Louisiana - Xmas - Dec 2013

Christmas Tree at Shawna's Mom's House

We planned to visit Shawna's mom the first weekend in December to celebrate an early Christmas since we were traveling over Christmas and New Year's.  Shawna was supposed to fly in on Thursday night to spend Friday with her mom before Keith arrived on Friday night.  Due to snow storms in Dallas, Shawna was rerouted and flew in on Friday, arriving mid-day and Keith never made it.  The airline had him on a flight arriving Saturday evening and since he would be there for less than 24 hours and then stuck there because the flight home would have been canceled, we decided it best that he stay put in Denver. So, Keith caught up on work while Shawna visited her family.

When Shawna arrived on Friday, her mom picked her up at the airport in Alexandria.  The weather was pretty nasty so they drove home instead of going out shopping.  On Friday and Saturday, Shawna helped her mom cook some of the dishes as her mom was planning on having 16 people over for lunch on Sunday.  She also cooked a gumbo which she and her mom had for dinner on Sat night before opening gifts.  Aside from cooking, she spent time with her mom, catching up and relaxing.

On Sunday, everyone arrived for lunch - Shawna's dad and his wife, Nicole, Hunter, Nicole's dad, Pat, Chet, Nicole's Aunt and Uncle, Jean, Ashley, Glenn, Jim and Betty.  We had a great meal of pork, turkey, cornbread dressing, eggplant casserole, bean casserole, mac-n-cheese, gelatin salad and pineapple cake.  Everyone enjoyed the meal and being together.  Shawna's aunt Jean had made her a fig cake so she cut the cakes into slices and packed what she could to take to Hartford with her for the week.

Yummy Lunch - Louisiana Style!

Texas - Thanksgiving - November 2013

The Family at Thanksgiving Lunch

We alternate Thanksgivings between Texas and Louisiana and this year was back to Texas.  To avoid the Wednesday night chaos (and expensive flights), we got a flight on Thursday morning to Dallas.  Keith's Dad picked us up and we drove to the house to unload before we headed out to the Intercontinental Hotel Dallas for a buffet lunch.  We ate in the Crystal Ballroom, which used to be called the Malachite room when the hotel was run by Grand Kempinski.  Graham, Lily, Boone, Margaret, Owen, and Josie all met us at the hotel where we enjoyed a terrific buffet lunch.  It was a particularly good place for the kids to eat because they were able to be pretty independent and go to the buffets themselves.  There were no meltdowns for the entire lunch - with the only drama being Owen announcing the code to Lily's diary, to which Lily announced "you are ruining my life!".  We all parted ways after lunch, with us heading to see Philomema at the Angelica theater with Keith's parents.  It was a really cute movie.

Us with Lily and Josie

On Friday we met up with Rebecca, Thad, and Tucker for lunch at Legal Grounds.  We had not seen Tucker in a year and she is much bigger and super-cute.  She's the same age as Boone.  We found that they had been to Rome earlier this year so were thrilled that we could get some restaurant ideas from them for our pending trip.  Following lunch, we headed out shopping - yes, on black Friday - though it was not actually that bad.  We then went over to see Marissa and Boone for a couple of hours (Graham was at work) before heading back to the house.  Dinner was a delicious home made salmon with goat cheese and sun-dried tomato, which we inhaled before leaving to see The Book Thief at Grapevine Tinseltown. 

Keith and Shawna at Hibiscus

Saturday was a pretty relaxing day - Keith did some work while Shawna read and we headed over to Margaret's for an hour or so to play with the kids in the local park.  The big event this day was dinner at Graham's latest restaurant Hibiscus.  We started off with a Jaded Mule cocktail (delicious) and the wine of the evening was a Patz and Hall Chardonnay.  Graham sent a round of appetizers out to the table, including Crab Dip, Tuna Tartare, Crispy Lamb Ribs, and a Charcuterie plate.  We split the Oxtail for our main course and had sides for the table of carrots (these were oddly good!), mushrooms, and roasted marble potatoes.  For dessert, we shared the caramelized pineapple bread pudding for the table.  It was a delicious dinner!

