Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving turned out to be a busy week for us. Everything started off with Adrian flying in on Saturday before Thanksgiving. He stayed with us for about 10 days. It was so great to see him again. Aidan was really looking forward to Uncle Adrian coming and asked for days when he'd get here. Needless to say, Uncle Adrian was a big hit and a great sport. While Adrian was here there was a lot of video game playing, eating, and drinking beer and even some bathroom painting. :) My half bath on the main floor is now painted. Yes there is a story behind why it got done this week but, don't ask. Let's just say it was some penitence. :) Tuesday night, Nana and Grandpa got in. Aidan was super excited about that too. Not only did he have Nana, which is a big deal, but he had Grandpa and Adrian to play with too. There were caves built all over, dragons flying around, lots of coloring, and a lot of giggling going on all week. And of course Olivia wasn't left out. It had been a while since Grandpa had seen her and she's gotten big! It was also the first time Adrian had met her and let's just say, it was love at first sight. And while the kids got to play and got tons of attention, Mommy got a little bit of a break. Adrian gave Aidan his baths and put him to bed every night until Nana got here and then she took over. Everyone wanted a turn with baby girl. I actually got some sleep here and there since Julien was off all week and was able to get up with her too. Let's just say that I got spoiled too. :)

Since everyone was in town for Thanksgiving, of course that means there was a lot of food going on at my house too. We did not one but two turkeys; one fried and one roasted. There were mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes wrapped in prosciutto, homemade stuffing, bread, brussel sprout casserole, gravy, pecan and pumpkin cream cheese pies. I know I'm forgetting something but the list is long enough. And we had some champaign to toast with. It was awesome! And if that wasn't enough food, we went out the next night for more food. Adrian is a Four Seasons employee and he gets free rooms and discounted meals at their restaurants. So, he stayed at a plush hotel Friday night and we all went to their fine dining restaurant. And we took the kids cause we are that brave. LOL! Actually, we knew if someone wasn't happy we could always take them up to the room. So we all got dressed up, even the kids who looked so cute, and went for a wonderful dinner. Aidan was so good that even I was impressed. He sat at the table the whole time (which was two hours!) and ate a ton and was very quiet. We took toys for him to play with but he was happy with the colored pencils they gave him and the cool kids cup. He had some crab, some calamari, not to mention his chicken fingers and fries. (Which were really good.) Olivia was really good too. She slept half of the time and then she was content to sit in every one's laps. All the staff went on about how cute the kids were. But the service was incredible all around. The food was incredible. The wine was excellent. All around a lot of fun and a great experience that we never could have afforded with out Adrian. :) When our desserts came out, Aidan had one of his own. They brought out a plate with warm cookies, a little bowl of m-n-ms, and a rice crispy treat in the shape of the Arch and it was glued to the plate with chocolate standing up. In chocolate they had written "Welcome Aidan". Very cool and he loved it! Gina got a little dessert in honor of her birthday that had been earlier in the week. In the end, we were all stuffed and went up to check out Adrian's awesome room and great view and then headed home. That's where we paid our karmic debt for such a great time. We were stuck in traffic on 55 about 5 minutes from home for about an hour. There had been an accident that shut down all four lanes and even though I read the signs that said it was closed and wanted to take an earlier exit, Julien said those signs are always wrong and stay on 55. I'm not listening to him ever again. It was so annoying. And let's just say I'm really glad I keep a travel potty in the car at all times as it came in handy.

The rest of the week was spent going out to eat, going to the City Museum, and playing a lot of Wii. Aidan was so sad when everyone started to leave. He kept telling everyone that they didn't have to go, that they could stay here. I had to physically pry him off Adrian last night and tell him to go to bed. Poor Uncle Adrian. I know that was hard on him. Even this morning, Aidan asked where he was. So this week will be hard as Aidan will be demanding a lot of attention and cave building. But at least he has preschool and playgroup to keep him busy. Olivia on the other hand, is almost recovering from all the festivities. She's been sleeping hard today. But she also accomplished another milestone by finally rolling back to tummy today after trying all week. Of course she does it after everyone leaves. It was a busy week but a lot of fun! I wish everyone lived a little closer so we could do it more often. I know Aidan would love that.