Cool Thanksgiving Holiday

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year. The long weekend offered an excellent opportunity to connect with family and recharge one's batteries.

Driving in from Cleveland, Ohio, my parents arrived Wednesday evening in time for dinner. On Thanksgiving Day, we watched the Macy's parade, the Detroit Lions', and the Dallas Cowboy's games on television while dinner cooked. Everyone pitched in this year in the kitchen, making it extra fun. Gavin and Erick made buttery-almond carrots and set the table; Hannah cooked the green beans and two types of dinner rolls; Mum mum cut the apples and threw together a yam & apple casserole; and Grandpa made the mashed potatoes. It was a real team effort. During the cooking, Hannah and I got into a spatula duel using pot lids as shields. Pretty cool. We finished the day by watching Miracle on 34th street.

On Friday we celebrated Hannah and Mum mum's November 15th birthdays by going out to dinner at Amelia's American Bistro in Simsbury. As we were getting ready to go out to dinner, Susan snapped the really cool photo (top paragraph) of the three kids. Evangeline and Sarah Moore joined our motley dinner party. Erick modeled a flat bread mustache for us. Returning home after dinner, we opened presents and wolfed down cake & ice cream before watching Jim Carey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

On Saturday, we took my folks up to see the town fireworks during Simsbury Celebrates - the traditional kick off to the holiday season. It was a little cold, so we parked behind the cemetery at the top of Plank Hill road. This gave us the perfect vantage point to see the fireworks from the comfort of our car. Mum mum and grandpa left on Sunday morning for the long drive back to Cleveland; life around the house slowly returned to normal. Sigh, back to work. We'll look forward to seeing Marisue and Carolyn for Christmas.

New York City Trip

Last Monday, Susan, Hannah and I made an educational/enrichment visit to the Julliard campus in New York City. We completed a nice tour of the school, learning more about the music, drama, and dance programs offered. At this point, Hannah is just in the information gathering stage. She knows that she wants to dance and get a solid education. Whether she'll want to dance for a career is undetermined.

Adjacent to Lincoln center, Julliard is just a short walk from Central Park and the wonderful homes on Central Park West. After the conclusion of our tour, we stopped at a local deli and purchased subs (heros), sodas, and fresh tomato and mozzarella salad before walking to Central Park. Once inside the park, we found this cool rock outcropping to be an excellent place for our little impromptu picnic.

Following our picnic, we hopped the subway for Ground Zero. Having never taken the subway before, we didn't get it quite right. Rather than reaching Ground Zero, we found ourselves in Chinatown. As we walked, Susan and Hannah were continually assaulted by women hawking knock-off purses, clothes, and wallets. "You want Gucci?" repeated over and over and over again. We eventually walked our way to Ground Zero.

About Ground Zero: Susan and I had visited the site about one year after the attacks. New York was a different place then. Soldiers and concrete barriers were everywhere. Today, fences erected as a safety precaution make it hard to see too much from the ground. One can still get a pretty good bird's eye view from the Winter Garden in the nearby World Financial Center. I am amazed by the sheer size of the footprint. Those two buildings were absolutely massive. The current construction project to build the memorial is enormous.

For more information about what they're building at Ground Zero, check out this site.

Erick & Evangeline Rent an Apartment

Well, it's finally happened. The first of our kids has moved out; Erick and Evangeline moved into an apartment on Saturday afternoon. The two have been a couple since September 2005, dating all the way through High School and into college. Evangeline is a great young lady

The apartment is cute. Located next to a large home on a hill in Simsbury, it offers panoramic views. We tried to get good photos of the view from the main windows, but the light was uncooperative.

They have done did a nice job setting up a home. As you can see from the photo, the kitchen is a little small but should suit them. The main room is roomy enough for a bedroom area on one end and family room on the other. That's my bald head in the photo with Erick watching the Waterboy on Sunday.

I must say that it is weird having him move out. I think back to changing diapers, playing catch, coaching baseball, and chasing him to do his homework. Ah good memories. We're excited for them as they take this next step in their lives.