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There wasn't much time after Thanksgiving, we rolled right into Christmas. We opened gifts on the preceding Saturday since we were headed for Florida early. Our small tree served it's purpose again in a hurry. Brandi did nearly all of the shopping and preparation, I did build out a train table in the basement with Jay, which is technically a birthday gift. It's 4' tall, as per Brandi's requirements(!)
Brandi joined me in California for my Irvine office holiday dinner, a quick two-day trip right before we left for Florida. She was able to get in shopping and a ferris wheel ride at the Irvine Spectrum, and an afternoon together at Fashion Island in Newport Beach before we had dinner at Pacific Coast Hotel in Laguna Beach. We had lunch at Cucina enoteca, and then drinks with Cheri and Christoper at Canaletto Ristorante Veneto, where Brandi tried a Paper Plane... one of a couple strong drinks she tried, putting Brandi face-down on the tray for the flight home. Nick stayed behind, his first extended stay with Grandpa, which went more smoothly than I had imagined.
We delayed our trip to Clearwater Beach by a day since Brandi had a tough-to-shake cold, and took two days to drive down. We stopped overnight in Macon, and visited the Air Museum at Warner Robins before moving on. It's four hangars of amazing airplanes, from WWII and Vietnam, to modern era. It was well worth the walk in the pouring rain, and the struggle to find it, for the two hours of visit.
Our week in Clearwater was half washed-out by rainy days, and Brandi stayed close to the hotel every day, slow to feel better. We got one day on the beach, and two days at the pool, Earl and Sue came over for lunch and poolside one afternoon from Sebring, which was a nice visit... there's limited time to talk to them at the holiday events with all the activity. As expected, the trip was highlighted by great food: Nick and I found a server named Monique we liked at CK's which was critical on Christmas Eve to get any service, he of course got his bairdi crab legs, but by far the best of the trip was Capital Tacos, an accidental stop on the way home, which blew us away, wish we had one in Detroit ("it's raining tacos", which we had no idea what the song/meme meant, but Brad's daughter Samantha recognized it, so it's a youth thing, I guess.) I was bummed the Opal Sands wasn't as good as in the past, probably time to find a new hotel. Our last activity was kayaking in the mangroves north of St. Petersburg, a recommendation thru work led us to Matt Lentz's tours. We spent two hours paddling in quiet canals and lakes, even without seeing much wildlife, it was excellent (any potential wildlife would have been scared off by Nick' paddle tangled in the bushes and his cursing anyway.)
There was one last stop in Columbus, lunch with Brad, Colleen and the girls for an afternoon at the end of the break, which was simple and uneventful, just time to catch up, as Brad has a new place in D.C.
And, I finished second in the Morpace Fantasy Football League, losing the championship game by a single point, when my RB took a knee on Monday night.
The long break was much-needed. Photos here.
Jason
We split Thanksgiving this year, with Brandi and Nick staying home while her family came to visit, and I flew to St. Louis for Carrie's family gathering. Brandi made a full dinner, and the kids were entertained with trips to the Zoo Lights and Harley Davidson stores. We got beanbags and the old TV setup in the bonus room so Thatcher and Nick had a place to hangout, play video games. I was able to join them for a dinner when I flew home. I did a 48-hour turnaround for Carrie's dinner, which was low-key as usual... this was our Christmas gathering, but early this year. Brian spoiled us with the 'expensive' bacon, complementing enough food it couldn't possibly be consumed by all. I got a late dinner my first evening at Cooper's Hawk, it was outstanding.
He's settled in well at SFS, had a great report during our Teacher meetings. Nicks' got a circle of guys he hangs with, and he's making the grade. The tough part is getting used to the routine, which feels like a career with so much activity to track: checking email, reviewing online assignments, calendars changing... Nick's getting used to writing it all down to keep up, but it's a constant chase.
A few pics here.
Winding down the summer, we had some warm days to swim, even though the water had cooled; my last swim was teeth-chattering. Nick was helpful closing the pool, we pulled a new cover this year. Football season fills the weekend afternoons, of course Nick hates watching football, so he washes my car instead. There's a small pond in our neighborhood that's stocked, there's pics here of Nick fishing. He's had the equipment in storage for years, now it came in handy. He didn't catch anything, but he got a feel for it.
Brandi and Nick got tickets from my friend at work to attend the Halloween event at Greenfield Village. Brandi's Wednesday Addams costume was perfect, Nick didn't dress up, really. He also didn't trick-or-treat this year, but it poured rain and washed out the evening for most kids.
We brought our Corvette home after a light restoration this summer, so we enjoyed a few evening rides in the Fall. I was riding around NY on a work trip, eating at east Long Island diners and seeing a ballgame at Citi Field with Joe Cook.
He had a karate test in there somewhere as well. He's got a good routine at karate, he's a veteran student having been there a while.
A few pictures from the last couple months.
Jason
School started at the end of August, so Nick's summer was a little shorter than others, ending in Michigan and starting in Ohio. School shopping included the annual tables at Dillard's where I buy my shirts for $10 when they go on sale, and this year I was buying for us both. I like the school's plan, they are really working with the boys. Nick's starting to get the swing of things, even knowing when he needs cover... he asked me to cover for him about forgetting his notebook in the first week. He looks good in a jacket and tie, from a height perspective, he and I are about the same size. There's so many sites and apps for Brandi and I to remember, we never bothered to figure it out last year... he got all A's last year and we didn't figure it out until we found a paper copy buried in his 6th grade bag in the corner when 7th grade started.
I did the Dream Cruise alone this year, as Nick decided not to join me that morning, backed out at 5 AM. Brandi and I had a Saturday night Chili Cookoff at Jasinski's, I was setting up for Fantasy Football, sold the Jeep to Brad, and I had a short trip to NY for Volvo, so the month was really focused more on us than Nick, he spent his time relaxing to begin school. With all of that time, you'd think he'd remember the basics, like trimming his thumb nails (he trims the other eight fingers, then gets distracted.)
The photo here with the snow plow reminded him of his childhood when we lived next to the Chrysler dealership, so he wanted to re-create the moment.
Photos are combined with July this month, as there's only a few.
Jason
It's been a hot month, lots of time in the pool. We had tickets to the Mud Hens game on a Friday night, Nick was booked to throw out the first pitch, roughly 95 degrees at game time. We barely made it onto the field in time, they called out Nick's name, handed him the ball, and sent him to the mound... I didn't warn him ahead of time. He threw a better pitch than the mayor, Wade's toss was a little shorter, then we spoke with him down on the field afterwards. I went to school with Wade, and his son now goes to SFS with Nick.
The school hosted a camp at Vineyard Lake, where the 7th and 8th grade boys get to know each other before the year starts. We left Nick for the weekend, where he got a lucky draw of the cabin with air conditioning. The kids spent most of their time in the lake, though, and Nick didn't go in. But he said the food was good, they were kept to their chores, and he knew a couple kids from his past schools. The camp was property purchased by the Oblates back in the 1940s for a couple thousand dollars, it's a beautiful 40 acres or so for the school to use. Brandi and I walked the MSU Hidden Lake Gardens for the afternoon after we dropped him.
Our phones stopped working at one point because they were full, roughly 50GB of space filled, it seemed like overnight. After hours of investigation, I realized Nick had takes selfies on his iPad, thousands of them. He sat in bed and shot photos of himself non-stop, and filled our storage space. Really, Nick? I took a screen shot before I deleted them all.
Photos combined from July and August this month.
Jason
