New York City Thanksgiving 2016

We have started a family tradition of visiting the New York Eggers (Rick, Ingrid, Katie, and Mark) every five years for Thanksgiving.  I'm pretty sure this may have started as a joke five years ago but I'm here to tell you, we made it look easier this year (still need some practice).  Can't wait until 2021!

To make sure we didn't spend too much time together we do stay in a hotel downtown.  We got to meet Katie and Jared's two dogs in Central Park, hit some pubs, and even snuck in a show or two on Broadway.

On Thanksgiving we started early with the Macy's Day parade (way too many people) and then took the Long Island Express in the afternoon out to the burbs for turkey and family.

As if that wasn't enough we followed everything up with one more day downtown which included a very nice family dinner at an Italian restaurant.  A subset of us broke off that evening to attempt an Escape the Room challenge.  I can honestly say we were never going to get out of that room and will probably be beating ourselves up for the next couple years (Waterloo!!!).

 

 

 

Dave, Mere, and Soler ... Oh My! (Chicago)

Trouble finally found us in Chicago.  It started with boxes showing up before Dave and Mere.  It turns out these held 20 little cacti and planters to add some life into the house.  We followed this up with a full day downtown hitting the sites (The Bean, Hancock Sky Deck, Wrigleyville , and more).


While the rest of the trip included local brews and the Frank Lloyd Wright walking tour, it was overshadowed by Mere and Jolene picking a black kitten named Soler (Cubs Player - They just won the World Series) to live with us.  To make sure she would still be there the following day, Dave called the animal shelter pretending to be me and announced he was Soler's "future baby daddy".  It was definitely a memorable trip and we are still trying to adjust to a home with both cacti and a kitten.



Mere/Jolene - Hancock Sky Deck TILT!

 

 

 

 

 

Kristina's 30th! (Steelers vs. Chiefs - 43 to 14)

Happy Birthday!

You only turn 30 once.  Dave and Mere helped surprise the birthday girl a couple weeks in advance to drive her out to Pittsburgh for Sunday Night Football against the Chiefs. The Saturday before the game we had a family bar-b-q at the Sutermasters' with a champagne toast.

We hit the Andy Warhol Museum Sunday morning as we burned time before the game.  Our tailgate setup was fairly basic but super fun.  It ended up pouring the entire game, but we were lucky with our seats just barely under the covered section so we stayed safe from the weather.  The good guys won big! 

1st Actual Guest - JR (Chicago)

The first person to cave and actually use their hard earned vacation days with us to actually try and relax was JR.  Not sure how it worked out for him as we are not very experienced at hosting.  We did show him around, let him test out the bedroom with the extra furniture, and found a great spot under a tree next to Grant Park to listen to Lollapalooza for free (safe from the rain).  We also came back home and jammed out to the next day of bands at home since Red Bull TV was streaming the concert.

 

Big Move - First Home

We had been talking about it for awhile but finally pulled the trigger.  We closed up shop in Nashville and headed north to Chicago to look for a full time residence.  It was an easy enough shift for me due to my travel consulting job and Jolene had no problem switching back to a hospital she had worked at up here when we temporarily lived here seven years ago.

The house search wasn't easy as we stayed at four different places (using Airbnb and Craigslist), went through two real estate agents, and easily saw over 100 properties.  However, it all worked out!  We've finally bought our first home, moved in, and started to meet all our great neighbors. 

We were also fortunate enough to have Jolene's parents visit right after the purchase.  We of course did not treat them like guests, but put them to work from sunrise to sunset for a week straight.  They both helped Jolene fix and clean stuff that I'm sure I would have left alone for a decade but I'm really glad it's done now.  THANKS!

 

Solo Scotland Trip

I can feel that my days are numbered when it comes to business taking me to the UK.  I don't know how many trips I'll have in the coming year but I feel that I'm nearing the end.  This has led me to look for any excuse to make it back to Scotland (my favorite place). 

Since I was going to be in Ipswich/London for two weeks between workshops I hopped a train Thursday night and did a long weekend in Edinburgh with a trip to the highlands as well.  A little bit of Bens, Glens, and Lochs with a touch of Scotch, Castles, and Lochness Monster searching will sooth the soul. 

I never did find Nessie but I did get to hit a few of my favorite pubs like Greyfriars Bobby.

 

 

 

Toronto & Niagara Falls

I took advantage of a quick business trip to Toronto to also sneak down the following day and see Niagara Falls.  I'm pretty sure I've never been and Jolene had planned to take me next time we were in the area. She begrudgingly accepted that it made sense for me to go since I was less than two hours away.

View from hotel window

Toronto was great and King Street was the perfect place to find food, drinks.  The sports pub had American Football on one TV and of course all the others were permanently talking about the Blue Jays.

After my meetings I rented a car at the train station and drove South towards the border.  It was pretty painless except I caught the end of rush hour and was essentially driving through the crowd walking to a very big Blue Jays vs. Yankees match-up (they were racing to the playoffs).

After finally getting to the falls late Monday night I still had no idea which direction they were initially but could feel the mist from the front door of my hotel.  I did eventually figure out what ledge to look over to see them lit up and the giant cloud of mist that is essentially always sitting there from the constant fall of water.

The following morning I caught the first boat to go up next to the falls.  On the Canada side the boats are named Hornblower and on the US side The Maid of the Mist.  Some may consider it unlucky but I had the very front spot on the boat which allowed for a clear view and a healthy dosing of mist.

Front of the boat!