Happy Thanksgiving

Well we survived the trip north to Washington. In fact the first night we left we stayed in a luxuriously appointed Holiday Inn Express and were greeted with a wonderful surprise!

After a particularly stressful departure from the large city just north of Mexico, the babies were smelling very stockyard-like so we decided to give them a bath. Being quite odoriferous myself, I just took the kids, one at a time, in the shower with me. The hotel was brand new and had one of those giant shower heads. The kids loved it and soon gained a level of relaxation similar to that of Raggedy Ann. We put them to bed and melted into the wonderful pillow-top mattress.

The next morning Mary & I both woke up at about the same time. The clock read 6:00 am... what the hell??? Surely housekeeping snuck into the room in the middle of the night, all commando like, and set our clocks ahead 4 hours. Groggily we each asked the other if they had gotten up in the middle of the night and fed the babies, letting the other sleep. To our amazement, neither of us were so kind.

Hallelujah! They just slept through the night, and we had both just simultaneously slept for more than 6 hours in one shot. We felt 18 again! We were certain that this was a fluke... whether it was a cruel joke or a benevolent act of God this was surely a one time thing...

Knock on wood, to this day they have slept through the night every night since... thank you!

So after a couple days in SF visiting friends and family we made it up to Washington. After packing for a few days we picked up Dalton and hopped on the plane... piece of cake.

Mary and I make it a point to never remark on the kids’ good behavior in front of them. Invariably they do a 180 and prove us wrong. But, since they can’t read yet allow me to brag...

All three kids were little angels the entire flight out - no fussing, complaining, vomiting, explosive diarrhea, nothing... just sleeping and good manners. I was amazed!

Thanksgiving was wonderful, the weather was perfect, the food delicious and the family football game - eye opening. We had ourselves a little 3 on 3 football game and I have never felt older. Back in the day (17 years ago) I was the man... one of the fastest and strongest studmuffins in the state and captain of the football team. But on this balmy Thanksgiving afternoon I resembled a shorter, hairier Jerry Lewis. Arms and legs flailing about as I tried to chase down guys 12 years my younger. My lungs burned and my diaphragm became a snare drum... but it was nothing a little L-tryptophan overdose wouldn’t cure... I guess I can finally scrap those dreams of playing for the Bears.

We had the kids baptized in Mary’s childhood church. It was very cool, and neither of them freaked out. Although the process of getting 15 people somewhere at the same time in the morning was quite entertaining...