We Now Resume Our Regular Programming. . .

A few days off, a lot of cooking, some company, and a good time was had by all.  And now we resume our regular programming. . . .

Okay, there was a lot more to it than that!  It just seems like so much has happened in the last week. . .where do I begin????

On Monday afternoon, my dad arrived.  Pat picked him and Aidan up and we all met back at the house for a nice evening of homemade chicken noodle soup, corn bread and some quiet time talking in front of the TV.  We hadn't seen dad for a year and a half, so it was fun to see him watch Aidan and notice all of the changes that have occurred with him. 

Tuesday and Wednesday, I had Aidan in school just half days.  We did some prep- work on cooking both days: brined my turkey; made the pie; made the mashed potatoes and whipped sweet potatoes. . .funny thing about the brine this year.  I had ordered, as I always do, the brine mix from Williams Sonoma in October.  It was not on backorder.  And then it was, about two weeks later.  They shipped it on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving!!!  So, I made my own mix. . .and got rave reviews!  So. . .although this brine mix I ordered will arrive this coming week, I may reserve it for not so special occasions.

Thanksgiving Day arrived cooler than it had been for a few days, so while I finished preparing our feast--add in the Gingered Carrots, Peas and Gravy. . .not to mention roasting the bird!, we started a fire.  That is where the guests: Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt B and UB, Grandpa Dave, and Daddy and Aidan (not actually guests, but keeping them company) could be found while sipping pre-dinner drinks and eating the baked brie and other cheeses I had set out.

The table was beautiful and Aidan and Maggie helped me take pictures of it. . .

This was actually our fourth Thanksgiving Day with Aidan, although only our third at home.  But, I am really loving this day and the memories it holds.  We didn't have any caviar, but I'm just glad we didn't have any beef tongue on our table this year!

After dinner, every thing was cleaned up and put away so neatly!  Sofia came on Friday to clean the house and we made ourselves scarce by going into D. C. to take in a museum.

Aidan has loved the Night at the Museum series for a while now and it's really nice that we can actually take him to the museums shown in the second movie.  We headed out about 10 am and stopped for a late breakfast, early lunch at Anitas--a local Mexican restaurant.  They have awesome breakfast burritoes.  We should have taken the Metro, but decided to drive all the way in only to find that we could not find a parking spot anywhere.  Everyone else in creation had decided to take in the museums as well--they are free. . .gotta love the Smithsonians!

After driving around for an incredibly long time, we decided to go on up past the Capital and find a place to park and take a short Metro train ride back in.  We parked near a dear old family friends former house and hopped on at Eastern Market.  A few stations later, we were at the Smithsonian station and came up on the Mall.  Perfect!!  Why didn't we think of that before???

Aidan on his first train ride. . .okay he was scared at first, but he settled down to really loving it!

Onward to the Museum of Natural History, which was crowded beyond belief, and where Aidan displayed the kind of interest a Mother usually only dreams of.  Seriously!!  The boy was fascinated with everything.  He wanted to see the Octopus from the movie, and loved them all including the Giant Squid. . .he wanted to see Rexie, and loved all the others as well. . .he saw some butterflies and other creepy flying things and bugs (must go back and take him to the live butterfly exhibit!). . .and we even saw some bones excavated at the Jamestown Settlement, which he really wanted to spend more time looking at.  After about an hour and a half--and we hadn't even seen half of the this ONE museum, Aidan was pretty ready to go--it had been an exhausting few days and he was starting to get tired.  I definitely think we'll be heading back down there, though, during our time off after Christmas.  It was fun and I think Aidan will enjoy seeing even more.  Wonder what he'll think of the Air and Space Museum????

After we got back to the Metro we headed back to the Eastern Market Station.  On the way up the escalator, Aidan said he was thirsty so we decided to stop in at Mr. Henry's pub, which is located on Pennsylvania Avenue.  If you haven't heard of this one before, it is where Roberta Flack got her start.  Not much of a place, but it is comfortable and the people are very nice there.  Some drinks and homemade cheese fries and we were ready to head home. 

But first, we decided to stop in front of Joe's old house to get a picture of his namesake (Aidan Josef) in front of it:

We miss you Joe!  God rest your soul. . . .

Leftovers for dinner and we all hit the hay early. . .

Dad left on Saturday to head up to see Aunty Amy, Uncle Todd, Kendall and Tyler in Chicago.  But, first, there were hugs and tears as Aidan told Grandpa Dave he didn't want him to leave. . .

Seriously. . .Aidan ran out of the house with tears streaming and threw himself at Dad as we were getting into the car to go!  Heartwarming. . .

When I got home, Daddy and Aidan were putting the tree together in the Living Room and had gotten all of the Christmas boxes out.  Okay!   Thanksgiving is done, now we're on to Christmas!

It's all good. . .