Giving Thanks

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house two days ago.  My BIL made a delicious turkey, my sister made a scrumptious pumpkin cheesecake, and I volunteered for the easy sides: asparagus, rolls and salad.  My mom made the rest of the sides, and it all turned out well, I thought.

We started out with an early afternoon walk around Peters Canyon, which has become a sort of tradition.  It was good to burn off some calories pre-dinner.

Bird-watching

Cousin love—(maybe a little too much!)

Kids’ table

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”—Psalm 107:1.

Recovered

As previously mentioned, k was sick with the stomach flu two weeks ago, pretty much from Wed.-Sat. night.  Fortunately, none of us caught it, and she has fully recovered.

n wrote this sweet letter to k, completely of his own volition.  (I helped with the spelling, though.)

Since we were stuck at home, I broke out the Lego Holiday Post Office Set I received last year.  Working on a set that is designed for twelve years + with a six year old and a four year old is not the easiest thing in the world.

I’ll have to take a picture when it is done—we’re still working on it.

Luckily, k was recovered in time to go on her Girl Scout field trip to Logan’s Candies in Ontario.  She was able to form her own warm candy cane!

Las Vegas Rock ‘N Roll Marathon, Part II

We currently have a sick child at home (k) and are crossing our fingers that it does not spread.  I do not mind being home all day when it is raining/cold, however, so that is one positive.

Back to our Vegas trip, the marathon was scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.  Therefore, D was supposed to carbo-load in the morning, as opposed to the night before.  I had purchased two Spice Market (Planet Hollywood) brunch buffet passes from Groupon before, so that is where we went.

We were a little early for the brunch, so we started out with the breakfast items and paced ourselves for the brunch (more savory) items.  I thought the selection was good, and they had a lot of fruit and vegetables too (although not pictured here).

D mostly skipped dessert, but I had to sample some, of course.  The specialty was cupcakes, but the dulce de leche one I tried was not very good—too dry.  I did enjoy the crème brulee, though.

We took a post-brunch, pre-race nap.  Lunch was not necessary, of course. 

We walked the start area and D met up with his fellow Mazda runners.  

We had access to the VIP tent, which was nice.  Unfortunately, D did not have access to the VIP bathrooms.

The All-American Rejects put on a concert.

The race starts at the southern part of the Strip, and all traffic was diverted.

I tried to spot D, but I could not find him in the crowd of runners, which included several Elvis’, tutus and superheroes.

Since I had a few hours to wait, I went back to our hotel room and watched local news coverage of the race on tv.

I met up with D at the post-race VIP tent at Serendipity @ Caesar’s Palace.  D finished with a second-best time of 4:14:34!

I ate some Chinese chicken salad while I was waiting for him.  By the time D finished, there was only sandwich fixings and some pizza.  We also tried a shot of the famed Frozen Hot Chocolate. D wasn’t too hungry, and took the sandwich I had made for him back to the hotel.

After we returned to the hotel, I realized that I hadn’t taken a picture of D’s medal.  Here’s D’s “rock ‘n roll” pose.

On the way home the next morning, we stopped in Barstow to visit the newly opened Dunkin’ Donuts.  I hear people in California can’t wait for a DD to open, but I didn’t really see how they were special.  The famed coffee was just ok, too.  (BTW, don’t be deterred if you see a bunch of tour buses in the parking lot.  We were almost not going to go into Barstow Station when we saw four buses in the parking lot.  However, there wasn’t even a single person in line for DD!)

Las Vegas Rock ‘N Roll Marathon

As mentioned before, D ran the Las Vegas Rock ‘N Roll Marathon this past Sunday.  We left for Vegas on Saturday morning, while my parents took the kids to Disneyland—lucky kids! 

We went to the Las Vegas Convention Center to go to the expo so D could pick up his bib.  Mazda had an impressive booth, which included a picture booth that makes you look like you’re running fast by blowing wind into your face.

There was also a fueling station with some sort of berry infused water and granola bars.

Outside, they were offering test drives.

We tried to check into our room early, but it was a no-go.  They did allow us to pre-register, so we just had to call in at 3:00 for our room number.

It was the perfect opportunity to go to Planet Hollywood and share a sandwich from Earl of Sandwich.  Chicken chipotle avocado—yum!

Afterward we checked into our room at New York New York.  With the resort fees/taxes, it was more spendy than we would have liked.  The room was nice, though, and it didn’t seem as smoky as the Rio in the casino.  The location was also pretty good, as it was in between the start and finish lines of the race.

This is just some of the swag D received for running the race.  Very nice.

We were also invited to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant called Zefferino’s, located in the Venetian.

The food was absolutely delicious.  The waiter started us off with appetizers to share.  For our entrees, D had fettuccine with crab meat, shrimp and lobster.  I had sea bass with lobster tail—wow.  This was definitely a highlight of the trip, and I was able to meet some of D’s co-workers.     

DVNP: Furnace Creek Resort

D and I just returned from a trip to Las Vegas, but I will wrap up our Death Valley posts first.

For lunch on Sunday we ate at the 49er Café in Furnace Creek Ranch.  This was the design on the tables:

Turkey sandwich and hamburger on a pretzel bun.  Overpriced…nothing too exciting.

After lunch, we bought a day pass to the pool/showers for $5 a person.  The pool was fed by warm springs, and the water was quite warm.

The kids had fun at the little park nearby.

Next we stopped by Furnace Creek Inn, a sister property that is more upscale.

For dinner, we made ramen with veggies.

The next morning, we packed up and left in the morning.  D chatted up our neighbors and talked to one young family that is trying to visit every national park.  What an ambitious and inspiring goal!

On the way home, we stopped by Lola’s Kitchen in Barstow.

We shared a breakfast burrito and a carne asada burrito.  Both were fine, but I am not quite sure what all the Yelp hype is about.  Maybe there’s not much competition in Barstow? 

I didn’t have as much fun planning for this trip since the food options were so limited.  However, I was impressed with the stark beauty of Death Valley and liked how there was plenty of hiking options for small kids.  I was also excited to add one more cancellation to my national park passport.  D and I are already discussing where to go next!