On Sunday, we relaxed again and had lunch (cheese that we had bought and timed to send to Keith's parents house just in time for our visit) followed by a quick visit with Peter, Jen, Jordan and Michael.  When we arrived, it was only Peter and Michael there so we chatted and then played soccer outside.  Jen and Jordan came home so we got to spend a little time with them before we went back to Keith's parents house to pack up and head to the airport.

Michigan - Douglas Childhood Appreciation Tour - Oct 2013

John and JoAnna at John's Childhood Home - Howell

This was the second of our childhood appreciation tours, going to Howell, Michigan to see where John became the man that he is today!  The first trip was to Philly last year to see where JoAnna grew up.

Keith and Shawna arrived on Thursday evening and stayed at a Hyatt Place in Wyoming, Michigan, about 20 minutes from the Grand Rapids Airport.  On Friday, Keith went to one of Aimco's properties to do some work while Shawna worked from the hotel room.  John and JoAnna were able to get an earlier connecting flight so Shawna went to pick them up in the styling, white mini-van that we rented and then picked up Keith at the property to kick off the weekend festivities.

Dawn, Fernando, JoAnna, John and Keith - John's Elementary School

We started out by having a quick lunch on our way to Howell at Peppino's - an Italian sports bar.  Keith and Shawna split a salad and sandwich.  When we arrived in Howell, we first stopped at John's parents' house where he grew up.  They live in a nice, large ranch style house on a large property with a barn and garden in the back.  His family was not home yet so we grabbed a beer, toured the house and read John's diary from fourth grade - it was quite hilarious, especially the day he lost his tooth, didn't tell mom and the tooth fairy did not come!!  His family arrived and we briefly said our hellos before heading to the Holiday Inn to check-in.  Keith had to do a conference call so JoAnna and Shawna went to the outlet stores next door while John relaxed.

John's Middle School

We picked up John's sister, Dawn, and her boyfriend Fernando who were also in town for the weekend to celebrate her birthday.  We toured around Howell, visiting the elementary, middle and high schools that John attended, the lake where John learned to swim (and cried), and the downtown area (which is quite cute).  We also drove around searching for Melissa Gilbert's house who had recently moved to the area and was renting a green, Victorian home - the only problem is that there were four green homes on the street so we didn't figure out which was hers.

John's High School

Before meeting up with John's parents for dinner, we had a goblet of wine (the pour was quite generous) at Howell's Main Street Winery, where they make their own wine.  We all had dinner at Mr. B's Rustic Tavern where we shared some appetizers for the table and then Keith and Shawna shared the fajitas for an entree.  John's friend, Jim, also met us for dinner.  We ended the night with a few beers at Cleary's Pub where we learned that Keith had 'emceed' a Texas high school game when he was in high school - he didn't know any of the calls so he sat there all night not saying anything - one person even commented that he thought Keith's microphone was broken!

Howell's Main Street Winery

On Saturday, we had an early breakfast at John's parents' house - yummy eggs, biscuits and gravy.  Larry, another of John's friends, met us there with his fiancee.  We then drove over to Michigan State in Lansing to join Larry and several of their other friends to tailgate before the football game.  The weather was quite nasty but we stayed dry and warm drinking beer under a tent.  We did not go to the game but instead watched part of it at Dublin Square where we had burgers for lunch.

The Douglas Clan at Mr. B's Rustic Tavern

We returned to the hotel for a nap and more shopping and then went back to John's parents' house for a bonfire / birthday celebration for Dawn.  John's mom had surprised John by calling some of this friends from high school to come so John got to catch up and reminisce about old times.  We had a great time meeting his friends and his sister's friends, drinking beer and staying warm by the fire.  His mom also made some awesome chili and mac-n-cheese - perfect comfort food for the weather!

Michigan State Tailgate

We all had flights at noon so we got up on Sunday and packed up to drive back to Grand Rapids.  While it was a short trip, it was packed with activity and fun childhood memories!

Bonfire

NYC with Steph - October 2013

Leslie, Keith and Steph at Plunge Rooftop Bar

Six months earlier, Stephanie had called Keith and asked us to join her in New York if she won the annual sales contest at work.  Not surprisingly Steph did win, so we were in for a weekend with Stephanie and her sister Leslie.

