We are home! It was a long trip and lots of car time, but in the end worth it. Andrea made a wonderful, juicy turkey, yummy mashed taters and excellent stuffing (thanks Stovetop for the secret recipe). Julia loved her green frog toy that Uncle Mark picked out at Toys R Us - how were we to know Blues Clues is so out? The lady at the store was very helpful. The frog sings and talks and goes to bed with her. She loves to sing and watches TV so she can touch it - like the rest of us I'm sure glasses are in her very near future. Charlie is getting so big and voices his opinion at every turn - even told grandpa and Mark to go away. Very funny to hear that one.
Steve and Barry's is a favorite store of Mark's (along with Menards...) and he is sad they are going out of business so in each big city we had to find one and scout out some deals. Needless to say many of our relatives will be getting a cool gift in the near future. We hit them in South Bend, Cleveland, Rochester and Syracuse. Shopping in Cleveland was an adventure in diversity. I believe we were in South Euclid at a mall and we were in the minority and I think we got lucky to not be wearing any sort of gang signs. Mark was impressed that he didn't even notice - I pointed it out. If you ever have the need to visit the Cleveland Clinic you'll be happy to know there is a great hotel right on property - we stayed there thanks to a great Priceline deal. Heavenly bed. We did manage to find a Cheesecake Factory after the adventure in the mall at another shopping plaza about three miles away - that mall was really new and upscale. We ate at Stir Crazy and I had my favorite lettuce wraps - tasted just like PF Changs.
We helped Mark's parents put up the biggest tree ever - even had to cut off the top and part of the bottom. Looks great and smells wonderful. Mark got his snow finally on the way home today, but it was done by the time we got home - it's still really warm here.
So tomorrow is back to work...
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