The Month of December and the Holidays

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I noticed that this is our first blog post since December 5.  That makes sense.  It was a long month of traveling.  Right after our last blog post, Rachel went to Israel for 10 days.  She traveled with Grandma and Papa to go to a wedding and see some family.

She was home for 5 days after returning before we drove to Tucson to visit Zayde.  There we got to spend time with Zayde as well as Uncle Ron and Aunt Kelly.  We had a nice time seeing everyone.  Our hosts made paella for us again.  Evan and Noah really enjoyed it.

Six days after returning, we flew to Denver, CO where we then went to the Winter Park ski resort.  We were there for two full days and parts of two others.  We had a nice time skiing and tubing.  Rachel's cousin Gila, her husband Joel, and daughter Alma drove in from Denver one day to visit with us.

After one working day at home, I flew to Richmond, VA for work.  I hadn't been in a while and it was important that I get in the office for a week.  It was a good set of days where I think we accomplished quite a lot.

I flew home yesterday.  I took Evan to TRPD for a meeting about his team's trip to Omaha in June for a tournament.  Then Evan had a coach's meeting.  He'll be coaching the younger teams again this season.

Today, Evan went over to Reid's to draw up plays for his flag football team.  He got a ride with Reid and his family.

Rachel and I went out and watched Evan's game.  Evan is quarterback half the time.  He led the team on one touchdown drive.  The defense was good and before Evan could really get back out to quarterback, the mercy rule had come into effect and the other team played on offense the rest of the game since Evan's team was winning by more than 30.  Evan seemed to have fun despite the game not being competitive.

For dinner, we went with Grandma and Papa to Maudie's.  We had tried to go to Via 313 but it was really crowded.

Rachel is now making lunches for the week, Evan is doing homework and Noah is on the Playstation.

Until next time...

Colorado

We just got back from Colorado.  We had a wonderful time.  Here's what we did each day.

December 20
We woke up at 2:45am and left the house at 3:15am.  We had a 5:30am flight to Denver.

After arriving in Denver around 7am, we had breakfast at a diner near the airport.  Then, we drove the 3+ hours to Steamboat Springs.  The drive was very pretty with snow and mountains.

We arrived at our condo and waited for the Edwards (Chad, Susie, Josh, and Karenna) family to join us.   Then, we all went to the mountain take care of ski rentals.

For dinner, we ate downtown.

December 21
We took the free shuttle bus and arrived to the mountain around 9am.  The kids, Chad, and Susie took ski lessons all day.  Morry skied on his own and met him for lunch.   Everyone had a good time.

For dinner, we at an an Italian place downtown.  We were seated at the bar and were able to watch them make pizza and other dishes.

December 22
Everyone skied.   We stopped for lunch and then kept skiing.  We finished the day on a blue (intermediate) slope.

For dinner, the kids ate in the condo while the adults went out to eat dinner on our own.  We had a nice time.

December 23
The Edwards left for California and we made the drive to Denver.

We met Marchin and his girlfriend Tara for dinner at Phoenician Grill.   It was very good Mediterranean food.  At the end of dinner, the belly dancer pulled Evan up to dance with her.  He was a good sport.

From there, we got a tour of Denver.  We went to Marchin's video studio and then we drove and walked around downtown Denver.  We ice skated at a free rink outdoors.  It only cost $2 for skate rental.

December 24
We went to Washington Park in the morning.  We were looking for a park near our hotel and ended up there.  It was a very pretty park with a pond and bike/walking trail.

At 1pm we went to Gila's place.  We hung out with them during the afternoon.  We planned to go to a beer garden for lunch but it was closed.  We ended up eating at Einstein's Bagels because it was one of the only options open.

Gila has a daughter, Alma, who is 10 years old.  The kids played very well together.

Gila and her husband have a chocolate company, Dar Chocolates.  They showed us how they make the bean-to-bar chocolate and then we got to sample some chocolates too.  They were all very good.

At night, we went to a Hanukkah party at one of Gila's friend's house.  We had a nice time.    We stayed at the house until around 11pm.

December 25
We flew back home.  Everything worked out well.

When we got in, Morry and I walked to Grandma and Papa's house to pick up Lizzy.  Aunt Diane and Uncle Jay were there, so we spent some time hanging out there.

For dinner the kids wanted to go to Buffet Palace.  It was open and very busy.

After dinner, we stopped by Grandma and Papa's to pick up Lizzy's food bag and light Hanukkah candles.

Now the boys are getting ready for bed.

Here are some pictures: