Monday, November 28, 2005

Turkeys, Dinosaurs, Quartets, Incredibles, and Harry Potter, OH MY!

The first day after a long holiday weekend is always depressing for me. My husband has to go back to work, and any family we had visiting have to go home. Its back to just me and the kids. But I guess because it's sad when it ends means that it was fun before.

TUESDAY:
"S" and I had been talking about our Thanksgiving Menu for almost a month. We bought our turkeys two weeks prior, and any time the television was on is was probably tuned into the Food Network. Tuesday was our son's 3rd birthday. For breakfast that morning he got 3 heart-shaped pancakes with powdered sugar sprinkled on top and a candle in each one. He was very excited about his heart-shaped pancakes and whereever we went that day he made sure to tell people about his pancakes.

Tuesday I started cooking. A few of the things that could be made ahead of time. I made the cranberries, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and the spice butter I use to baste the turkey.

I had to make another trip to the grocery store to pick up a few more items as well. Goodness Thanksgiving really takes a chunk out of your grocery budget!

WEDNESDAY:
"S" took Wednesday off to help me get everything ready for Thursday. I had put the turkeys in the fridge on monday in hopes that they would thaw. Didn't happen. We spent most of the day thawing the turkeys. Yes, we had two turkeys. Each 13 pounds each. I had to redo the sweet potatoes, my sister-in-law had called tuesday when I was cutting them up and I cut them up too small, and then cook them for too long, it was like baby food mush. YUCK. I also made up the brine for one of the turkeys. Because the oven was pretty much going to be in use the whole day on Thursday we cooked up the second ordinary turkey Wednesday night and then cut off all the meat.

THURSDAY:
My in-laws arrived at the airport at 12:30pm. While my husband was picking them up, I was preparing everything for our holiday meal. The turkey that had soaked in the brine for 24 hrs was cooking with a yummy spice butter rubbed all over it, the appetizers were layed out on the table, and the sides were starting to be prepared. The kids were napping, and "W" woke up shortly after they arrived. He walked out in the living room and immediately recognized and named all the new comers. We sat down to dinner around 2pm. Everything tasted so good, and my in-laws wanted recipes for a few of the things I had made to introduce them back into their own families! The rest of the afternoon was spent playing hearts and playing with the grandkids.

FRIDAY:
For not being an overly large city, Albuquerque has a lot to offer. We have quite a few museums that you can visit. We have a zoo, an aquarium, a botanical garden, a children's science discovery museum, a natural history museum, an atomic history museum and an art museum. All of the museums are centered around Old Town. We decided that on Friday we'd go to the Natural History Museum. On a past visit we've taken the family to the atomic museum. We thought "W" would love to see the dinosaurs. We hadn't taken him there yet. We got there, and we were right, "W" loved seeing the dinosaurs. It was a really great museum! The museum was completely based on things that have been discovered in New Mexico.

After the museum we went to "El Modelo" by request of my father-in-law. Its a whole-in-the-wall restaurant that doesn't even have indoor seating. "S" had taken his family there the last time they had visited and his dad had to go again this time. The food is outstanding, you go in and place your order, than you can either take it home to eat, or you go outside to the picnic benches along the side of the restaurant.

Friday night "S"'s string quartet had a gig at a BBQ Restaurant. Every time his family has come down they have asked hopefully if he had some concert performance while they were visiting. This time they lucked out. We went to the restaurant and ate while listening to Shane's quartet play. It was a lovely evening, and even though it seemed kinda strange to have a string quartet at a BBQ Joint it turned out to be a great event. His parents loved being able to hear him play again, and the best part was to hear a few pieces that "S" had arranged himself. (At Ricks, "S" was a music major like April, Proud Mum, Sariah, and I, his instrument was violin, but he was also a composition major, and has a real talent for writing and arranging music for string quartet).

SATURDAY:
I took my MIL, SIL, "W" and "Sy" to walmart. They wanted to get something for "W"'s birthday and also get some christmas presents for the kids as well. (Save on shipping costs). When we got back from Wal-mart, we went to Old Town. Old Town is where Albuquerque originally began. It was the city center when the town was first created. There is the big catholic church across from the plaza, and surrounded by two blocks of buildings. They used to be houses, and things like that. The church was originally built in 1706, (when Albuquerque was first orginated, next year is the 300th anniversary). All the small buildings surrounding the plaza and church have been converted into shops, boutiques, restaurants, and the like. If you come to Albuquerque and you want an authentic souveniere Old Town is where you need to go.

We then took them to another New Mexican restaurant that we really like called "Dona Pepa's". They have the best chips and salsa in town, and a ultimate burrito that is to die for. We went to Ethan Allen for a few minutes, and then headed home for the birthday boy's party. "St" (my BIL) had decorated our house with "The Incredibles" birthday decorations on Friday night. When "W" woke up Saturday morning he knew it was his birthday party day. The whole drive home from Ethan Allen "W" was talking about his birthday party, and as soon as he walked in the door headed right for my closet where I had his presents hidden. He was ready for presents!

We had his favorite meal for dinner; Broccoli Soup, and then I went to go pick up the baby-sitter. Except for the kids, we all went to see Harry Potter #4. It was a great flick, and like Karen, I cried a little!

SUNDAY:
Saturday night I got severely sick. Sunday for me was mostly spent in my bed in and out of consciousness. I don't remember a lot that happened that day. At 5:30pm "S" took his family back to the airport. "W" was very sad to see them all go. His auntie "J" was leaving him. He was glued to her side throughout the whole visit, and really didn't want her to leave. Then he got even more upset because he thought daddy was going on the airplane to Idaho with them. It took me a little while to get him to understand that daddy really was coming home. By the end of the visit even "Sy" had warmed up to everyone, and was willingly giving bye-bye hugs to granma and papa.

Papa Snedigar is really fun to have around. He's a big kidder. At one point during the visit, Papa was pretending to be a dog or something, crawling around on hands and knees. He started to chase after "W", pretending to try to bite at his ankles. "W" went walking down the hall backwards saying "Papa, don't eat me!" It was seriously the funniest thing we had heard all week.

Being far away from family makes visits a lot of fun, but it makes the good-byes really sad. The first day of "normalcy" is always very emotional for us. Even the sappy t.v. commericals can make a few tears drop onto our cheeks. So we look forward to, and start to plan the next visit from family. In four weeks, my parents and brothers will be down for Christmas.
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 11/28/2005 11:07:00 AM :: 3 Comments:

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