Thanksgiving Week in Philly
Family, friends & WAY too much food in the
City of Brotherly Love
Marc & I managed to get away for Thanksgiving
on the Monday before, knowing we'd have some work to do from the Northeast but
still appreciating the less crowded travel day and extra time with family and
friends. While flights didn't exactly go as planned, we were very relieved to
finally pull up to my parents' house by 4AM on Tuesday morning. We LOVE
Continental Airlines!
After getting a little sleep, Tuesday began our daily ritual of visiting Grandmom at her nursing home. A woman who does not like other people to do things for her even at 92 years old, she is counting the days till her recently broken hip heals so she can get back to her own apartment. Hopefully our visits made at least a week of living there go by a little faster.
Tuesday evening was AWESOME! For our anniversary gift, Mom & Dad handed over their credit card and we experienced the unbelievably amazing Omakase (Chef's choice) menu at Morimoto -- the Iron Chef restaurant that was recently rated one of the top restaurants in the country by Gourmet Magazine! The ambiance was almost as phenomenal as the meal, too... You can sort of tell from the photo below that the booths light up, but not that they change colors throughout the evening!
Wednesday was a similar day, though we headed to the city in the afternoon for a little discount shopping (WHEN will H&M come to Austin?). Our fine dining for the evening was a throwback to high school with birthday girl Bridget and the (semi) newly engaged Erin & John:
We came weighed down with wine and piled into Erin & John's favorite tiny neighborhood Italian bistro, La Viola, to catch up on life since the last holiday brought us together.
Thanksgiving was here before we knew it! I'm proud to say I ran the Abington YMCA "Gobble Wobble" 5K in the morning, finishing at a respectable 27 minutes (2 minutes faster than last year) before Marc even had his morning coffee. Doug, Liz & their army showed up soon after, and we all went over to Grandmom's for a Thanksgiving lunch. Then we headed out to Aunt Helene & Uncle Rich's house for the smallest Thanksgiving we've had in years -- barely over 20 people! Marc & I represented all Arbittier kids, and it turned into a great opportunity to catch up with the cousins.
Liz was on veterinary call so she couldn't make it to dinner, but was at the house with her "menagerie" as Dad calls it, so we got to hang out with her, Steve and 4 of their animals for a while post-gorging. Virgil is still our favorite, but Cybill's ability to smile on cue won us over pretty quick:
Friday we ventured beyond high school and Philly and drove out to the Main Line for lunch with college friend John Mongold and his wife Sylvia. Despite Marc and Sylvia never having met and John and I drifting in and out of touch, we had a great time, talking for close to 2 hours before realizing it was time to get back to our respective suburbs. Aside from the company, Marc's favorite part of the trip was trying to pronounce the Native American inspired exits off the Blue Route. His new favorite word is Conshohocken.
Friday night we double dated with Mom & Dad, seeing "Finding Neverland," a phenomenal movie that will make even cold-hearted non-cryers (like me) and big manly men (like Marc) well up:
To and from the movie, we also came up with the idea that Mom & Dad should buy a motor home and travel around the country visiting their kids when Dad cuts his case load. I'm not sure how the movie and motor home idea relate, but I do know that we spent every non-movie moment discussing it, causing Marc & Dad to actually visit RV dealerships on Saturday morning.
After Marc & Dad got back from the RV dealerships Saturday (yes, they've picked out the perfect 30 foot Class A Motor Home (the Fourwinds Windsport:
... but no, the impulse buyers shockingly did not even put a deposit down on anything that morning), we had our final visit with Grandmom before packing up and heading in town for my high school reunion.
I'll leave the reunion to its own entry, but will sum up the rest of the Philly trip as a wonderful getaway. Marc and I got to do exactly what we wanted -- spend quality time with Grandmom, hang out with the rest of the family and old friends as much as possible, and eat great food. It's so rare that we get up North for more than a 3 day weekend with a wedding stuck in the middle of it, so this trip felt positively luxurious -- Thanks Mom & Dad especially for making it such a fun, relaxing trip!
