bean-bag toss:
Before we went inside, we did some exhibition archery:
Looks like I never fired the arrow…I’m certainly no “William Tell.”
However Melanie became quite a beast with the compound bow.
The Long family brought their instruments and we sang some hymns to end the evening.
I may have hopped onto the guitar for one song.
It was great to meet the Long family and to have a chance to get to know the Niednagel family. Thank you so much for your hospitality!
This Thanksgiving celebration was a lot of fun and will be remembered for a long time to come.
