Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgivvikah - Week 12

Happy Thanksgivvikah
Happy Hannukah and Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family.  How crazy is it that we are here in November and it is already the 2nd night of Hannukah?  Even crazier that we had latkes with our turkey and stuffing?  We were at cousins on my mom' side of the family tonight and we feel so fortunate that Harry and Sally's family has adopted us and Lisa and Howard Bash have welcomed us into their home for the last two major holidays.  While we miss being with our family it is always good to celebrate with familiar faces.


Last night for the first night of Hannukah we celebrated by going to Dairy Queen even though it was about 35 degrees out and raining.
We are going to be transitioning from ice cream to hot chocolate here as winter is coming.  The big family surprise this year was a new computer - an iMac!  I have to say that there is something incredible special about what Steve Jobs was able to build at Apple.  Taking any new product out of the box is a special occasion and even the styrofoam configuration is so well thought out and elegant.  I am such a huge fan of what they have created and our new iMac is beyond spectacular.  
Rachel is already having a blast with the Photo Booth and we welcomed the new computer in with a Hannukah FaceTime with my parents, Owen, Robbie, Homey G, Liadan and Mirren.

Hannukah Decorations
Beth and the kids outdid themselves this year as they went all out on Hannukah decorations!  Beyond the usual dreidel and hannukiah pictures, we have lights all over the house and Rachel took it one step further by making a Hannukiah out of legos.  Incredible imagination!!

Bloomington
I was in Indianapolis for a meeting with a client and took the opportunity to drive down to Bloomington to visit my nephew Jake who is a sophomore at IU.  Even though we did not get the best weather, he gave me a world class tour of the school.  There is no doubt he loves that school and it was evident in his passion for all that IU has to offer.  I was blown away by the architecture which was not only gothic stone, but also consistent throughout campus.

When it came to lunch I told Jake to make it memorable and it was.  We ate at Motherbear's Pizza where the pies were top notch and the brownies were a nice added benefit!  He was leaving that night for LA for break and I took him back to the airport with me where we ran into what seemed like most of his school.  Thanks again for the tour Jake - I will be back in the Spring when it warms up a bit!!

Ian and the Redskins
Ian had an interesting assignment this past week where he had to report on a current event and he chose an article about sports mascots and the renewed controversy over the Washington Redskins.  It was amazing to see his little mind absorb the concept of how offensive this is to Native Americans and I don't think he will ever look at his Cleveland Indians hat the same again.

End of Soccer - Hello Basketball
I had a blast this year coaching Rachel's soccer team, Club America.  The girls were an absolute joy to coach and Rachel had a great time where she made many new friends, including her buddy Kayla Solomon (no relation, but her dad is also named Mike, so we had fun with that).  The league really created a program that focuses on a low pressure but competitive environment where the girls can all focus on building foundational skills.  Then at the end of each week we scrimmaged with the another team for 30 minutes.

Ian's team wrapped up as well and I was real proud of how he adjusted this year.  From the time he first start playing, Ian has been a scoring machine, but this team needed him for his ability to stop the other team from scoring.  He really took that on this year and while the team did not have a great last game, they really grew over the season and started to really share the rock at the end of the season.  Once they did that they were able to beat some teams that would have cleaned their clocks earlier in the year.

Both of the kids are moving onto basketball next and there is no rest for them as that starts up in a few weeks.  Ian will also be playing indoor soccer and we are all happy to go indoors vs. having too many more cold Saturdays rooting them on.

A little snow...
While it has snowed a little here and there, I still feel like it has not SNOWED.  You know, waking up in the morning, looking outside and everything is white.  I am not exactly bummed about that as that means I need a shovel and have a morning of work ahead of me.  But it also means building a snowman, snowball fights and snow angels.  The kids are starting to get the hang of bundling up in layers and so far it has been no big deal to them.




1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you guys are having a wonderful time! Have a very happy Thanksgiving and Hanukkah!

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