T+1 day
posted by Gavin | 11:50 AM
So we're now on the day after Thanksgiving. It's snowing right now, we received two or three inches last night. I miss snow terribly.
On Wednesday Jen and I drove up to my parents, braving the T-1 day traffic madness in Houston. Many of our friends tried the same. Nick spent three hours moving about 50 miles and realized he probably wasn't going to get to Oklahoma before Thanksgiving at that rate. We switched to Hwy 59 and took a back way into my parents which worked great. In fact, we may use it all the time since I-45 is supposed to have a lot of construction over the next three years.
My parents had a great dinner for us. Dad had just flown in from a work meeting in South America, Mom had made some great beef burgandy and side dishes to go along with it. It was all quite splendid... except for the oddly uncooked and seasoned green beans which we experimented with. Well, it's good to try new stuff. :) Just not this time.
Then it was to bed for the travellers, waking up on T-0 day at 4am. It felt very early. It felt like I didn't have much to be thankful for. Then I rolled over and snuggled with Jen for a bit, rose from bed and got dressed, and wandered out into my kitchen where my parents were up and milling about. I decided I did have a lot to be thankful for after all. After breakfast and some more chit-chat, it was into the car and to the airport. Travelling to Casper was fine, no problems. No delays. We left Houston at 0625 central and arrived in Casper at 1000 mountain after switching planes in Denver. Pretty good, actually.
Ben picked us up and drove us to their house in the foothills overlooking the town. Sandy and Jen chatted upstairs while Ben and I snoozed in the basement with the NFL on TV. Around 2pm Pat and Jessica and Caroline arrived. She's gained 2 pounds since we last saw her! (Caroline, that is.) That's a 20% increase in weight. Babies are pretty incredible. And she's very cute. She can lie on her stomach and push herself up with her arms so she can look around. She doesn't yet have the knees working in tandem, but I think she might be crawling within another month. Two at the most, maybe.
Pat brought over his other baby, the PC, and linked it up with the computers here so three at a time can play against each other. Then Jason and his girlfriend Ruth arrived, and much fun was had by all with the multiplayer games Battlefield 1942 and Star Wars Battlefront.
Then I decided to try to get Jen's laptop up and running in the network, so 4 could play at once! Alas, the laptop apparently did not survive the trip from Houston unscathed. I plugged it into the wall, saw the LED light up indicating it had power, and then pushed the power button. Nothing. Nada. 15 minutes of this, no luck. :/ Jen is bummed, she was really enjoying the laptop. Hopefully it's just an easy fix. It's still under warranty if we have to send it back... but this is the second time we'd have to send it back.
There wasn't much time to dwell on computer mayhem. Pat's parents arrived and then it was time for turkey, mashed 'tatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Very good. Some more game playing, some more baby watching, and then people went home and slept.
To wake up to a snowy Friday. I like coming back to the Rocky Mountains for holidays. It's sort of ironic, when Jen and I were kids living in Casper we both figured this was the last place we'd want to live. Small town, not too much to do, etc. Now we both find that we miss it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
On Wednesday Jen and I drove up to my parents, braving the T-1 day traffic madness in Houston. Many of our friends tried the same. Nick spent three hours moving about 50 miles and realized he probably wasn't going to get to Oklahoma before Thanksgiving at that rate. We switched to Hwy 59 and took a back way into my parents which worked great. In fact, we may use it all the time since I-45 is supposed to have a lot of construction over the next three years.
My parents had a great dinner for us. Dad had just flown in from a work meeting in South America, Mom had made some great beef burgandy and side dishes to go along with it. It was all quite splendid... except for the oddly uncooked and seasoned green beans which we experimented with. Well, it's good to try new stuff. :) Just not this time.
Then it was to bed for the travellers, waking up on T-0 day at 4am. It felt very early. It felt like I didn't have much to be thankful for. Then I rolled over and snuggled with Jen for a bit, rose from bed and got dressed, and wandered out into my kitchen where my parents were up and milling about. I decided I did have a lot to be thankful for after all. After breakfast and some more chit-chat, it was into the car and to the airport. Travelling to Casper was fine, no problems. No delays. We left Houston at 0625 central and arrived in Casper at 1000 mountain after switching planes in Denver. Pretty good, actually.
Ben picked us up and drove us to their house in the foothills overlooking the town. Sandy and Jen chatted upstairs while Ben and I snoozed in the basement with the NFL on TV. Around 2pm Pat and Jessica and Caroline arrived. She's gained 2 pounds since we last saw her! (Caroline, that is.) That's a 20% increase in weight. Babies are pretty incredible. And she's very cute. She can lie on her stomach and push herself up with her arms so she can look around. She doesn't yet have the knees working in tandem, but I think she might be crawling within another month. Two at the most, maybe.
Pat brought over his other baby, the PC, and linked it up with the computers here so three at a time can play against each other. Then Jason and his girlfriend Ruth arrived, and much fun was had by all with the multiplayer games Battlefield 1942 and Star Wars Battlefront.
Then I decided to try to get Jen's laptop up and running in the network, so 4 could play at once! Alas, the laptop apparently did not survive the trip from Houston unscathed. I plugged it into the wall, saw the LED light up indicating it had power, and then pushed the power button. Nothing. Nada. 15 minutes of this, no luck. :/ Jen is bummed, she was really enjoying the laptop. Hopefully it's just an easy fix. It's still under warranty if we have to send it back... but this is the second time we'd have to send it back.
There wasn't much time to dwell on computer mayhem. Pat's parents arrived and then it was time for turkey, mashed 'tatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Very good. Some more game playing, some more baby watching, and then people went home and slept.
To wake up to a snowy Friday. I like coming back to the Rocky Mountains for holidays. It's sort of ironic, when Jen and I were kids living in Casper we both figured this was the last place we'd want to live. Small town, not too much to do, etc. Now we both find that we miss it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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