Happy really late Thanksgiving

As promised, here's the first of what will be several posts in the coming days as I catch up on holidays and activities of the past couple weeks. Let's start with Thanksgiving since everything else is so old by now anyway.

We drove up to New York to spend the holiday weekend with Andy's parents on Keuka Lake, and it was a really nice weekend. Unfortunately we didn't get there until nearly 2 a.m. Wednesday night, er, Thursday morning, because we both had to work Wednesday, then pack, then take Layla to the kennel (shh... she doesn't know it's a kennel, she thinks it's "doggie camp").

Andy's brother and his family drove up (down? over? I'm not sure) for Thanksgiving and it was a really nice day. We had a big breakfast followed by an even bigger dinner (and of course the obligatory snacking in between) and Andy's mom did a fantastic job with the feast. It was the traditional Thanksgiving fare, which is exactly how I like it! Plus one of the best things about eating dinner at Andy's parents' house (the best being the company, of course) is that there is always a fantastic selection of New York wines, which have ruined me for almost all other wines.

It was great seeing everybody -- especially the kids. No offense to the grown-ups, but kids are really really cute. Plus Dan and Jen really upped the ante on cuteness when they had twins. (See below for proof)



Will likes to pick on Katie already.

I love babies, seriously. If there is a baby near me, then it's a safe bet that within 2 minutes of it being there, it's in my arms. Jen always thanks me for helping her with the twins, but really, I just love babies, so my motivation is actually selfish. And these two are so cute.

Anyway, after dinner we played a painfully long game of Trivial Pursuit. It took forever for the first player to get a pie. We finally had to call it with next right answer wins the game. Dan won which was more impressive because we were playing teams and Jen was MIA most of the game. In all fairness to her she has twins and she's nursing. Enough said, right?

The next morning we had another nice breakfast and Andy and I headed out to visit Carrie and Chuck and their kids, who couldn't make it to Thanksgiving. OK, I admit it we went out Christmas shopping on the way. Yes, I'm a closet Black Friday shopper. But don't judge me. It's not like I'm that lady on the news waiting outside of some store at the day before. I don't even do the door buster sales. Plus I only go to Target and Old Navy ... occasionally Best Buy or Circuit City or something, but never the mall! I said don't judge me.

The most shocking part of Black Friday was that Andy participated in the shopping. He actually Christmas shopped with me. That was a first. Maybe the first time we've shopped together period. Yes, a landmark in our relationship.

And on that note, I think I'll save the rest of the day for another blog.