Post Thanksgiving Wrap up

Thanksgiving at the condo went very well. My brother got his Vicadin, so he's doing much better now. Dinner was fantastic. My sister in law cooked the turkey, steaks, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and crescent rolls while we went down to the inlet to walk the boardwalk and play some video games. Lauren and I had a blast playing a mini bowling game, another game where you roll 5 balls so they fall into these slots to make poker hands (she hit a full house!), and skee-ball. She loved all 3 and hated it when we had to head back. My niece, Alexis, is a riot! She would run around with a ball, throw it to someone (say Debbie), exclaim "I Trowed it to Debbie!" and repeat. Lauren got through dinner pretty well, especially with the promise and threat of dessert. Eric kept running and running until we put on the Peanut's Thanksgiving Special. As with all things TV, he stopped dead in his tracks and watched that for a while. I watched closely to see if he would undo the button of his pants, belch loudly, and fall asleep. Alas, only dad did that.

Obligatory Happy Thanksgiving Post

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Hope yours is as uneventful as mine. So far, we've traveled to the hospital where my brother was admitted for a kidney stone. Have you tried finding an open pharmacy on Thanksgiving morning? It's not easy. We're back at the condo now, where my sister-in-law is going to start preparing our Thanksgiving feast of steak, crab cakes, Turkey, homemade mashed potatoes, puppy chow, and other traditional Thanksgiving food items. While she cooks, we are required to vacate the premises, so we're going to get some breakfast (finally!). Then it's down to the inlet to play video games and skee-ball at Marty's Playland. Tonight, we're going to the Winterfest of Lights. We saw a sampling of it last night with Lauren. She was thrilled and cannot wait to tell her friends at school. She saw Santa Claus, Snowmen, reindeer, penguins, whales, starfish, seashells, mermaids, and octopi. So, a typical American Thanksgiving.

What?

Forty-one Months

Forty-one months! That's almost 3 and 1/2 years. That's the last time gas in my area was below $2.00/gallon. Today it was $1.97. Now I can finally afford to get that H2 I've had my eye on. ;)

Sometimes, shouldn't the carrot just be a carrot?

While I think voting is our civic duty, I also don't mind a little carrot to entice some people to the polls. However, I would prefer that, in a country where the average scale now has "DAAAAAMMNNN!!!" as a reading, perhaps we should be offering actual carrots instead of free Starbucks Coffee, Krispy Kreme Donuts, and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. How about a Weight Watchers meal?

I'm not ready for surprises

This weekend was marked by several surprises.

The first was the weather. It was absolutely gorgeous outside! We spent a good deal of time playing and enjoying one of the last few days before the cold really sets in.

The second surprise was the amount we got done. There was a ton of stuff we had to do to get ready for Lauren's party next week and we managed to knock a huge chunk of it out.

The third surprise was Eric playing with his circus during nap. Why was that a surprise? Because it's not in his crib!!! During his nap time, Debbie noticed there were odd sounds of playing. Playing with items he should not be able to reach from the crib. She rushed upstairs and peered under the door. Sure enough, little feet made their way in front of the door and out of sight again. HE'S ONLY EIGHTEEN MONTHS OLD!! Lauren was in her crib until 2 when we moved her to a toddler bed. She never attempted the Houdini-esque feats the Eric exhibited this weekend. Fortunately, we have a little bit of time. After leaving Eric in his room to play for the rest of what is now "Quiet Time" instead of "Nap Time", I was able to lower the crib mattress down to the final notch. That should give us about 1-2 months before he's able to do this again ... I hope.