Shawn Johnson East and Family Lie in the Street to Celebrate Thanksgiving — a Longstanding Tradition
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Shawn Johnson /Instagram Shawn Johnson East and her family
Shawn Johnson East is celebrating Thanksgiving with her favorite people.
On Thursday, the retired Olympic gymnast, 30, shared family photos from her chaotic Thanksgiving morning — which included a last-minute invite to an East family Turkey Trot.
Posing alongside husband Andrew East and their two children — son Jett James, 16 months, and daughter Drew Hazel, 3 — Shawn shared a peek into the fun run, and what it took to get her family ready to go.
"If you ever wondered what it was like marrying into the East family — woke up 15 minutes ago and found out we're doing a Turkey Trot in 20 minutes," Shawn said in an Instagram video. "I don't have a sports bra. I don't have running shoes. Andrew doesn't have running shoes. And we're taking the kids. We don't have a jogging stroller."
Shawn Johnson /Instagram
Though the run seemed to be a last minute commitment, Shawn updated her followers to let them know the whole family made it to the run — and completed the event. She shared a photo of the four of them, as well as a whole East family photo at the finish line.
Shawn Johnson /Instagram
The family then shared another peek into their day, including an "East family tradition" of lying in the middle of a street as soon as they got out of bed.
"This all started when Papa East woke up one morning to take their first kid on a walk Thanksgiving morning," Shawn captioned a photo of herself, Andrew, Jett and Drew lying in an empty road, emphasizing how they were only doing it while there was no traffic.
"They noticed the beauty of how quiet it was and Papa said 'it was so quiet you could literally lay in the middle of the street.' Now every year...every single one of our families from all over the country and world send in their pictures Thanksgiving day morning," she continued.
Shawn Johnson/Instagram
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Last month, the family of four shared sweet shots on Halloween, where they dressed as characters from Disney's 2013 musical film Frozen.
In her Instagram post shared Monday, Shawn was dressed as Anna while her husband went as Kristoff.
Their daughter Drew was dressed as Elsa, Anna's sister who has the magical ability to turn things into ice, and Jett went as the snowman Olaf. Their Golden Retriever Nash donned reindeer antlers to accompany the family as Sven.
Shawn Johnson East/Instagram
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Over the summer, the Olympian enjoyed a very sentimental trip with her family to Des Moines, Iowa, where she took her kids to meet her lifelong gymnastics coach, Liang Chow, at his gym.
In the video, Shawn, who was joined by her parents and other family members, recalled meeting Chow at the age of 5 and falling in love with gymnastics. She celebrated him and his wife as "some of the most special people in my life" and explained he hadn't been able to meet her little ones sooner because of the pandemic.
Chow was a big hit with the kids, holding Jett as he explored the bars with his mouth and cheering Drew on as she ran around.
"It took her a good 30-45 minutes to get warmed up to him," Shawn said of the toddler and the coach. "And then, they were best friends."
