THANKSGIVING IN THE "BIG APPLE"

The weekend with Aaron and Caren was fantastic! It was so much fun to "hang out" in the big city on the holiday weekend. Thursday began with a subway ride into the city with Caren to take a glimpse of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. She was a real sport to go with me since this was a "lifelong" goal to go to this event. There were thousands of people there and we could only get an ocassional peek of a balloon or a band. It was a challenge to manuver through all of the crowds. We decided after about an hour to venture back to Brooklyn to help "Chef Aaron" with the holiday preparations. They had three of their friends over for the traditional Simon holiday feast. The "brined turkey" with Mom Simon's special herbs and spices and the Grandma Simon's stuffing recipe were the hit of the evening. Friday everyone went back to work but I ventured out in the "Black Friday's" shopping traffic. What a huge mistake! I could not believe the crowds! I managed to pick up a few things for little Amelia and for the NYC kids to help to "round out" their new condo needs. I even managed to do a little Christmas shopping. I was exhausted by the end of the day. I had the opportunity to visit Aaron's new location for his new job at J.P.Morgan Chase in the financial district in Manhattan. I also got to visit Caren's new store in Williamsburg. We are so proud of both of them and what they have accomplished in such a little time. Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed each other's company and did more cooking and went to a neighboorhood great restaurant for dinner. We also went shopping in the Bowery and China Town for kitchen stainless steel racks. Here are a few photos of the time we spent together. I love their new condo. We look forward to Aaron's and Caren's visit to Raleigh over Christmas.

TINY BUBBLES FOR A TINY LITTLE GIRL

As a special treat, we went to the grocery store and bought a big bottle of "MR. BUBBLE" and a "PUPPY SPONGE" for a giganic bubble bath. Amelia wasn't so sure about the water jets in Bubby's jacuzzi, but once she got use to it, she had a great time! The bubbles were so thick all we could see was Amelia's little head.

Earlier in the day, Bubby's friend, Mrs. Judy Solash, Amelia, and Bubby went to Starbucks for a mid-morning snack and then on to the Arts Festival downtown Raleigh where Mommy Meredith was exhibiting and selling her paintings. Once that was over, we went to Logans to shop for pansies and other flowers for the deck.

Poppie went with some friends to watch the ECU vs. Memphis football game at Hyde Park Bar and Grill. Bubby and Amelia took and nap and then spent the afternoon at Lake Lynn feeding the ducks and turtles. We then hiked over to the recreation center to ride the swings, slides, the ducks, roosters, and horses. We were so tired when we got home, Poppie took us to the Mexican Restaurant for dinner. It wasn't too long until we were ready for bed and reading books.

Amelia practiced flipping pancakes for her weekend culinary cooking experience and then it was time for her mom to come pick her up. We had another great weekend visit!

FALL BREAK IN SFO

As you can see there was plenty of food, fun, and family over the past couple of days in San Franscisco. Our semi-annual trip found all of the West Coast Simon Family healthy and happy. We had great accomodations at Mike and Cindy's and the hospitality was fantastic. We loved playing with Oscar and the newest member of the family.....CoCo. She is really very cute! We even had a great Chinese meal together with a few hours of visiting with Vicki's family. It is amazing how much Kelsey and Joshua have grown! Thurday we had a fun day in Napa...starting the day with Opus One and ending the Day with Castle of Amerosa and a tasty dinner with Cindy at Don Giovanni's. On the way out of town, we visited with Valerie at her new Emeryville loft. It was really cool! Of course we continue to marvel at Irene's good health and cheerfulness at almost 92! She "hung in there" all week with all of our goings and comings. She is a real sport!

Thanks to all again for a memorable trip. We missed having Jason, Meredith, Amelia, Aaron and Caren with us on this trip!

Another Weekend of Fun!

Last week we celebrated another birthday for Daddy Jason. We all went to dinner at a favorite restaurant, Vivace' and then to Amelia's favorite, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Store! Amelia loves to celebrate birthdays! Especially her's!

Mommy Meredith and Daddy Jason had some errands and shopping to do so Amelia got to come over to Poppie's and Bubby's house to spend the afternoon and night.

