It was an extended celebration full of family and relaxing fun. On Tuesday, David drove down to Falls Church, VA, with a whole car full of Thanksgiving dinner makings, overnight bags, and such. He arrived that afternoon and had a chance to babysit little William Haoren while Weina went to a doctor's appointment.
Kathy came along by train after work, arriving around 7:30 pm. We had a nice dinner with Weina and Matt. Kathy pulled the short straw for Tuesday night, so she pulled the midnight shift to feed little William and give Weina a chance to get some much-needed sleep.
On Wednesday, Kathy and I took Bubu for a walk over to the Eden Center, a shopping center next door with lots of Vietnamese shops, and got our usual Vietnamese coffees, then strolled back to Oakwood where the kids live. That day, we all focused on giving William lots of stimulation. Kathy took Weina grocery shopping while David babysat, then David drove Weina to do some other shopping while Kathy babysat. Matt had to work all day. Here's William enjoying a little tummy time:
Wednesday night we enjoyed a quiet dinner at Matt and Weina's apartment. We rented our own apartment on a lower floor in their building so that whichever of us wasn't pulling "baby duty" could sleep in comfort, but most of our waking time was spent at M&W's.
Thanksgiving was a very sunny day. David had pulled baby duty that previous night, so Kathy was able to get up early and put our 22 lb. (!) turkey into our oven to start baking it for the party later that afternoon. The turkey came out of the oven -- a beauty! --
-- and we all took our dishes over to the party. Matt prepared a cornbread dressing (YUM!). Kathy's favorite dish at the party was the pumpkin orange cheesecake with caramel pecan sauce (she stole David's favorite), and David's was Matt's cornbread stuffing. Over 75 people from Matt's agency showed up at the commons room at their apartment complex, and all brought potluck contributions. There was far too much to eat: we had FOUR turkeys and one of them didn't even get carved. We sat at a table with a friend of Matt's named Charlie, his girlfriend from MIT, and Charlie's mom. Charlie is going to a pretty remote country and is spending his time between now and his leave-taking learning an exotic language - similar to Matt's current training in a world language. William enjoyed the party by sleeping through all the uproar and generally taking in stride all the admiring comments. We're not sure how many kids attended, but it looked like maybe 15-20 kids.
Friday dawned early as usual with William wide awake at 6:30 (as usual) and all of us convening at 7:00 am for breakfast. Matt had to work. Kathy had nighttime baby duty the previous night. After our daily trip for Vietnamese coffee, Kathy and David prepared for Kathy's brother Steve, his wife Lea Ann, and their 5-year-old Ryan to visit for a Mexican birthday lunch for Kathy in our apartment. Ryan loves Bubu and spent the whole visit chasing Bubu around the apartment. The feeling was NOT mutual. However, after a little lunch (here's an action shot) --
-- David took Ryan and Bubu our on a long walk to a park and rails-to-trails path near M&W's apartment complex. Both Ryan and Bubu did great, and Ryan held the leash the whole way! We found a small stream and Ryan succeeded in throwing at least 15 stones into and across the creek without getting his new shoes soaked. Matt got home from work in time to see Ryan & parents.
We all went baby shopping for William, after which Weina & Matt took us out for Kathy's birthday dinner, and we went to her favorite Falls Church area restaurant, Tommy Thai. The food is very tasty. Weina had to feed William just as we arrived, but little William gave her peace and we had a wonderful, quiet dinner. The waitress overheard Kathy mentioning her birthday and brought out a surprise birthday cake for Kathy!
David pulled nightly baby duty Friday night. Saturday, we all enjoyed a quiet day at home with Matt & Weina. David took them shopping. Before dinner, Matt, Kathy and David went to buy some beer at an AMAZING beer deli in Falls Church and picked up some scrumptious peanut butter ice cream. Since Weina stayed home with William, she got hers with a waffle cone and I'm sure enjoyed eating it in front of the rest of us after we had finished ours.
That evening, Katie joined us by Skype and had a chance to coo at her little nephew. Maggie was on the video call too, so all of us had a chance to completely confuse Maggie about where those voices, calling her name, were coming from.
Katie had had a nice Thanksgiving at home with roommates and friends. She roasted a superb turkey:
-- and, given the scrumptious onion soup Katie made for us when we visited her earlier in November, we really wished we'd had a chance to sample that turkey too.
Today is Sunday. We all got up early (Kathy handled nightly feeding) and started the day with tomatoes and scrambled eggs (Matt cooked). Weina & Matt had a brunch scheduled with Charlie and his girlfriend (see above), and we wanted to beat the holiday traffic, so we left early. Even as long as it was, it was all too short a visit. We picked a route home that avoided all the congestion on US 95, driving up through Gettysburg instead. Now we're at home, we've finished our chores and are just hanging out, enjoying a little of the beer we bought in Falls Church, and watching a little football. Go Eagles!
