Another Holiday Gobbled up...

Right before the Christmas commercials begin, and the Halloween Pumpkins have all rotted away...there is this small occasion known as "Thanksgiving". It falls on a Thursday.  So I hear.

For my family, I spare no expense in providing the finest materials for my assigned "stuffing" plate and "Auntie's Awesome ButterScotch Pies":

Please note the awesomeness of the added pumpkin flavored marshmallows.  That's right, pumpkin FLAVORED, not just Pumpkin shaped.  Like I said, I spare no expense.

Car loaded, I head over to my sister's house to find this crew patiently waiting for me:

 and when auntie arrives and turns on the camera...the fun begins:

The crafts are laid out to get the damn kids out of our hair to amuse the children:

They look amused, right?

 Others prefer to play dress up in their Aunties shoes (not mine! - too high for my back):

 While others prefer some friendly competition:

 Dinner was served promptly at whenever the hell we all managed to squeeze in at the table:

 After that, more fun in the sun with the kids and various implements:

 a friendly game of Dora Candyland is going on here:

 Camera Competitiveness:

 Time to help daddy make the whipped cream!

 Ah...the glory of the butterscotch pies can clearly be seen here:

 and as evidenced from this photo, they were ONCE AGAIN a big hit:

Others....not so lucky...

Finally, the day ends and the youngest is tricked into cleanup duty:

 and here we have the photo to wrap up the day:

The baby turns three...sniff.

Soon, all of these kids will demand I no longer blog about their birthdays.  So far there are three in this category.  I still have 8 more that I can chronicle, though. So I shall.

So...here we have the baby princess big girl, turning three years old.

This child is the youngest of four, so her language, bravado and devil may care attitude is naturally more advanced that your average three year old.

Likes: Anything Dora, anything about Princesses, putting her own clothes on, waking up mommy and daddy in the middle of the night to let them know that her 4 year old sister is asleep, and playing dress up.

Dislikes: food in general, blind obedience to anything other than her own will, having to go to bed and being told no.

She's so cute though, so she gets away with it...sometimes.

Here she is with her older, wiser, more jaded sister:

 Party games!!  Nothing like a hotly contested game of Dora Candyland to get the fun going:

 Baby Princess could wait no longer for her gifts:

 Some spontaneous showing of affection.  My camera was there:

 testing out the new prezzies:

 Brief interlude to randomly water the front bushes:

 Then it's time for some cupcakes!

 After the presents, lunch and cupcakes...the fun really began:

Here are the younger two of the four watching Cinderella (cough, yes I bought that, cough) and chillaxin with Daddy:

And a final parting shot of the party girl, who could not wait to change into the awesome jammies one of her aunties, I WON'T SAY WHO, gave her:

Chicago! A helluva town!

Last month, upon invitation to a wedding, I ventured all the way to the windy city of Chicago...but since I chose to let Killer Diller do the photo editing this time, it's taken a bit longer to get the resulting blog published.  Never again!

 The wedding was in downtown Chicago, so I headed out on a Friday night, on a half full flight, with a row of seats to myself and THIS AWESOMENESS as well:

SouthWest serves Dr Pepper!  I savored the essence as I coasted over the fly over states.  Once in Chicago, I was pleased to see that my hotel had prepared by bed in style:

Yes, that is DP - who insisted on sneaking past security and coming along.  The following photos of the hotel will not excite anyone but me, who appreciates history. Original Brass doorknobs and plates:

 Golden elevators with original clock style floor dials!  I loved getting into these elevators!

 But I digress, here is Chicago in all it's glory the following morning:

 Before heading to the wedding, I had time to explore the area a bit.  Here you see the famous "Married with Children" fountain.  I am almost positive it is actually called something else, since it dates about 100 plus years prior to Kelly Bundy.

 DP, ever the tourist, can not resist getting a shot with such a cultural icon:

 Naturally, MY PHOTO is never quite as good:

 But wither, I had to prepare for the wedding - here I am pulling one of those annoying "camera phone in the mirror" shots - how low can I go...

And finally here you see the actual reason I was in Chicago:

A gorgeous ceremony and party!  Here is the daughter of my friend and boss, who also traveled to the wedding:

 Someone, I WON'T SAY WHO, could not resist slipping in for a photo as well:

 I had 12 hours the next day to further explore the city - so I thought I'd take in the Chicago Art Institute - DP enjoyed it as well:

I pulled a "Cameron" and stared at the "Sunday in the Park" painting for awhile (look up the reference, movie heathens!):

 Here's me, proof I was actually in the museum:

Then I had to pull DP away from the "Sunday in the Park" painting, as DP was intent on finding out why the hell Cameron was obsessed with the painting:

 Time for a few more shots of downtown before heading back to the airport:

 I see statues in Chicago are just as disrespected as ones in San Francisco:

 Here's me, excited to be back on the plane, heading home, after a TWO HOUR DELAY at Midway.