Sunday, October 23, 2011

Fall Festival & Pumpkin Huntin'


 Fall is our favorite time of year. Great weather, nature's colors, and the season's flavors all make this the finest of the year's four quarters. Each year, Watkinsville (Athens's neighbor city to the south) hosts a great fall festival. It's the kind with pony rides and hay rides, local arts and crafts and local music. Everybody goes: the parents with their children, the middle schoolers go to hang out with their friends. Now that I have been freed from my weekend of restaurant servitude, how could we not go?

The weather was a comfy 70 something and the ground was dry after the week's rain.



We walked and walked. We saw all kinds of crafts, food, face painting, hair feathers, pop-guns, etc. But the only thing we actually waited in line for was...
          KETTLE KORN!

And wait, we did. It took us 20 minutes to wait the line out for this stuff, but I didn't regret a minute after I'd had my first sweet-n-salty bite.  And really - look at these girls! How could I not?



Meanwhile, my social butterflies were making new friends. 


On the way home, we drove by the Baptist Church on South Milledge that always has copious amounts of pumpkins out on their front lawn. After 11 years of swearing that I would get my pumpkin there, I finally did. They have this great method of determining price: a dollar per inch of pumpkin width, height notwithstanding, erring in favor of the customer. We got this pink one for $8!


Everyone was ready for a break after such a busy day


More soon,
r

Cousin Matt Got Married



October is a fine time for a road trip. So much so that Sarah acquiesced to allow Hannah to venture on her longest road trip to date.

It was an eight hour journey by car to Richmond, VA to see my cousin Matt get married. We're still not sure how he conned the poor girl into agreeing. Maybe it has something to do with his rather scatter-shot resume: Historian working at the Virginia Holocaust Museum and unshaven stand-up comedian. Who knows?

The trip up was quite nice and Hannah did beautifully for the entire weekend. It was great to see so much family in one place. I find I'm somewhat starved for occasions like this since my immediate family scattered to the corners of the country.

Pics!

The day we got in, we got settled at the hotel and then headed on over to Dean & Mary's house. It has an amazing, well-built and well-lived-in energy and has changed little since I can remember. A new edition this time, though, was the bottomless pitcher of Mimosa. It was a nice touch.  We went over again the morning of the wedding. Carol & Jerry had just arrived, complete with a new smocked dress for Hannah. Thanks, Carol!



Now, there should be a pic of the ceremony here .... but I forgot my camera.  I did remember to bring it to the reception, but I was thwarted in my photographic ventures by a pine nut finding its way into Sarah's mouth 5 minutes after we arrived. Off to the hospital we went, and there she would stay for the next 16 hours. We were all more than a little displeased at the caterer, who had just cleared S to eat. I'm told Carol laid into the caterer for it, too. Thanks again, Carol.

Benadryl and Epinephrine and O2 masks, oh my.

Since there was no place for me to sit, at the hospital and certainly no place for Lil' H to fray around, H and I were on our own. Really, there was nothing for it but to head back to the reception. Total drag to have been only 2/3 there.

The following pics are ripped from Faceschnook.
Dad and Jerry were taking in the scene.


I say again, Hannah was a super-star. No sooner had I gotten back to the party then she was taken from me and passed from one fambly (yes, that's how I spell it) member to the next. Here, Hannah examines her other Uncle Matt while Dean and Anna have a dance party for two in the background.


In honor of Matt S., I didn't shave. In honor of Hannah, I sported a prototype tie. Anna was kind enough not to laugh too hard at either.


Once the party wound down, I headed back to the hospital so H & S could conduct their meal-time ritual. Then it was back to the hotel. That night was the first time they had not been together. H was a very good sport and slept the whole night through.... eventually.



Sarah was released early the next morning. After a little time to recover she felt well enough for us all to head back over to Dean and Mary's for a brunch party. Everyone was there; even this guy who had a really nice gift for Matt and Stephanie-



More soon,
R

Thursday, October 20, 2011

In Chi-Town for 18 hours

Today business called. So off to Chicago I went with my bosses, Christian and Mike. In the line of duty I:

- Kissed my wife good by at 6:30 a.m. as she went to nurse down our fussy bebe
- Learned about a new, top-secret, marginally better parking lot at the airport
- Flew to Chicago. It was cold and rainy.
- Toured a world-class bakery guided by the COO, Director of Ops, and the top sales rep. They gave us pretzel croissants (awesome!), fresh sourdough boule (awesomer!), and three flavors of ruggelah straight out of the oven (awesomest!!)
- Saw the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot hotels and the Sears Tower (Beuler? Beuler?)
- Supped and drank wine with a Fortune 1000 CEO. I ordered for the table - yes, he paid. Ate bacon-wrapped dates (awesomester!!)
- Fell asleep at the Hilton (in t-minus 5 minutes...) 

All in a day's work, right?
Right?

Home tomorrow afternoon. I hope I'll be in time to get to Ted's Most Best with my favorite girls!
ah, this sweet, charmed life...
r

___________________
The next day...

Bright and sunny, coffee in hand, I strolled through Millennium Park and Grant Park while my co-workers were in a meeting.
Thank you, Chicago!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Jeans & T-Shirt Day!


Really - is there anything more comfortable?
r

Dad & Marainna Come to Visit

..... a while ago now.  But the visit is well worth commemorating here on this sporadically maintained blawg of mine. Dad came on a Friday and Marianna joined us the following day. It was a great weekend of nice weather, farmer's markets, brunch spots, classic car shows (complete with Edsels), bourbon and Grand Marnier, dinner guests, bike rides (yes, Dad too), and one awfully cute bebe.

Though many of the details have since escaped me in the weeks since the visit, one event looms large in this writer's mind: Dad's gonna get a bike! And it all started here. More on this later. As with Mom and Laura's visit, I was not as snap-happy as I have been in the past. I'm in a photo/blawg rut, I guess. I'll try to pick it up.

On to the pics!

A generation up and a generation down. It's still weird to think I'm a parent.

Baby 4; Daddy 0

A dinner Party! Who's trying to steal whose thunder?

Hannah is getting fast!

Athenian sandwich on Houstonian bread.

More soon, I'm pretty sure.
r