Thanksgiving trip to Little Rock

Sam, Maggie and I drove down to Little Rock for Thanksgiving.  I hadn't seen Milly and Rich for 2 years-Covid again.  We had a nice relaxing time, didn't go anywhere just in case.  I made all of the Thanksgiving dinner (including turkey) and took it all with us.  It really did make it an easy trip

Sam's Thanksgiving dinner plate

We went for a walk down by the river, it was a beautiful day

Maggie posing on the hay bale

I love these trees

New Year 2021

We woke up to freezing rain for the first day of the new year, let's hope this isn't an omen!!!!  I love it when the trees are encased in ice, I don't think it hurts them luckily.  We were lucky that the ground wasn't frozen and it was all gone in the late morning

We had dinner at Ben's condo, I made chili and took it over there.  He's not quite ready to cater a dinner party yet!!!  It was snowing then we got there, I tried to get a picture, but you can't really tell.  I'm very excited that he has this redbud outside his back deck

We took a bunch of games over, but only played Jenga before dinner.  It's a family favourite, we usually play with Jan and Julie when we go there.  Maggie is the champion, but wasn't on her game this time

Eating first "formal" dinner at the new table and chairs.....

Christmas 2020

I think a lot of families would say they had more gifts than usual this year, we certainly did.  Not sure if it's a result of boredom and online ordering, overcompensation for lack of social interaction, or extra funds for not eating out etc.  Regardless, we seem to have a lot this year and I didn't get much for anyone else since we aren't seeing anyone this year.....

Ben wanted to open the bag from Arline first, she bought him these Harry Potter pajamas

Ben was in charge of distribution (as usual!)

Jan and Julie got Ben a bunch of "new house stuff" this year

I finally got Sam's Beatles magnets from Liverpool framed-after 2 years!!!!!

Maggie got her usual "things to keep Maggie occupied" gifts a.k.a. "what will keep Maggie off her phone" gifts.  So far, they are not working-mostly because we got her a new phone!!!!!

Gift of the day-Jan and Julie got a Ben a kitchen book, has recipes but also pointers for starting off on your own, was a great idea

We had beef tenderloin for dinner-still staying away from the turkey

Ben wanted apple pie

I even moved my office up into Ben's room so we could eat at the dining table

Thanksgiving 2020

As with most people (hopefully) our Thanksgiving was very quiet this year.  We were going to have turkey (Ben wanted to give it a go and hope he'd outgrown his allergy), but the fresh turkey breast that I bought smelled very suspicious, so I returned it and we had beef tenderloin that Sam cooked on the grill.  I made everyone's favourite food-Ben wanted green beans, Sam wanted brussels, Maggie wanted mac and cheese and I made twice baked potatoes just because we hadn't had them in ages.  Then we had a chocolate stout cake with chocolate sauce that was always on Maggie's wish list when she was much younger!!!!  It was a pretty good day, although even quieter than our regular holidays are

Bah humbug.....and some of it is gone.....

December 27 and I had nothing to do. So, I look around and decide that I might as well take the tree down. I had bought it before Thanksgiving, so it was pretty old and dry already.  I had everything taken down before the kids even got out of bed!!!!!

Everything back to normal....

However, even thought I took the tree down, there are holiday ornaments that stay up in the house all year round.  I figure if you like them that much, why store them in boxes for 11 months of the year?  Marie and I each got one of these when we were in St Charles years ago.  My one Halloween ornament that stays on the windowsill all year

I have a lot of Christmas ornaments that stay out all year, and I realize that most of them are from Garden Heights!!!!  I originally bought the yellow snowman for Jan and Julie, but it never left my possession.  I bought the reindeer this year

We first saw these figures on a wreath at the Botanical Gardens

The Ukrainian Santa came home with us when we got Ben

Boxing Day 2018

The good weather continues, so we went over to the zoo for a short visit.  There weren't as many people there as  I thought there might be.  I'm sure some people are back at work already and others would think it was too cold to be outside!!!  All the better for us!!!!
The nice thing about going in the penguin house in Winter is that the temperature difference isn't as great, it is much more bearable.

The giraffes have successfully eaten the bark off the trees in their enclosure, so they have started on the ones next door-that is what the long necks are for after all!!!!!

We spent quite a bit of time in the bird house (warmer) and the kookaburra entertained us with its song

We went to The Boathouse for lunch.  It is a great setting for lunch, but it was taken over recently and isn't as good as it used to be,  Still nice to all be together

Ben found a Lime scooter to ride, it's become his latest obsession.....

A walk in the park.......

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to go and take a walk in Forest Park. Actually, I thought there would be way more people than there were, it was nice to wander around with not too many people.  We really don't go to Forest Park anything like as often as we should, and definitely don't go that much in the Winter.  We parked up by the Jewel Box and there was no one around there at all

This is the best picture I could get of the family-Ben's usual scowl, Sam goofing with his glasses!!!!

Trees-I drive everyone crazy with my random pictures

We walked down to the Grand Basin

Maggie-always smiling

Sam and Me!!!!

Ben and Jane trip to England 2018, Day 14

Marie, Ben and I went up to Chester to visit Rich and Jude (and Sophie, of course!!).  Rich met us and we went into Chester for the afternoon. 
Ben and I standing in the middle of Chester

We walked around the walls.  I love walled cities and walking the old walls.  Rich said he had never walked around the walls before.  Chester's wall was originally a turf wall built by the Romans, but has been improved on over time.  It is still the most complete Roman and medieval wall in Britain. 

Cowper House was built in 1664

Chester Castle-started in 1070 and built onto over the years

Ben and Rich

Ruins of St. John's church

Chester city center

Chester cathedral

Chester city center

Eastgate clock

Marie in the park

Marie and Rich

Archway in Grosvenor Park