We were both supposed to fly in the Thursday night but Keith was re-directed to the east coast earlier for work so he headed to NYC via Atlanta and DC, arriving on Friday afternoon.  Shawna kept her original itinerary and checked into the usual Hyatt Grand Central on points and worked out of the hotel on Friday.  Keith arrived at LaGuardia at 4pm and was able to get to the hotel by 5:30 - time for a quick shower and change before heading to the rooftop bar at the Peninsula Hotel, Salon de Ning.  Stephanie and her sister Leslie were already there and we were able to get a small table quickly.  While we had seen Leslie a few times over the years, it was the most time we had spent with both Steph and Leslie in a long time and we had a blast. 

Keith and Steph at Whiskey Park

 Following drinks we took a cab down to Sushi Samba on Barrow.  We had a lot of shared plates and more than a few cocktails.  We wrapped up the night at Whiskey Park where we had some drinks and Leslie regaled us with stories of her time at that bar in her younger days!  We walked back to the hotel - with Shawna in a bit of pain with some ill-fitting shoes - to the point where she walked home barefoot instead!

High Line

New World Trade Center

On Saturday morning, we decided to walk the High Line, a public park built on an old elevated and abandoned railway track.  It fully opened in June 2011 but we had never been there.  It is a really beautiful use of an old track - very well done.  It was jammed with people walking it, but amazing nonetheless.  We had a little snack at the food pavilion at Taco Truck - quite delicious.  We then kept walking south through Hudson River Park to the World Trade Center site, where the new tower is still being constructed.  We were thinking of going to the memorial but when we got to the ticket office there was a massive line - so we bagged it knowing we could come back in a couple of years when it is all complete.  It was a two hour walk by then, so we decided to take a cab back to the hotel.  Shawna jumped out of the cab a bit early to do some shoe shopping (so she was not in pain two nights in a row) while Keith went back to the hotel for a nap.

For cocktails this evening, we met at the Gansevoort Hotel rooftop bar, Plunge.  The roof has amazing views of the meatpacking district and the Hudson River.  We then walked over to Buddakan for dinner - which for the life us we just can't remember if we had been there before.  We had a delicious dinner of shared plates in a really cool atmosphere.  We stopped at one bar on the way home and then said goodbye to Steph and Leslie.

Keith and Shawna at Plunge Rooftop Bar

On Sunday, we did our traditional workout around the park, going the full perimeter - two hours total from the room.  We wrapped up the weekend at lunch with Carmen and Lew at Demarchelier, a French restaurant on the upper east side.  Carmen and Lew had just flown in from Richmond so it was terrific that they were able to see us quickly.

Carmen, Keith, Shawna and Lew at Demarchelier

San Francisco - September 2013

Ria, Simran, Keith and Shawna - Hiking on Lands End Trail

 We are thinking about going to Singapore/Bali with Rak and Simran in Dec' 14 so we used the excuse to visit them in San Francisco for a weekend to do some trip planning.  Keith had found Tara, a friend from his Steak and Ale days, on Facebook and found that she and her husband Leix live in Sacramento.  So, Keith flew to Sacramento on the Thursday night and had dinner with them at Frank Fats downtown.  It was fantastic to catch up with Tara after almost a quarter century - and oddly enough her sister Krissy was in Denver the same weekend - so Keith was destined to see one of the sisters that weekend!

Tara and Keith

After dinner, Keith headed toward Marin and stayed the night in the Hilton Garden Inn in Fairfield.  The next day Keith went to a couple of his properties in the Bay area and then got to Rak and Sim's in the late afternoon.  Shawna flew in directly from Hartford while Rak was coming in from Boston, so we were all at the house by about 8pm.  Sim's parents are in the US at the moment (they are looking to move to the states) so the Friday night cuisine was delicious homemade Indian - amazing!

