Louisiana (Thanksgiving) - Nov 2014

We went to Louisiana for Thanksgiving to visit Shawna's mom, dad and family.  We flew into Baton Rouge on Wednesday evening, arriving late and stayed until Monday.

On Thanksgiving day, we had 17 people at Shawna's mom's house for lunch.  We were joined by: Chet, Pat, Brandon, Nicole, Hunter, Brittany, Harmony, Hayden, Nicole's dad, Jim, Barbara, Nicole's aunt and uncle, and Ashley.  For lunch, we had brisket, fried turkey, cornbread dressing, rice dressing, sweet potato casserole, eggplant casserole, gelatin salad, pineapple cake and coconut cake - we were not hungry when all was said and done!  After everyone left, we napped and watched a movie with Shawna's mom.

On Friday and Saturday, we spent the day going through all of Brock's slides - throwing many of them away and keeping some to ship off to convert to digital prints.  We ended up throwing away about 10 garbage bags full!  It was quite an undertaking but happy to have it done.  We were also visited during the day by Glenn on Friday and Nicole on Saturday.

On Friday evening, we had dinner with Hope and Craig at their camp in Spring Bayou.  They picked us up by boat and we road around the lake for about 30 minutes.  We then went to the camp and had a great time catching up and drinking wine.  Hope made a big batch of jambalaya which was very yummy and a bread pudding made with donuts and white chocolate sauce which was also very yummy.  Keith gave her a hard time for cutting the bread pudding recipe in half but we had plenty to eat!

Hope and Shawna

Craig and Keith

On Saturday, we met Shawna's dad and Barbara in New Roads to have lunch at Hot Tails.  Keith thought we were going to a strip club with that name!!  Keith and Shawna split a catfish platter because at this point we were quite done with food!  The meal was very tasty.

On Sunday, we mainly relaxed and on Monday, after we had breakfast, we packed up and chatted with Shawna's mom until we left to drive back to the airport.  It was a great trip to catch up with everyone, to stuff ourselves with tasty food and to get through all of the family slides.

Ojai, CA - Nov 2014

Ojai Valley Inn and Spa

Simran and Shawna had been discussing going to Ojai, CA for a couple of years but the boys were not motivated to go.  We were both interested in going since we watched the show "Brothers and Sisters" which was based in Ojai.  So, Simran planned a girls weekend to Ojai with two friends of hers in CA (Jen and Kara) and when she invited Shawna, Shawna responded with a 'hell, yeah"!

Shawna flew into San Fran late on Thursday night from Hartford as she had been in Hartford all week for work.  When she arrived at Simran's house, they chatted for a few minutes and then crashed for the night.

On Friday morning, we had a light breakfast at Simran's house and then drove (with Jen) to an airport north of Marin where we met up with Kara and flew via a private plane to Ojai.  Kara's husband, Chuck, owns his own 6-seater Cessna - it was such a treat to get this personal service.  The flight took us about 2 hours and it was beautiful weather along the way.  We flew into Santa Barbara, got a rental car and then drove about an hour to Ojai.

Traveling in Style on Chuck's Plane

After checking into the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, we got a light lunch at the spa cafe and then relaxed at the spa - Shawna got a facial while the rest of the girls got a massage.  Feeling relaxed and content, we then got ready in our rooms and had an early dinner at Maravilla, one of the hotel restaurants.  The food was good but pricey and the restaurant was a little too fancy for our taste; the dessert, however, was outstanding!  Kara and Jen were not feeling great (both had colds) and Shawna was pooped from being on East Coast time so after dinner, we went back to our rooms.  Shawna and Simran attempted to watch a movie in the room but both fell asleep multiple times during the movie!

On Saturday, we had breakfast at The Oak, another hotel restaurant and attended a core class in the gym.  We then walked downtown and did a wine tasting at Ojai Winery followed by shopping in the Arcade Shops.  The wine was tasty so Shawna bought a case of 3 different whites!  We grabbed lunch in town at Suzanne's, each having a yummy salad.

We then returned to the hotel to enjoy the spa again - this time Shawna got a massage while everyone else had facials.  Simran and Shawna thought their appointments were at 4pm but got a call at 3:05pm to ask where we were.  Apparently, our appointments were at 3pm - luckily, we were only a few minutes away so we made it there in time to enjoy the full treatment!  That evening, we were lazy so opted to eat at the hotel.  We had drinks at Jimmy's Pub and then split a bunch of appetizers and one entree at The Oak.

Selfie!

