Return from Hiatus - Anniversary

Authors are entitled to an extended hiatus once or twice every nine years or so.  Now that I'm back, it's time to share to share our favorites from the past few months.

Ashley and Tate surprised us on our anniversary with breakfast in bed.  Ashley even brewed decaf coffee for me!  It was such a sweet way to celebrate a milestone anniversary for us.

Next year, may we be free

Free from the quarantine that keeps us in our homes.

Not quite what the rabbis were talking about when they put those words to paper, eh?

Tradition.... tradition!

From Fiddler on the Roof.... can you hear it?  Tradition!  Now that we are home more often, there's more opportunity to reach back in time to see what our ancestors might have cooked or done on the weekends.

In the first image, it's clear that I'm reaching back far before most of my NY relatives, maybe even back to the old country, because luckily for my American ancestors, NY challah is a given.  Challah in our town?  Our state?  It's sweet enough to be dessert.  Yuck.

early April

mid-April

mid-April

early May - clearly quarantine has improved my baking skills

early May

And the new observance we tried one evening:

The kids are clear about one thing:  the challah can stay.

Family Affair

We travelled to NY for a big family affair: Frannie's milestone birthday! It involved multiple wardrobe changes:  bathing suits, real suits, dresses, hair dos, etc.  And we also got to spend time with family. 

Thanksgiving 2019

One more critical post before 2019 comes to a close:  Thanksgiving.  This was a record-breaking year:  three tables of family and friends (27 people in all, for those who are counting). 

What did it take to pull this off?

• 3 three sets of china, with many thanks to MLG for schlepping MLGG's set all the way from NY
• two turkeys on 1 pellet smoker
• 12 carnival squash
• 6 bags of dried bread (for stuffing)
• enough butter to make a cardiologist faint
• the right crowd to make it all worth the effort

Here are some fun photos from the meal:

Special thanks to MLD, Nicole and everyone who pitched in to make this evening a success!

Life is a Highway

Life is a highway...and we were riding it all summer long.  

So long in fact, that the Honda rolled over mile 100,000 on the Mass Pike not too long ago.  We couldn't get out of the car to dance around it, so we did the next best thing:

Dance around in it!

Here's to another 100,000 miles with the Honda, looking forward to the next odyssey we can dream up for it.

Happy 30th Birthday!

A treasured member of the family turned 30 years old in May, and here's a hint:  it's neither person in the photo, but the attractive car in the photo!

Happy birthday, little red coupe!  You provided MLD with heart thumpin' racing excitement:

Bragging rights when it comes to towing capacities:

And have given MLP carefree mornings (and many afternoons) to and from Anna's Bakery.

Here's to many more years of happy motoring!

Family Gathering

We celebrated Noah's arrival with many family and friends: