Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday (so many questionable side dishes), but with Owen in college now (and living so close to home), it at least means that we get to celebrate seeing him, even if we do so over stuffing and squash.

Usually when we celebrate Thanksgiving in the DMV, we do so at Nancy and Danny's house, who are famous for their 3-day mole gravy and Danny's perfectly carved turkey (with only one knife related injury in all the years I've been going). But Danny's been undergoing treatments that made the prospect of hosting a bit overwhelming and while Mom Mom was happy to host, she wasn't thrilled to cook the turkey, so Allen offered to cook it at our place and then bring it to Silver Spring.

Owen arrived home Tuesday night and we had tacos to celebrate while Allen, in honor of his father, spatchcocked the turkey in preparation for Thursday. Wednesday, I headed home early to make pumpkin pies and cinnamon rolls for the next day. After a quick meal, Allen and I headed out to meet up for drinks with Molly & Adam who were hosting Pete & Jeannine and Adam's family for Thanksgiving. When we arrived, I was little distracted and so didn't immediately notice (fine, I didn't notice at all until prompted) the lovely new addition to Molly's ring finger: she and Adam were engaged!!!

Understandably, we ended up staying a little longer than we originally intended. As a result, we were moving a little slower the next morning, but we had a lovely breakfast and then I started mixing up rolls and went for a walk while Allen started on the turkey (a little later than he intended per my suggestion, though why he would ever listen to me with regard to cooking any protein...). We ended up being a little late to Sharon & Don's (the turkey took a bit longer and the transport was a bit of a production, involving a cooler with a hot water bottle and towels). Still, everyone was happy with the final product and we had an amazing dinner, an epic marble game, and even had leftovers to take home (which for Allen, included most of his pumpkin pie).

The next day, Allen and Owen got and put up the tree while I went to work and Noa slept. That night, we had Molly & Adam and their whole crew (Adam's parents and sister were also in town to celebrate) over for pizza, the traditional post-Thanksgiving meal. Saturday, Noa was clearly coming down with something, so they slept for most of the day while I decorated the tree and then Allen, Owen and I saw Wicked for Good (Noa was going with friends on Monday so it wasn't too big of a loss). 

Sunday, Allen and I headed to Meeting while Noa continued to sleep (while monitoring) their friends' progress on the scavenger hunt they were supposed to attend but were too sick to make) and Owen did laundry. Once we got home, Owen packed up his car, said his goodbyes, and headed back to school for a few more classes before finals, when he finishes the fall semester and gets to come home for a whole month for Christmas!

(To see all our Thanksgiving pictures, click here.)

Adventures in Boardgaming

Sometimes a plan just comes together. Nabeel and the rest of the Hyatt family decided to travel to Philadelphia for a board-gaming convention – PAX East – to do some research for Nabeel's new side-hustle The Tabletop Library in Berkley, and unofficially promote 'Race to Kepler' the game that Kaden and Liam created and are self-publishing. Somewhat last minute, Nabeel checked to see if Joe and I would want to join. Somehow Joe didn't have work that weekend, and I didn't have plans. Plus since I just missed out on my trip to Brazil because of the shutdown, which enabled Elaine to spend a long weekend in Cape May with Karen, it really seemed like the perfect time to catch a train to Philly for some board gaming adventures. 

I made it into Philly around 11 and met up with the crew in the Lobby of the Hilton which had some ideal tables to camp out at for a long day of gaming. Which is exactly what we did aside from a not so quick excursion to pick up take-out for dinner. Oath, Wild Tiled West, and Tax the Rich being notable games for the day, plus some play-testing of alternate rules for Race to Kepler. I crashed in Joe's room and in the morning we hit the convention floor after breakfast. After racing to pick up a few hard to find games for The Tabletop Library and exploring the convention for a while, we found a table in a high-traffic area near the game library to set up the 'Race to Kepler' banner and play games while Kaden and Liam waited for interested convention goers to ask about their game. We played It's a Wonderful World, Flip 7, and Northgard, taking up most of the day, then after the convention closed for the evening we had dinner at Sampan and went back to the Hilton lobby to play test a prototype of wild west showdown game that Joe has been working on, before I caught the late train back to DC. All told a fun weekend with good friends!

(click here for all the pictures)

Dear Harvey et el

Noa's freshman year at Burke, they were in one fall play, Everybody. Sophomore year there were two fall plays, John Proctor is the Villain (Noa was in the chorus) and Abigail/1702 (which they were not in). 

Burke put on four plays, all focused on social justice, this fall: Dear Harvey (about the legacy of the first openly gay man elected to a major public office in the U.S., with Noa playing Anne Kronenberg, Harvey Milk's campaign manager); #matter (about two former high school classmates, reconnecting on facebook to debate race, with Noa playing Cole, who probably should spend less time on facebook); 8 (about the lawsuit to overturn Proposition 8 which outlawed same-sex marriage in California with Noa playing Sandy Stier, one of the plaintiffs); and All Convenience (the only play Noa wasn't in, that was a short about protecting things that don't need protection simply because they're easier to deal with while other stuff burns).

It was a moving and thought-provoking production which all the more impressive given the amount of characters and dialogue the student-actors had to keep straight. Everyone did an amazing job, though we will note that Noa had the longest monologue of anyone, as Anne Kronenberg, and nailed it.

And while we're all a little relieved that Noa gets a break from rehearsals (though auditions for the spring musical are next week). I'm a little terrified that by my math this means they'll be doing eight plays Noa's senior year...

(To see the Burke official pictures for all the plays, click here.)

43 Day Later...

For the bulk of America's longest shutdown I was home. I cleaned, sorted, scanned pictures, donated books and other items, attempted to volunteer (apparently a number of other displaced feds beat me to it), met friends for drinks or a meal, read, took long walks, and did yoga (none of which made for interesting pictures or blog posts). Five weeks in, my friend Karen mentioned she was headed to her beach house at Cape May and asked if I wanted to join. I was hesitant, as their appeared to be movement in the Senate on November 7th to reopen the government and extend ACA subsidies for a year, but then the Senate majority made it clear Saturday night that they didn't actually want to do that. Given there wasn't an agreement and Tuesday was a holiday, surely I could enjoy four days at the Jersey Shore.

So, we headed out on Sunday morning and were well into Deleware when we learned there was another deal brewing. By Monday, the Senate had approved a CR. While the House, who'd been out of session since they passed their original CR back in September, still had to return to vote, it was looking like the government was going to be open by Thursday, and since I had a a school thing Wednesday night and since Karen's appointment that she thought was Tuesday was actually Wednesday, I bought a train ticket back to DC on Tuesday.

Karen and I still got in some lovely sight-seeing and meals (as well as some Jane Austen courtesy of PBS), but it was a shorter trip than intended, and since I didn't go back the intended route, I wasn't able to stop at the Delaware House to replace one lost duck in a backpack per Noa. Still, I made it home safely Tuesday night in order to have one day to recover and attend College Preview night for Burke Juniors while the House voted on the CR. I then promptly arrived at work on Thursday, November 13th to a backlog of work without adjusted timelines. Fun times!

(To see my pics from Cape May, click here.)