On Sunday, we had breakfast at The Oak again.  Jen and Kara decided to attend an aroma blending class while Shawna and Simran walked downtown to check out the farmer's market.  The market was nice with lots of produce and some other goods like honey, pies and nuts.  We met up with Jen and Kara for a drink at one of the outside cafes and then drove back to Santa Barbara to meet Chuck for our flight home.  Before leaving Ojai, we stopped by The Farmer and the Cook (a Simran find) to get some communist (aka vegetarian) burritos and tacos to take on the plane.  When we got back to Simran's house, Rakesh had cooked dinner for us and so we enjoyed a very tasty meal of lamb, mashed potatoes and spinach.  Marwa joined us for dinner as well- it was great to catch up with him.

Farmer's Market in Ojai

On Monday, Shawna worked out of Simran's house and then Simran drove her to the airport to fly back home.  The weekend was amazing - Ojai was very pretty and relaxing and of course, Shawna had a great time hanging out with the girls!  We decided that this must become an annual tradition and we already started to scheme on places we could go next!

Flight Back to San Fran Had More Bags!

Texas - Nov 2014

Keith with Owen, Lily, Margaret and Josie

Shawna had a girls weekend in Ojai so Keith decided to use some Southwest points to fly to Texas for two days - his first Denver-Dallas try on America's best airline!  The flight was Saturday am so after my parents picked me up we headed for lunch at Breadwinners.  There was a 30 minute wait so we had a coffee in the waiting area and then sat down for brunch.  Following brunch we headed back to the house for an afternoon of sorting through Dad's slides so we could scan them all.  We made good progress before showering and heading to Truluck's for dinner where Margaret joined us.  It was a delicious dinner where I had a wedge salad, fantastic filet, and sweet potato fries.  It was straight to bed after dinner as it had been early up in the morning.

Keith and Boone

Sunday am we spent wrapping up the slides - ending up with about 12,000 total to send off to Scan Cafe in India.  It was a good effort - about 20 total hours between dad and I to knock them all out.  We had to scramble to leave at 12:15 so we could meet the rest of the family at CBD Provisions at the Joule.  Graham, Audrey, Lily, Boone, Margaret, Owen, and Josie all met us for a couple of hours before we had to head to the airport so I could head home - less than 3 hours after arriving!

Boone, Lily, Josie and Owen

Raleigh - Oct 2014

Both of us had to be on the east coast for work - Shawna in Hartford and Keith in DC/Philly - so we decided to extend the week and spend a couple of days in Raleigh/Durham to see the gang.  Shawna flew in the Thursday night and worked from John's house on Friday while Keith arrived on Friday afternoon.  John was gracious enough to do all the airport pick up / drop offs - as well as dropping Shawna off at Trali to meet Lisa and Beth for a few drinks on Friday afternoon.

The initial plan was to head out locally for dinner and drinks on Friday evening, but after a couple of beers at John's place on Friday afternoon, we found that the neighbors were having a party and we were invited.  So we joined the neighbors for brats, beer, and handing out candy.  We were able to give away some candy to the kids trick or treating in the neighborhood while consuming a fair amount ourselves.  Keith faded at 8:30 while the rest of us hung out longer.  Shawna and JoAnna ended the evening at a neighborhood bar with a few of the neighbors - yet again the girls outlasted the boys!

Shawna and JoAnna with Neighborhood Friends

On Saturday, JoAnna had to help set up at a work event in Durham, so we dropped her off at 10:00 am and then headed over to Keith and Kate's house to see them and the kiddos.  The original plan was to go out for breakfast but we decided to stay in when Keith offered to make breakfast - pancakes and cheesy eggs with bread bought at Gugelhupf.  It was a blast to see the kids - as always amazing to see how quickly they have grown.

Goofing Around with the Artin Kids

Phoebe's Observations of Keith

We headed back to Chez Douglas for a nap and a bowl of John's famous chicken tortilla soup before heading back to Durham for dinner with the old Suppa Club gang.  Shawna had made a reservation for 14 of us at Local 22 Kitchen and Bar.  We were able to catch up with John/Jo, Keith/Kate, Phil/Joyce, Julie/Brian, Kim/Jonathan, Steve, and Stephanie.  It was a really good dinner - Keith and Shawna shared a few small plates (mussels and pork belly), the spinach salad and a lamb flatbread.  Following dinner, we all had a few nightcaps at Parizade.  We flew out on Sunday on the 9 am flight back to Denver - a quick weekend but very enjoyable!  

Kate, Brian and Julie

Joyce and Shawna