Amelia loved going to Harris Teeter to buy groceries. She especially loved seeing herself on the t.v. security monitors. We bought all of our favorite things plus a great little flashing small "happy-faced" jack-o-lantern". It won't be long until we all get to go trick-or-treating.

We came home and made sandwiches and pumpkin-faced cookies. After lunch we took a stroll to the nearby horse farm. We made friends with "BROWNIE" the brown and white horse, fed him some apples and carrots, and took a few photos. When we got home we were tired from the long walk and ate popcicles...Amelia's favorite!

After our walks, we ate an early dinner of salad and pepperoni pizza. Poppie went out with some friends to see the ECU football game on the satellite, while Bubbie and I stayed home "puppy sitting" Zeke and Zoe'. Poppie was happy since ECU won again! We took a bubble bath in Bubby's big jaczuzzi tub and then read lots of books and had some ice cream. We were so tired we all fell asleep by 9:00 while watching "Kiyou" dvd.

This morning we got up early to begin making brunch since Mommy Meredith and Daddy Jason came over to each and pick up Amelia. Amelia helped to make biscuits. She loved sifting the dry indredients. The flour made her sneeze. She wanted to make eggs, fries with ketchup, and orange juice....her favorites!

Bubby, Poppie, and the puppies were sad to see them leave, but they were all tired all day. Amelia takes lots of energy to keep entertained!

Fun Fall Weekends and Amelia's 2nd Birthday

Fall and September means lots of football and birthdays in the Simon and Steele Families.

Last weeekend Aaron was home to celebrate his 27th birthday (September 23) and to go to the ECU vs UNC game. It was good that he brought a victory back to NYC.

This weekend Michael (Meredith's NYC brother) traveled to Raleigh and the rest of the Steele Family came for a visit to celebrate Meredith's birthday (September 21), Amelia's 2nd birthday (Spetember 26), and Jason's 37th birthday (October 3). We need a pay raise after all of those birthday celebrations! We had a great time opening presents and had a delicious cookout.

Next weekend we are off to Charlotte for a weekend event at Johnson and Wales University and will hopefully see the Columbia, SC Coopers and Brissettes.

Puppies Update: Zeke and Zoe' are growing. They are both about 7 lbs. They are NOT happy when we leave them in their crate for the ballgames and the birthday celebrations! They continue to be cute and affectionate.

Sous Chef Amelia

I can't think of a better way to spend the holiday weekend than to spend time with Amelia. Well maybe, if I had all the family here....that would be even better!

Daddy Jason brought Amelia over this morning. Amelia immediately put on her cooking attire, got her hands washed, and helped Bubby with weekend preparations in order to get food prepared for Poppy's "solo" week. Poppy will be taking care of the puppies by himself most of the upcoming week as Bubby has to go to a four day meeting near Ashville, NC. We know....Poppy loves to eat "Bubby's home cooking"!

I think that Amelia loves "helping" in the kitchen so much she might become "SERVSAFE Certified" by the time she is five! Amelia loved mixing up the "veggies" for the homeade soup and the spagetti sauce. She also liked taking frequent breaks to sample blueberries, chips with hummus and canteloupe. The most fun also was helping Bubby prepare a picnic tailgate lunch of hotdogs, chips, slaw, and potato salad. It was quite a challenge for us to enjoy our tailgate lunch as Zeke and Zoe' wanted to join in and taste the hotdogs. We loved watching ECU's first game of the season as the played Virginia Tech.

Before naptime, Amelia took Zeke and Zoe' for a long walk around Westlake Reserve. She was really good about holding hands and holding onto the puppies' leash.

Amelia is looking forward to going to a neighboorhood party this evening. We might even take a quick trip to the store.

2007 Summer Vacation

It's been a while since our last post. We have had a very busy summer. June and July were filled with Judy's NC DPI related conferences for teachers. Finally the first 2 weeks of August we traveled to Portugal and Spain. We had a great and relaxing trip! Here are a few photos from the "Easy Pace" bus tour with 18 Canadians, New Zelanders, Australians, British, Singaporans, and Americians.