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It’s Thanksgiving Day and it’s snowing in PA!
That’s okay because I don’t have to drive in it! 🙂
The morning was uneventful. We drank coffee, watched the snow fall, and played throughout the house. When the boys went down for a nap, Cindy and I started on our Thanksgiving feast. I was in charge of the turkey, and Cindy was in charge of everything else (as it should be ;-)).
We fried a turkey this year (as we do most years), but this year I used my new oil-less turkey fryer. 
Sounds funny, I know. It uses infrared heat to cook the turkey. The only drawback is it takes about 10-minutes per pound, whereas the old-fashioned peanut oil will cook a bird in about 3-minutes per pound. Anyway, I was a little concerned beforehand, but was pleasantly surprised by the result. The turkey cooked very well and was very tasty!!
For dinner we enjoyed a delicious Czech wine: Chateau Valtice Rulandské modré. It was a very delicate red wine, much like Pinot Noir, with a brick-red hue, and a scent of cherry and raspberry. This particular bottle was a gift from the owner of the hotel Cindy and I stayed in during our first trip to Zlín, Czech Republic in 2007.
We’d been saving it for a special occasion and decided to open it today!
So, with the table set, and the boys wearing their fancy shirts, we sat down to our Thanksgiving dinner:
Alex and Adam ate very well and seemed to really enjoy the different tastes and textures set before them (except for the cranberries…Alex thoroughly rejected them!). Everything was delicious and the boys were very well behaved. Of course, Adam had a bit of a meltdown when we wouldn’t give him any wine. (Hey! He had his own grape juice!!)
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Last night Cindy and I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly (Home of the Flyers!). They did two shows: a 3:00 and an 8:00 (we had tickets to the 3). So, we hired a baby-sitter for the boys and headed downtown. The traffic was as-to-be-expected, terrible, but the concert was awesome!
The shows on the TSO Winter Tour are divided into two acts. The first act is a narrated performance of most of the songs from “Christmas Eve and Other Stories”. In the second act, the band performs a mix of songs from their other albums. They opened with “Night Enchanted” from their Night Castle cd, and it only got better from there. Here’s a glimse of the performance with “Queen of the Winter Night”…
After the concert we had dinner at a pub/restaurant in South Philly called “The Ugly American” (gotta love the name!). Great food! I had a roast beef sandwich with a couple pints of Yuengling and Cindy had fish tacos with some obscure wheat beer (yuk!) .
Cindy had actually wanted Asian Fusion, but the restaurant we found near the event center was in a pretty shady part of town, and so we bypassed it. It worked out very well, though!
We came home to two peacefully sleeping toddlers, and a glowing report from the baby-sitter. A great night all-around.
Here’s another video from TSO, a promo piece to give you a sense of the intensity of the concert…
I visited the local library and was looking through a collection of old photos they had on display. The photos were some of the memorabilia celebrating Pennsylvania’s 223rd anniversary.
Imagine my shock and surprise when I caught a glimpse of this photo taken at the turn of the century…
I simply couldn’t believe my eyes! There was a little boy that looked just like Alex! No wait…
he’s wearing a GAP jacket! They didn’t have GAP back then…
did they?
Could this actually be Alex??
Then I noticed he was missing a shoe!
Yep, that’s Alex! 🙂
Just when you think he’s totally pooped-out and can’t exert another ounce of energy…
Just when you think he’s ready to sit quietly and watch “Thomas the Tank Engine” on the toob…
Just when you think that your excruciatingly long tiring day is at an end…
He throws on the jacket, dons the shades, and becomes…
When Adam’s in “action mode” there’s no stopping him…
he’s climbing up, rolling down, crawling over, squeezing under, ripping through, and spinning around every object in his path!
( help )
It’s a pet…
It’s a Pillow Pet!
Naturally.
The fall air was nippy and the wind was blowing, but the boys were too busy for the cold! They were enjoying the “Touch a Truck” event at Warminster Community Park. The kids got to touch, honk, and climb aboard some of the big rigs, construction, and public safety equipment they see on the road every day. Too cool!
Vroom! Vroom! Screeech!! ** Crash **
Daddy and the boys in front of the firetruck…
Adam the fireman…
Daddy and Alex in front of the “Flight for Life” chopper…
And, yes, Mommy was there, too…
You can’t see her in any of the pictures because she was behind the camera!
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