Sadly on Saturday morning following Thanksgiving we all drove Kathy down to the Saratoga Train Station so she could head back home to her own family. About a year ago the kids had their first experiences with the metro when we went to see Kathy's family in Virginia. This was their first real train station though. We weren't sure if we would be able to pry Ryan away without a multitude of tears.
The kids had a great time looking around enjoying their last few minutes with Aunt Kathy while we were waiting.
The big moment of arrival!
"Bye bye train..." says Ryan reluctantly. I'm still not sure what made him the saddest - seeing the train go, seeing Aunt Kathy go, or seeing Aunt Kathy go on the train without him. My guess is that it was probably a little of all of it. As a surprise the tears that came were actually from Alicia who was only consoled by the promise of somehow seeing Aunt Kathy again soon.
The day after Thanksgiving we bid a sad farewell to Uncle Dan and Aunt Jan as they drove west trying to beat a storm out of town. Thankfully Aunt Kathy had a great idea for the day. Saratoga, made famous for its race-track has horse statues scattered throughout the town. We decided to play tourist and see how many horses (and other excitements we could find).
"Babel Horse"
This was the first horse we stopped to see. I think it was my favorite. Meets all of my basic requirements simplicity of design and makes you think a bit.
"Giddyup"
Alicia's favorite horse, I think she liked all of the sparking mirror tiles used in the mosaic.
"Saratoga Horse"
Horse in front of "The Olde Bryan Inn"
Somehow I missed getting this one's name. I think we were just enjoying the aroma from the restaurant a little too much - definitely going to have to stop there sometime and try it out.
"Magic"
Horse in front of Starbucks
This was Mark's favorite horse. I don't think had a name however and as you can see it's a little different than the others with the platform as well as just being a more traditional statue. Still wondering what it's story is. Once again however, I got Matt picking it's nose - it was a joke from the first horse when we found cobwebs in a nostril - after that they all received similar treatment.
"Comic Relief" - dedicated to Robin Williams honoring his work for the homeless
This one was definitely Ryan's favorite. He immediately decided that it was going to get a shower of kisses. Alicia liked this one second best according to the report.
Obviously this wasn't one of "the" horses but despite Alicia's expression she really liked it and enjoyed getting to see some of the Christmas decorations that were going up.
Okay, so I'm a little biased but how can you resist snuggly cuteness! You may notice a conspicuous absence of Ryan in the following pictures - it's because soon after this he'd had enough (okay we'd had enough of him) and he got to ride out the rest of the trek in his stroller.
There's a store there - I think it's called something like Gee Wilikers. Anyways, if I've ever seen a store that I thought would come close to Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium this is it - at least from what I've seen in the the displays, I haven't dared take the kids inside! When we first drove in Wednesday night we were blinded by the lights from these displays. There are actually four winder wonderlands in all that they had put up - The Sweets, The Nutcracker, Winter Forest, and Santa's Shop - they were all just too cute.
"The Realtor" - M.I.A. or MagicallyInvisible?
"Where's the horse?" Alicia wonders. Possibly moved inside for the winter but we certainly couldn't find it so perhaps this horse knows a special trick.
This horse also wasn't one of the "real" horses but still oh so cute with it's scarf wrap. Amazingly I was able to walk by the store without going in to drool.
"Aslan, is that you?"
The last horse we found. Sadly it was inside for the winter and we couldn't get in to see it better. That still didn't stop us from getting our pictures or Matt from once again attempting to pick its nose.
Thanks again to Kathy for the great idea. It was so much fun. Hopefully we'll get to go back this summer and see if we can find any more.
So unfortunately school work seems to considerably cutting into my creative time this year and we didn't really get to do much ourselves for Thanksgiving - I had some great ideas that at most ended up half way completed and set aside for next year. Still, we had an absolutely wonderful time.
Thanksgiving here began about a week before when Alicia's school hosted parents to come and eat lunch with their children. I've got to say it was an interesting experience once again walking through a lunch line and sitting down at the long bench tables. The school had really worked hard to make it a special day with special clothes on the table and the principle even taking his turn as "chef". The kids were all so sweet. In Alicia's class they had learned two songs that they sang for us and they had all made the cutest pilgrim collars and hats for the occasion as well as special placemats that were laminated so they could be brought home. Oh and they had made cute turkey centerpieces with pine cones and feathers but Ryan threw such a fit when we had to leave the school without sissy that the turkey didn't survive. The next week was spent in the turmoil of papers, cleaning, and packing. After almost having a nervous breakdown on Tuesday about all there was that I needed to do I decided to just relax and enjoy the many blessings in my life. Wednesday Mark got off of work a little early and we drove over to NY to spend time with Mark's family. In addition to Grandma and Grandpa Ostrom and Uncle Matt, Uncle Dan and Aunt Jan were in from Colorado and Aunt Kathy was up from Virginia. Alicia was a little upset when she found out that none of her cousins would be there but had a blast with the attention from all of the grown ups while Ryan attempted to hide lego men in all corners of the house so as to make sure that his presence there would not soon be forgotten.
That night, I made my addition to the meal by making my first pumpkin pies. After much consideration I decided just to try Libby's Original Recipe and I think it wound up really pretty yummy (best of all I actually could eat it without having any bad reactions to the sugar!)
The following day was a perfect Thanksgiving (excepting of course the family and friends who weren't with us) the whole day the kitchen was full of the most delicious smells from Kathy and Jan. While we waited with mounting anticipation we decide to enjoy the nice weather and go for a walk in the woods. When we got back inside the four siblings began a game of Cranium while I tried to at least convince myself that I was being productive in my school work and Jan patiently kept tending to the turkey. After much torturing patience we were definitely appreciative of the end result...
The turkey, oyster stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, squash, cranberry sauces, gravy, and pumpkin pies left us all with delightfully full stomachs (except perhaps for Ryan who gave up about 20 minutes before it was ready and decided to sleep through it all). I've got to say here how impressed I was by my two wonderful sisters-in-law who pulled off this incredible feast.
All in all, I've got to say that I can't imagine being more blessed than we are.
The big moment of arrival!
"Bye bye train..." says Ryan reluctantly. I'm still not sure what made him the saddest - seeing the train go, seeing Aunt Kathy go, or seeing Aunt Kathy go on the train without him. My guess is that it was probably a little of all of it. As a surprise the tears that came were actually from Alicia who was only consoled by the promise of somehow seeing Aunt Kathy again soon.
