Thanksgiving in Melissa

This year we headed to Melissa for a long Thanksgiving weekend with Allen's family.

Wednesday night, Randy and Shelley treated Jason, Jenn, Allen, and I to a wonderful dinner out for the six of us while sitters stayed with the six kids. Thursday morning, Nana gave the kids a project to keep them busy -- they created place cards and decorations for the dinner table. (Ok...I had to join in, too.) Thanksgiving day was as quiet as can be expected with four adults and four kids, and Jason's family joined us later that evening to watch football.

Friday, instead of shopping with the rest of the world, our group headed to an indoor rock-climbing facility. It was a great way to get out of the house and be active, and I expect we will all do that again sometime. At one point this weekend, I looked up and Will's and Allen's profiles were lined up just right to show that Will has a nose and chin like Allen.

Saturday night and Sunday morning, Maddie made a birthday cake for Will. One of her cake-decorating badge requirements is to start with a sheet cake and make it into a different shape. She chose to make a Batman cake under Nana's supervision. Sunday at lunch, we celebrated Will's birthday with the creative cake.

Finding the words

Will was working on writing an essay for school that was supposed to be about a season -- he chose to write about autumn, and his essay was supposed to describe the season using all five senses. Since he was struggling to describe things clearly, Will, Ben, and I stopped at the store for some apple cider and we headed out to the nature reserve for a little stroll through the woods on a crisp autumn day.

 Below is the essay he submitted:

A Walk in the Woods

        Fall is a beautiful time to take walk in the woods. It is a gorgeous autumn evening, and when night draws near, the red-gold sunlight streams through the yellow, red, and orange leaves. Ashy, and barren, the other trees host few homes of cheeping titmice and cardinals. The dry needles cover the dry earth like a piney blanket. Walking towards the house I can smell the spicy apple cider and hear cheering on the football game. When I sit down, I enjoy my slice of sweet, pumpkiny pie. The hot fire is a very different feeling than the cold fall outside. The fall day ended peacefully. 

Watching the Farm

Will picked up this ant farm at a garage sale. We ordered ants several months ago, but they don't ship until the temperature outside is just right. I meant to take pictures when there were more ants, but I forgot to do that. Several weeks later, there are a few left, but they still build neat sand structures and they are still neat to watch.

Middle School Dance

Tonight, we were supposed to stay awake. Will went to his first dance (yes, on a Tuesday). It was a decades-theme that Venture middle school and high school were having. He dressed up as someone from the 1920s. He had a great time hanging out with friends, and even ended up helping with the clean up crew since he rode home with the Carliles who were also helping. That meant he got home late -- Allen and I had both fallen asleep watching TV, but we really did TRY to stay up. I am so thankful for friends who don't mind taking the late shift for the 30-minute drive home from the dance. I am even more thankful for a great group of friends with whom Will can have fun!

I am not really sure how the moments snuck up on us like they did. Sometimes it seems like just a few days ago that I was up every three hours feeding a little toe-headed baby...or tucking him in with his fuzzy white bear... or wiping his nose. Now? Now... I fall asleep waiting for him to come home from a dance. And that makes me feel a bit (ahem) old. I am not sure I am ready for that part.

TAMS Twentieth

I had been looking forward to our 20th high school reunion for a long time because I was part of the planning team. Saturday morning I was almost queasy with nervousness -- not because I was afraid of seeing people, but because I was afraid my expectations for a good time were too high to meet.

Was I ever wrong -- we had a BLAST! Our kids had a good time visiting our old dorm. Parts of it are unchanged after 20 years, but some parts had been updated. Randy and Shelley took the kids with them and they went to play at Top Golf. Allen and I walked through campus and had lunch with other alumni at a tasty pizza place on Fry Street across from campus. After we took another scenic route back to the dorm where we parked, we visited with Allen's crowd and some current students -- comparing activities and the ways TAMS has changed. It was an interesting conversation that lasted until we were too cold to stay. We headed to the hotel to check in and sat in the dining area with friends until we had to head to the restaurant a little bit early to set up.

Our main reunion event was dinner at Hula Hut, owned by a Chrissy's parents (Chrissy is one of my best buddies from our class at TAMS. We still keep in touch). There was lots of visiting and silly photos and catching up in ways Facebook doesn't help. I took an easy way out and posted myself as the greeter. That was my way of visiting with EVERYone for at least a few minutes, but not getting stressed about not being able to hear over the crowd. The photo booth was a fun ice-breaker, but then people piled in for pictures that were recreating old photos (like I did with my friends).

We headed back to the hotel around 10:30 and drove several others back to the hotel with us. Around 11:30pm, the games began at the hotel -- Spades, 42, 7 Wonders, and Cards against humanity. We filled the lobby with a bunch of nerds playing games -- just like life at the dorm 20 years earlier. The hotel bar was open for awhile so there were some toasts and we had snacks left over from the earlier events to keep us from getting hungry as we played for several hours.

Sunday morning came too early -- well, we were up well INTO the morning. Allen and I and our group of gamers played CodeNames until four...thirty...AM. (I was really glad I hadn't been drinking as I can't imagine dealing with that AND no sleep.) Allen and I slept for a few hours, then we went to Kyle Holmes's home for a late-morning brunch. Some people were there who couldn't make it to earlier events and it was a great chance to catch up some more. The two of us headed out a bit early for the drive back to Melissa to get the kiddos who had a great weekend golfing and playing with Nana and Papa.

I really can't put into words what a wonderful time Allen and I had. It isn't that we felt young again, but it was delightful to pick up where we left off with friendships. So many of us have traveled such different lives, but we had just enough in common to enjoy our time together this weekend!

Quotes:
Dad, why did that guy have a duct tape nametag that said "Harf"? --Will, referring to Mitch
This was the most real event of the weekend (referring to the TAMSters overtaking the hotel dining area and playing games until 4:30am) -- several of us said this
I am really glad you went to TAMS, too, so I don't have to explain to my wife why I am coming to bed at 4:30 in the morning. -- Allen

Edward Boyden was not at our reunion though he graduated form TAMS with us. I can't say that I remember him being at any of the previous reunions, but our class enjoyed congratulating him on a big award he got this weekend -- a Breakthrough Prize in Life Science "for the development and implementation of optogenetics – the programming of neurons to express light-activated ion channels and pumps, so that their electrical activity can be controlled by light."

From the press release:(San Francisco - November 8, 2015) – The Breakthrough Prize and its founders Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki (Google), Jack Ma and Cathy Zhang, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan (Facebook), tonight announced the recipients of the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics. A combined total of $21.9 million was awarded at the 3rd Annual Breakthrough Prize Awards Ceremony in Silicon Valley.“By challenging conventional thinking and expanding knowledge over the long term, scientists can solve the biggest problems of our time,” said Mark Zuckerberg. “The Breakthrough Prize honors achievements in science and math so we can encourage more pioneering research and celebrate scientists as the heroes they truly are.”

Overall, it was an AMAZING weekend, and I know we all enjoyed being able to say, "We knew Ed way back when..."

Cooking with Nana

...Just capturing a picture of Will [being silly and] cooking with Nana.