I got back to Iowa during Thanksgiving break. It was awesome to see Devin again. I stayed with him during break and spent Thanksgiving with his family. He took me out to shoot guns on one of the days. I haven't shot a gun for a while... since, like, the bb guns at Camp Foster. So above is a picture of our wounded target after we were done shooting. I say "wounded" and not "dead" because we never actually hit the center of the target. Devin still had to sight the shotgun.... so that is our excuse. 

Can you see the target in the distance in this picture?

Do I look like I know what I am doing? Devin had to take this picture and then come stand behind me because I wasn't used to the kick. I may have let out a little scream as I shot and fell backwards.... and had a bruise on my arm the next day. But it was a lot of fun and I laughed a lot.... and I think Devin was maybe laughing at me.

But I did hit the target and made it fall over!

   Devin and I drove back to Des Moines and went through Ames to pick up Kelly to go out for dinner. Dad surprised me by bringing Sammi to Ames. I WAS SO HAPPY. I didn't want to say bye to Sammi after dinner so Devin let her stay with us that night.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

   This is what we got to deal with until bedtime. Throw the ball. But there wasn't anywhere to throw it further than five feet.

   I got back to Kennebunkport late Sunday night. The town was decorated for Christmas when I returned. So I took some pictures. This giant tree is in Dock Square. Did I post a picture of this in my last blog post already? Oh well. Its ornaments are lobster buoys and the star on top is held by a lobster. Kennebunkport is rated as the 2nd best place to visit in the country for Christmas festivities. There was a Christmas Prelude this weekend that I went to. It had a bunch of events going on including an ugly hat contest, craft fairs, food sampling, and the main event: The Tree Lighting Ceremony. 

Following are some pictures from the ugly hat contest:

Leg lamp hat:

Goose hat:

The Grinch and that Who girl:

Here is the video of the tree lighting. I couldn't get a good shot of how many hundreds of people were there because it was so dark. But it was a big event. The mayor gave a speech and had us count down from 39 which is the number of years they've been doing this tree lighting tradition. I started filming when we finally got to the 10 second countdown. Now the tree will remain lit until Christmas.

   So that's it. My fish are still doing well. Still alive. I'll be home for Christmas in two weeks :)