You Know What
Tuesday night Heather and I picked up Novali. First thing in the car... "you know what? my mami is allergic to cats." Then some "you know what I did at school today... you know that this..." Its funny how quickly a stressful day at work melts away when I am around her and the boisterous ramblings of a six year old. this was the beginning of the perfect holiday trip.

Tuesday we spent at a hotel near O'hare. We had an early Wednesday flight (to beat the rush) so a local hotel with a free shuttle would save us a lot of hassle. It worked... we woke up early, got breakfast, and took the shuttle to the airport. Novali was great and carried her own bag and didn't fuss through security. We boarded the plane and she wasn't scared and sat by the window. It was a great flight, she listened to music and besides a little ear ache on the way down things went smoothly.

Andres got us from the airport and we headed to his home in Wilmington, DE. His condo is very cute and I think its sponsored by IKEA and Archer Farms. He grows fresh herbs in the summer on his patio and complained of the lack of fresh herbs now that the seasons changed... I who rarely cook with anything besides my foreman grill did not sympathize much. His two cats Mona and Pumpkin of course were the center of attention for Novali. We enjoyed a walk around Wilmington with him and Saloumeh and rented some movies. It was a relaxing night of movie time, coffee, and good conversation.

Thursday we slept in... after the 5:45am wake up call the day before to catch our flight we needed the sleep. Andres and Saloumeh got up early to cook the Turducken... thats right folks... we had the fabled thanksgiving bird... turducken. Miguel, Kate and Kate's Brother Chris came as well so it was a full house. We spent the day playing games, catching up, and checking on the bird. We called the Coates grandparents, talked to our parents and had a nice chat with Raquel as well. Did I mention we checked on the bird a lot?

Dinner was great! The bird(s) made the day and Andres and Saloumeh are great hosts and cooks so it was a feast to remember. We were up a little late, read all the black friday sales and relaxed.

Friday we woke up early. Andres went with me to Sears as I wanted to land some great deals on tools. Who woulda thought I would get up early for a Craftsman sale! So at 6am we hit Sears, then got home and woke everyone and by about 8am we were headed to DC. A quick ride up and we hit DC. We checked in early at the Hilton, and Andres used the digital direction service to print directions to the museums. Well we get in the car, he hands me the directions to read them... I ask him, had you looked at these yet? He said no... so I read them out loud. Basically it said... don't drive downtown, parking is too hard, take the metro. At this point we were already half way there to we looped around a few times and finally made it into DC. It was a scenic tour none the less.

My fraternity Brother Alex met us downtown and it was a ton of fun. He was a close Brother to me in college and we kinda lost touch. I had not seen him in years and aside from birthdays and holidays don't talk a ton. He was a big inspiration for me in college so I was glad to get to introduce him to more of my family.

We enjoyed the museums, the great food (Tapas for lunch, Chinese for dinner) and walking around the sites. They dropped us off at the hotel and we repacked the bags and got ready for bed. The flight back was easy... we enjoyed some breakfast and a slightly later flight this time. We got to Chicago and traffic was chill, I was so glad I picked the dates we travel cause it worked out really well. Heather and I did some shopping before heading home... and that was the holiday.

Pictures are posted: Novi's Pics

Tomorrow I leave for Cincinnati for 5 days for a conference. Looking forward to connecting with a lot of friends and doing some more professional networking. I will have a several fraternity Brothers there and very much looking forward to having more Betas in Higher Education and more specifically another one in Greek Life (I was the first and only so far). Ciao.