Can you tell how to get to...

I'm not one of those people who really mind winter. I like the snow, the cold isn't that bad, and in general I like the change in seasons. What I don't like about winter though, is the fact that it gets dark here at 4:30. Recently I've been noticing that it seems like everyone has a GPS unit in their car. The pic above was actually taken while we were at a stop light, and I just had to get a shot so everyone knew what I was talking about.

I'm dumbfounded by the amount of people who have GPS systems in their car. Driving around at night it seems like literally everyone has one. All the time. I mean, who are all these people that don't know where they are going? Have we all just entirely forgotten where things are and we'd be absolutely paralyzed without our GPS systems?

Thanksgiving part - III

Shake, rattle and roll! Annie loves to dance. Black Friday. Karen and I both had to work, but were able to get out early and meet up for lunch. We all had a great late lunch at the Union Oyster House. The weather outside was pretty dismal - cold and rainy. So after a short walk we ended up at this other place for a drink before we headed back. Since we had Annie, we wanted a place that was somewhat dead so that she could tear around and not bother anyone. We found the perfect place with a sweet corner booth, and an area behind it that Annie could play in.

The waitstaff was super accomodating, and it helped that Annie made friends with all of them!

Thanksgiving part - II

Thanksgiving day! You couldn't ask for a better day. The sun was shining and the air was brisk. After a breakfast of toast, poached eggs, coffee and tea, we all headed out for a walk. We walked from our apt to the Charlestown Monument. Which felt like it was totally uphill from us... but great exercise in preparation of the massive amounts of food that would be consumed in a few short hours.

Once we made it to the Monument, we let Annie out of her stroller and she took off! She ran from one place to the next, chased after people with dogs, and wandered up next to every kid she saw. She is very social, I don't know where she gets it from. Karen and I often joke how unfriendly we are... and we're not doing it on purpose, but I think living in a city hardens you a bit. You don't talk to strangers, most times you don't even make eye contact with them. We don't know our neighbors, and we've lived in our condo for the past 5 yrs... I know, pathetic. But another fringe benefit of having kids is that they don't care who someone is.

One of Annie's favorite things to do is say hi to strangers, and if they are not paying attention to her, watch out, because she will not stop until they acknowledge her. Much to her parents chagrin. During Annie's exercise, there was an incident. As she was running down the sidewalk chasing a little boy, she took a tumble and scratched her face. When I picked her up there was blood running down the tip of her nose. A superficial scratch, but traumatic none the least. Was it bad that (after I saw she was alright of course), the first thing that ran through my mind was from the Brady Bunch. It was the episode when Greg hit Marcia in the nose with a football and she was all, "Now I'll never be a teen model." I know parents aren't supposed to laugh at times like this, but sometimes you can't help it!

Finally, it was time for the ma marsin event. We headed up to the Kattmans in Marblehead. We were so excited not to be travelling for once! We had a great time, and Addie - freshman at Alabama, made a surprise appearance! We had no idea the feast that was in store for us... Karen and Joan made two sides to take, roasted corn with mint and the classic, mashed potatoes. The Kattmans had the turkey, natch, sweet potatoes w/ marshmallows, cornbread stuffing w/ sausage, green bean casserole, two kinds of cranberry sauce... the list goes on and on! Everything was awesome... awesome. My mouth is watering again just writing about this.

And then, if all of that food wasn't enough, we had apple pie a la mode and key lime cheesecake. Wowser. So good. After that meal we came home, but Annie to bed, and then followed her shortly.

A Drummy Thanksgiving - part I

Thanksgiving was great! Since I haven't updated in a while and I have a bunch of photos I'm breaking this into a few posts. Although there are no photos for this post...


Grandma and Grandpa Drummy came into town the day before Thanksgiving. That evening we went to our new favorite restaurant, the Highland Kitchen in Somerville.


http://www.highlandkitchen.com/
I love the atmosphere there. When you walk in, the bar is always crowded with people, the lights are low and intimate, and the music is slightly loud causing everyone to speak louder than normal. This place just has great energy, and awesome specials. The first time we went there, the special was venison stroganoff. It was awesome. And, on Monday nights they serve homemade fried chicken, with mashed potatoes, greens and a biscuit. Are you kidding? Luckily I have class Monday nights so we've only been once, but if I didn't I'm sure we'd be there almost every single Monday... and weigh alot.

We all had great dinners... Joan had quail, awesome. Larry had a steak, awesome. I had chicken, awesome. And I just forgot what Karen had, but I'm sure it too was awesome. Annie is another story... She's getting to that age where she's becoming less and less fun to take out. There, I said it! Now we love taking her out, and we'll continue to do so, but she's quite the little character. She also loves attention. I mentioned how a couple of weeks ago at breakfast she kept throwing things at this guy in the next table, well this night she kept shouting until these people at the next table would pay attention to her. Then she would laugh and smile, and throw stuff. Then they would try and get back to their dinner, and she would get their attention again. And then laugh and smile... Man, she is trouble...

After dinner we headed back to the apt and put Bananas to bed. The rest of us headed to bed shortly thereafter so we could rest up for the big day ahead...