East Coast fun & back to Portland
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving week and weekend! We sure did. If you read my last post, you know that Karen and I spent the week of Thanksgiving in New Jersey with her family, and the week started with Karen’s bridal shower. It’s only about five weeks from now that we fly down to Hawaii to get married! Some of our time in NJ was spent arranging the final details of the ceremony and the trip in general.
Outside of Thanksgiving, we ended up having something else pretty major to celebrate this week. Karen’s sister, Laura, and her boyfriend, Rich, got engaged too! Karen and I were there when a very nervous Rich came to ask their dad for permission, and we were very anxious to hear from them after he popped the question. After all, Karen set the two of them up a while back, and we couldn’t be more excited for them!
The newly engaged Laura and Rich.
Karen’s dad with his two future son-in-laws! It was a night of heavy celebration, as you can see by the wine glasses.
It was very nice to have a traditional Thanksgiving with Karen’s [ever growing] family. They’re a really fun bunch, and they’re all very close. I know a lot of married guys talk negatively about the “in-laws” but to be honest, I’ve struck gold in that department. The family has an annual Thanksgiving tradition, and that’s to go around the dinner table and, one by one, say what you’re thankful for. I told them I couldn’t have dreamed up a better family to be entering into.
We took this photo right before dinner. From left is David, Joann and Tom (Karen’s parents), Karen, me, Laura and Rich.
After Thanksgiving dinner, we ended up playing a Wii game called “Just Dance” and it was insanely amusing. You’re supposed to follow along with the dancers on the screen, but that’s often very difficult so you end up looking a bit, um, stupid… to the delight of everyone around you! In the pic above, Karen’s parents try to keep up with a Blues Brothers song.
On Friday, Karen and I flew back to the bus, which is still parked in the Portland, OR area. We were glad to be in the air while the rest of the country was in the Black Friday shopping frenzy. The next night, we went to a movie at a historic, art deco-style theater called Kiggins. It’s actually in Vancouver, Washington, a short drive from Portland. What’s funny is that the movie we saw was “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure!” Karen had never seen it and it had been years since I’d seen it. It was definitely an interesting way to spend the night!
For the next week, we’ll probably still be hanging around in the Portland area. More to come…