Jump

A lot has happened since my last post almost two weeks ago. I left lake effect snow the Saturday before Thanksgiving to drive down to Maryland for Tricia's birthday celebration, which was a lot of fun. Then, on Sunday, a bunch of us went to the newly reopened Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

We didn't get to see the restored and reinstalled Star Spangled Banner because the line was way too long, as you can see here:

The new Lincoln exhibit and the First Ladies' exhibit are not open yet, but I am sure that we will see it all over the next few months. This is part of the collection of Civil War/Lincoln stuff--to my left is what is left of a tree that was outside of the Spotsylvania courthouse during the Civil War:

We did get to see some of the quilt collection:

We also saw the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, the Puffy Shirt from Seinfeld, and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. The highlight of everyone's afternoon was riding the elevator with R2D2:

On Monday, I flew to Kansas to spend Thanksgiving with my family (McKenna stayed at the "spa" in Maryland). We had both sides of the family for dinner on Tuesday night because we spent Thanksgiving day at St. Timothy's. On Wednesday, though, Mother of Ken had to cook a turkey the size of Pluto that wouldn't even fit into the roasting pan for us to take to the church the next day. Those of you who know Immediate Family of Ken know that we do not eat turkey on Thanksgiving--we usually eat beef (steak, tenderloin, etc.). Turkeys are a pain, they kind of smell, and we don't like it enough to go to the trouble. This year, we were cooking a turkey for the community dinner at St. Timothy's, so at least it was for a good cause. We also made ten pounds of mashed potatoes.

Early on Thursday morning, we loaded the truck with "turkey lurkey" as Mother of Ken called the beast, a giant pot o' potatoes, twelve dozen dinner rolls, most of Brother of Ken's clothing, my luggage, and Mother and Father of Ken's overnight bags and we headed to Iola, Kansas. Donning our aprons, we spent the day serving turkey, gravy, potatoes, green beans, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls, and dessert to anyone who came through the doors and we also sent several dinners out for delivery. We lost count of how many meals we served, but it was a lot and everyone had a lovely day.

After we cleaned everything, we drove to Kansas City to spend the night before I had to fly back to the east coast on Friday. We had reservations for a late dinner at McCormick and Schmick's on the Plaza, which was delicious. It was so nice after a long day to have wine and cocktails with bruschetta before dinner, which was fish for Father and Brother of Ken and coconut shrimp and salad for Ken and Mother of Ken, followed by a dessert of pecan pie and chocolate mousse with berries.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw this light and music display:

This shows Carol of the Bells, but there were several other songs (including, to my great joy, part of Van Halen's "Jump"!)

After doing a little early morning Black Friday shopping, I flew back to Maryland to spring McKenna from the "spa" and we drove back to New York on Saturday.

McKenna and I hope that you all had a Thanksgiving as nice as ours was.