After getting a little sleep, Tuesday began our daily ritual of visiting Grandmom at her nursing home. A woman who does not like other people to do things for her even at 92 years old, she is counting the days till her recently broken hip heals so she can get back to her own apartment. Hopefully our visits made at least a week of living there go by a little faster.
Tuesday evening was AWESOME! For our anniversary gift, Mom & Dad handed over their credit card and we experienced the unbelievably amazing Omakase (Chef's choice) menu at Morimoto -- the Iron Chef restaurant that was recently rated one of the top restaurants in the country by Gourmet Magazine! The ambiance was almost as phenomenal as the meal, too... You can sort of tell from the photo below that the booths light up, but not that they change colors throughout the evening!
Wednesday was a similar day, though we headed to the city in the afternoon for a little discount shopping (WHEN will H&M come to Austin?). Our fine dining for the evening was a throwback to high school with birthday girl Bridget and the (semi) newly engaged Erin & John:
We came weighed down with wine and piled into Erin & John's favorite tiny neighborhood Italian bistro, La Viola, to catch up on life since the last holiday brought us together.
Thanksgiving was here before we knew it! I'm proud to say I ran the Abington YMCA "Gobble Wobble" 5K in the morning, finishing at a respectable 27 minutes (2 minutes faster than last year) before Marc even had his morning coffee. Doug, Liz & their army showed up soon after, and we all went over to Grandmom's for a Thanksgiving lunch. Then we headed out to Aunt Helene & Uncle Rich's house for the smallest Thanksgiving we've had in years -- barely over 20 people! Marc & I represented all Arbittier kids, and it turned into a great opportunity to catch up with the cousins.
Liz was on veterinary call so she couldn't make it to dinner, but was at the house with her "menagerie" as Dad calls it, so we got to hang out with her, Steve and 4 of their animals for a while post-gorging. Virgil is still our favorite, but Cybill's ability to smile on cue won us over pretty quick:
Friday we ventured beyond high school and Philly and drove out to the Main Line for lunch with college friend John Mongold and his wife Sylvia. Despite Marc and Sylvia never having met and John and I drifting in and out of touch, we had a great time, talking for close to 2 hours before realizing it was time to get back to our respective suburbs. Aside from the company, Marc's favorite part of the trip was trying to pronounce the Native American inspired exits off the Blue Route. His new favorite word is Conshohocken.
Friday night we double dated with Mom & Dad, seeing "Finding Neverland," a phenomenal movie that will make even cold-hearted non-cryers (like me) and big manly men (like Marc) well up:
To and from the movie, we also came up with the idea that Mom & Dad should buy a motor home and travel around the country visiting their kids when Dad cuts his case load. I'm not sure how the movie and motor home idea relate, but I do know that we spent every non-movie moment discussing it, causing Marc & Dad to actually visit RV dealerships on Saturday morning.
After Marc & Dad got back from the RV dealerships Saturday (yes, they've picked out the perfect 30 foot Class A Motor Home (the Fourwinds Windsport:
... but no, the impulse buyers shockingly did not even put a deposit down on anything that morning), we had our final visit with Grandmom before packing up and heading in town for my high school reunion.
I'll leave the reunion to its own entry, but will sum up the rest of the Philly trip as a wonderful getaway. Marc and I got to do exactly what we wanted -- spend quality time with Grandmom, hang out with the rest of the family and old friends as much as possible, and eat great food. It's so rare that we get up North for more than a 3 day weekend with a wedding stuck in the middle of it, so this trip felt positively luxurious -- Thanks Mom & Dad especially for making it such a fun, relaxing trip!
Posted: Sun - November 28, 2004 at 12:48 AM
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Published On: Dec 13, 2004 12:57 AM
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Published On: Dec 13, 2004 12:57 AM