Thanksgiving Blog

Here's the belated Thanksgiving blog. We got so busy after Turkey Day I didn't have time until now to blog about it.

My mom and dad came out to visit; and they stayed with us for the first time ever! We had lived in a one bedroom until last year, so they always stayed in a hotel before. So, of course, we had to pull out all the stops. Katie made an excellent cranberry bruschetta (using cranberries instead of tomatoes), and we had a very yummy cheese and veggie tray. We cooked a great dinner for them, including Dan's now-famous cheese-cloth basted turkey, gravy, and stuffing from scratch (I cooked it in the bird for the first time this year) and Katie's famous green-bean casserole, candied yams, garlic-cheesy mashed potatoes, and homemade cranberry sauce (from scratch). We also had copious amounts of tasty wine. We took walks in Prospect Park (and the neighboring historical neighborhood of Park Slope) and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. For our "only-in-New York" fix, we took a 90-minute backstage tour of the Met Opera followed by a great jazz brunch at the Blue Note, one of the flagship jazz clubs in NYC. Between the two activities we took a nice long walk through Central Park, which is where the above picture was taken. We played tons of games like Quiddler, Taboo, cribbage, hearts, UNO, Phase 10, Five Crowns, and probably some others, some of which spurred the formation of several inside jokes...like: PUD-ding?!

All in all, a good time was had by all. And the time really flew. Then it was back to the grind and the push to the end of the semester, which is only now finally wrapping up. Katie just finished school today, and I have a few more days to go, but I have basically given all my finals so I can mentally cruise to the end of the semester. We'll try to put up some more posts during the holidays since we can't be with our family in the Pacific Northwest. Look for a repeat of the Christmas letter and also check out other recently added pictures!