The first event of the day on Saturday was a hike on Lands End trail in Golden Gate National Park where we walked to the Cliff House.  It was a relatively easy walk and a gorgeous day with great views of the bridge.  Following the walk, we headed over the bridge to Pelican Inn, an old British-style pub in Muir Beach.  Rak had been there many times when he was younger - mountain biking there and back.  We had a delicious shared lunch of Salad, Mussels, and Fish and Chips.  After lunch, we went back to the house for a nap, before heading out to see Babe which was playing at Film in the Fog in the Presidio.  However, Ria had not napped at the same time as we did, so she did not make it through the movie.  So, we headed home, dropped her off with Sim's parents, and then the four of us had an awesome dinner at Roku. 

Keith Torturing Ria with a Hug!

House of Air

On Sunday morning, we got up and went to House of Air, an indoor trampoline park.  Shawna thought it was a brilliant business idea and had some immediate dreams of opening her own in Denver! Keith, Rak, and Ria played a lot of trampoline dodge ball and were almost able to hold their own with the ten year olds playing!  Following that, we headed over to the Ferry Terminal for a walk around as well as lunch, where Sim's parents met us - then we separated with them taking Ria to basketball.  On the way home, Shawna and Sim went to Folsom Street for some shopping, while Keith and Rak were old men and went for another nap.  We closed out the weekend with everyone on the balcony with wine and cheese before we headed to the airport to go home.

We never really got to do much trip planning for Bali but as usual we had a great time visiting!

Keith's Mother's Birthday in Seattle - September 2013

Seattle (view from seaplane)

For Keith's mother's 70th birthday, we decided to do another family trip like we did to Napa for his dad's birthday - this time to Seattle.

Accommodation:
Grand Hyatt - we stayed here for a single night before heading to the cabin.  It is a great location downtown, close to Pike Place Market

Shawna and Keith

VRBO Cabin - Margaret found this cabin on Vacation Rentals by Owner.  Wesley, the owner (who oddly lives in Fort Worth), was very easy to work with and quite accommodating.  The cabin is a half-mile off I-90 at exit 32.  The cabin has a nice large great room, a kitchen table that seats 6, and 4 bedrooms.  Jean and Dick had the master room on the ground floor, Keith/Shawna and Margaret slept in the two rooms downstairs, and Graham was in the loft bedroom above the living room.

Graham, Keith and Margaret

Activities:
In order not to miss any work time, we flew to Seattle on Tuesday night after work.  The flight was delayed so we did not get to the hotel until midnight - which was tough since Shawna had a 5am call as she was living east coast time while on the west coast.  Keith went downstairs to the Starbucks in the hotel to work all morning.  Kristin, a former colleague, met Keith for coffee for a couple of hours as well.  We left the hotel for lunch at Pike Place Market, just a few blocks down the road.  After that, Keith went to see an apartment community that his company owns that is currently being redeveloped while Shawna worked in the hotel.  On the way to the cabin that we rented for the weekend, we stopped by another of Keith's apartments - though Shawna slept in the minivan while Keith toured the community.  We left the community and headed up 405 to 90 and actually had Graham and Margaret pass us on I-90 - Graham had picked Margaret up from the airport and had stopped by Whole Foods to stock up the house.  Keith's parents were already at the house as they had been in Washington for the week.  After getting settled in, Graham cooked us an awesome diner and then it was an early bedtime as we were really tired from the night before.

Pike Place Market

Margaret had planned the activities for the weekend, and the first event of the trip was a hike to Rattlesnake Ledge.  The start of the hike was only 4 miles from the house and was 4 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet.  There was a beautiful lake at the start and it was a nice hike to start off the weekend.  We then set off to Seattle, about a 30 minute drive from the cabin.  We walked around Pike Place, had a coffee at the first Starbucks (Keith's dad's version of mecca), and then went on a really cool seaplane flight.  We were late for the flight because of traffic but the company was able to get us all up anyway.  We went in the plane with Graham and Margaret while Keith's parents went on a separate flight.  The planes took off from Lake Union and then flew over the Space Needle, the bay, downtown, then back to Lake Washington where we flew over Bill Gates' house, then back for landing in Lake Union.  It was only 20 minutes but was really fun.  After the flight, we went to dinner and then back to the cabin.

