Thanksgiving 2008

This entry is really late, I know, but I was anti-blog for a while there because my pictures would not load in a timely manner. New year - new resolution not to let the slowness of the picture-loading experience ruin my blogging fun. Now to play catch-up...

Holidays away from home for the first time are interesting. We were sad that we did not get to spend as much time with our families as we would have liked, but considering Sean's residency schedule, we are thankful for what we were able to do. We got to see Sean's family for Thanksgiving and mine for Christmas!! That is a lot during intern year...

Thanksgiving this year (last year?) was a whirlwind but definitely worth it. Sean actually had off for a few days, so we drove back to Minnesota to visit his family. 

On our arrival, Sean dropped me off at a restaurant in St. Louis Park while he arranged to pick up Varsana and Malia (his brother Jamie's girls) to take them with us to his parent's house. I got to steal a little time to see my friend Allison, who I had not seen in almost six months!

The next day, we all drove to Sean's Aunt Mickey's house for a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner.

We left on Friday morning early and arrived home in time for Sean to take a nap before working on Friday night. Lots of driving around and crunched schedules was easily forgotten by a time of good food and fellowship.

Roadtrip

In the middle of November, we were able to make the time to take a little vacation. Since we wanted to take Brigita and conserve dollars, we decided to go camping. We road-tripped to South Carolina and camped near the ocean. The weather was perfect for camping - sweatshirts during the day and chilly at night.

The first evening when we arrived, it rained a little, so we set up our tent in drizzle and played games inside the tent with the sound of the rain to lull us to sleep. Brigita was skeptical about being outside in the chilly evenings, but we spoiled her with blankets and lots of cuddling. 

On our second day, we walked around on Edisto Beach during the day, which was about 1/2 mile from our campsite, and sat next to the campfire in the evening. 

We had planned to drive about 30 minutes to a campsite near Charleston and stay there for our last evening before starting the trip back, but we ended up finding a cheap hotel in the city instead (which Brigita loved). We were in Charleston about a year ago for one of Sean's residency interviews, and we just couldn't resist going back to places where we had been.  

We ate at our favorite little restaurant there, The Noisy Oyster, for lunch and got seated in the same booth that we had been in a year ago! Afterwards, we spent the evening watching the sun set on Folly Beach, right outside Charleston.

Yummy oysters and seafood smorgasbord were for dinner before crashing in a comfy hotel bed. Mmmm...

On the way back, I was able to snap some pictures out the window of the Appalachian Mountains as we drove through. We made the trip there and back in two days, so on our arrival day at home, we passed through Indiana early enough to stop at the Tippecanoe battleground site. 

 

Mom's Visit

In the beginning of November, during deer hunting, my mom came and visited me. My dad and brother were up hunting, and it was a good time for her to get away. She drove down all by herself. I was very proud of her. 

I had all these grand plans for us to go and do things - see the Shedd aquarium, walk the Magnificent Mile, go to fun restaurants... We actually ended up staying in for the better part of the time and watching movies that we had been talking about seeing with one another for months to years. It was so much fun! 

The first time that we went out, we didn't even go anywhere original. We went to Einstein Brothers and had breakfast bagels! Brigita loved all the attention and how much people were at home to play with her. Sean worked a lot, but he was able to spend some time with us on the Sunday while Mom was here.

We did manage to find a fantastic little coffee shop in Lincoln Square, very near our condo. They served Oatmeal Chai Lattes. "What is that," you ask? Well... it is a decadent little treat with oatmeal, nuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, etc. that they put in a very delicious chai latte recipe. You drink it and then eat the bottom with a spoon. Yum... 

On Sunday, when Sean was able to hang out with us, we went to church and then to a restaurant in Greek Town. Of course we had to get the flaming cheese appetizer! They pour brandy on a hunk of cheese and then light it on fire. It was delish. 

One of our servers loved Mom. She was herself, which constitutes being pretty funny at times, with no attempt to do so. Her comments throughout the meal amused him immensely. She really wanted to keep the extra bread at the end of our meal. She informed the server that you can't just waste good bread. HELLO?! He thought that was highly entertaining, so he brought her another basket's worth and placed it in our bag. When we left, her gave her a hug and asked if she could be his mom. I wish I had thought to get him in one of our pictures. 

After wonderful Greek food, we journeyed through the Chicago History Museum. Below is a picture of the closest that Mom got to a Chicago-style hotdog. She wanted one, but we just never got around to it.  

Brigita was all ready to go with her when she left. She was depressed for a day after. I think she missed all the attention and food scraps!!!