Rattlesnake Ledge Hike

Seaplane Flight

Friday was another full day arranged by Margaret.  We started the day at Snoqualmie Falls, a waterfall with an old hydro plant from the 1800s.  Unfortunately it was foggy and drizzly so we did not see too much of the falls.  We were also a day early - the trails there had been closed for years and were re-opening the following day.  We then stopped by Boehm's Candies and Chocolates for a tour and taste, but the not-so-happy person in the office was less than accommodating.  So, we did a fast power-tour of the factory windows by ourselves and then headed off.  From there, we went to Woodinville to the Chateau St Michelle winery.  The grapes are actually grown in eastern Washington but this was the actual winery.  The tour of the production facility was quite good - and capped off with the obligatory wine tasting.  Following the winery, we headed back to Pike Place to have lunch before going to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit in Seattle Center, the 1964 World's Fair grounds.  The exhibit was quite well done, particularly in the exhibition hall.  We then walked to Lake Union to join a harbor cruise for an hour and a half before heading to dinner.

Wine Tasting at Chateau St Michelle

Chihuly Glass Exhibit

Jean, The Bday Girl!

Since Sat night was the big dinner, we decided to do a harder hike to work up our appetite.  Margaret found the Mount Si hike, which was 8 miles round trip and a 3500 foot elevation gain.  We got to the parking lot and discovered that a permit was required - so Keith and Margaret went to pick up the permit while the rest started the hike.  It was only 20 minutes total to get back and forth to the permit so Keith and Margaret met everyone about 1.5 miles in to the hike.  The trail was really well done and not too steep.  We started in fog but ended up with beautiful blue skies at the top, with the cloud layer well below us in the valley.  We skipped lunch and just had a couple of bites of apple on the trail - with the food the last few days we did not really need much!  After a quick shower and a glass of wine at the cabin, a white stretch limo picked us up to take us to the Herb Farm for the main event of the weekend.

On Top of Mount Si

Dressed for Dinner at the Herb Farm

Sunday saw most of us heading out - first Graham and Margaret to the airport and then we left at about 10:45am - with Jean and Dick staying at the cabin for one more night.  We went to Kelly and Reed's house where Kim and Keith also came over for a lunch with everyone and the kids.  It was fun to catch up with everyone as it had been three or more years since we last saw them.  We then drove to the airport to go back home to reality!

Herb Farm

Restaurants:
Chef Graham - Graham made dinner at the cabin the first night - starting with guacamole and chips then a delicious dinner of grilled red snapper, tomatoes, and mushrooms that he had picked earlier that day on the Olympic Peninsula.  Keith's parents had picked up the wine in eastern Washington earlier that week. 

Keith and Shawna at the Herb Farm

Tilth - A play on "till the earth", this is an organic restaurant where the chef (who is also the owner) is a James Beard Award winner for Best Chef of the Northwest.  We shared a very tasty and fresh fish dish with a watermelon carpaccio for an appetizer.

Keith and Graham Cutting Up at the Herb Farm

Pike Place Chowder Company - We had a great lunch here.  There was quite a big line which actually moved fast - and we ate standing up around a high-top table.  The salmon chowder was delicious.

McCormick and Schmick's - We had a couple of reservations later in the evening but did not want to stay downtown too late so made a game-day call to eat here, overlooking Lake Union and downtown. 

Jean and Dick at the Herb Farm

Herb Farm - We had been here in 2006 with Kim and Keith and at the time had thought it would be a great place to return with Keith's parents.  The dinner started at 6:30pm with a tour of the actual herb garden which is just across the road from the restaurant.  The dinner is 9 courses with 6 wine pairings.  The place holds about 70 people and everyone is served banquet-style.  The chef and sommelier were introduced and they explained the entire dinner and wines.  We were served a triptych of salmon, tomatoes with scallops, corn and chanterelles, duck three ways, bison, apple skillet with cheese and pretzel bread, peaches with pie crust ice cream, and a chocolate tart.  It was a delicious meal and we capped it off with the "oldest wine served in the world" - one ounce of 1795 Terrantez Madera

Keith and Margaret on Boat Cruise

Possum Kingdom Lake - August 2013

The Dodds Clan at Possum Kingdom Lake

 We found out about Frank's 85th birthday party at Possum Kingdom Lake about a week ago and thought it would be fantastic to see everyone.  Shawna was able to re-direct her flight from Hartford to fly straight to DFW while Keith bought a flight from Denver to DFW - both of us landing at 10:30pm on Friday. Keith's parents picked us up at the airport and we went straight back to their house and to bed.

Graham, Christine, Keith and Shawna

Graham, Julie and Christine

The next morning we were up at 6:30am to do a bit of work before heading off to the Lake.  It is about a 2 hour drive door to door, including the obligatory stop at the last Starbucks before the Lake.  Margaret and the kids were a few minutes in front of us so arrived first - Graham was unable to make it as it was still Dallas Restaurant Week.

Josie

Owen

The whole clan was there:  Frank, Jackie, Christine/Clayton/Graham, Julie/Michael, as well as some of Frank's relatives from the UK who happened to be traveling around Texas.  After saying our hellos we went straight down to the dock for a swim.  It was good to chat with everyone while relaxing in the water.  Owen and Josie were great swimmers - Owen completed his first dive and then kept doing them, and both the kids swam out to the floating dock to jump off that.

Keith and Clayton

Lunch was sandwiches in the cabin followed by Christine taking a few of us on a boat ride.  Dinner was grilled shrimp, sausages and veggies prepared by Jackie, with everyone eating in the cabin.  Frank opened some birthday gifts while we all sipped sangria and then we headed back to Colleyville, arriving there about 11pm.

Christine

Jackie

Out flight was at 9am on Spirit Airlines, our first attempt at that budget carrier.  When checking in we found that this is one of the airlines that makes all their money off fees - we were charged $50 each for the roller bag that would not fit under the seat.  To really impress us, the plane had a mechanical issue so we took off 4 hours later than scheduled.  Not wanting to waste our time sitting around, we used the time to plan our vacations and weekends for '14 so not all was lost.

Frank

Long Island - August 2013

Shawna was on the East Coast for work and took the opportunity to visit her friend Chris for the weekend in Oakdale (on Long Island) as Chris was at her bungalow in Oakdale for the summer.  It was a girls (and kids) weekend - Keith went to Texas for a scout reunion and Steve (Chris' husband) was down in the Keys working.

Edie at 5 Months!

Shawna flew into Islip on Friday evening - Chris picked her up and we drove out to Garden City to meet up with two of Chris' high school friends (Nora and Pam) for dinner.  We had an awesome Italian meal at La Nonna Bella.  Shawna knew her two friends from the wedding so it was great to catch up and see pictures of all of their kids.  We drove back to Chris' bungalow and stayed up until 2am chatting and laughing.  We paid for this the next day as we were both very tired!

Nate at 3.5 Years Old!

On Saturday morning, we relaxed at the bungalow and played with Chris' two kids - Nate who is now 3.5 years old and talks up a storm and Edie who is 5 months old and is just so smiley and adorable!  We were able to pawn off Nate to Lisa (Chris' sister in-law) and we went into Sayville with Edie to grab lunch at Five Points Cafe.  We had to wait about 30 minutes for a table so we walked around and went into a few shops.  When we got back to the bungalow, Shawna and the kids napped while Chris cleaned.  We then went over to her siblings house to say hello to everyone and then Chris got a babysitter so that we could go out to dinner in Sayville.  We went to the carnival for a few minutes but then bagged that and opted to sit out on the porch at La Tavola to have a few drinks and appetizers.  We were both still full from lunch so we only nibbled on a few items.  Back at the bungalow, we stayed up until 1am chatting with one of Chris' neighbors and then crashed.

We did not do too much on Sunday as Shawna had to leave early.  Chris drove her to the airport but then Shawna's flight was delayed by 3.5 hours, causing Shawna and Keith to miss the Indigo Girls concert they had planned on Sunday evening.

While the trip was short, it was awesome to catch up with Chris and laugh about old times!