Turkeys of a feather flock together.

Thanksgiving was nice this year, even though the day seemed to pass in the blink of an eye (and I am at work on Black Friday - boo hoo). Given I have twelve siblings, twenty-something nephews and nieces, this year's Thanksgiving was a fairly simple one. My brother-in-law (on Sarah's side) and his wife hosted an afternoon dinner which we followed up with dessert at my brother's house. We were only in the van for about an hour the whole day yesterday - a nice change from the time we spent driving to and from Disney the previous two weeks!

No, there are no sensational stories to tell about this year's Thanksgiving. Just a simple day to think about all that we have and remember those who are not with us.

I did, however, capture some fairly cute commentary the other night of Allie and Emily as they compared Thanksgiving hats they made in school:

Day One Excitement at Disney World.

We did it. Sarah, Allie, Anna, Emily, Grammy and myself made the 1,300+ mile trek south last week to see Mickey, Minnie, Ariel, Cinderella and ALL the other Disney characters our daughters have come to absolutely adore!

I hope to have time to share more about our 10 day trip, but time does not allow me to spend much time today. I will, however leave you with a video clip of one of MANY precious moments we experienced while at Disney - Mickey was one of the first characters Allie, Anna and Emily met!

Way to go USA.

Sunday had just about come and gone without me remembering the New York City Marathon had been run. Having triplets who are three and a half years old has fried my memory! I am constantly writing notes to myself and Sarah and I always tell each other reminders in hopes that between our two tired brains we will remember to ___ fill in the blank. Anyway…thanks to the end of Daylight Savings Time, our girls were asleep well before 8:00 last night so I was able to watch two television shows in their entirety (60 Minutes and The Amazing Race). And before we headed up to bed we decided to catch some local news. That was when I realized I had forgotten about the NYC Marathon being run.

NECN (the news station we were watching) showed the Chilean miner crossing the finish line, but the newscast didn’t say who won neither the men’s nor women’s divisions! Hello?! They did, however, report that Shalane Flanagan of The United States had placed second for the women and became the first US woman to do so since Kim Jones in 1990! Even though NECN did report on Ms. Flanagan’s feat, I am betting that “celebrity” runners like Bobby Flay (4:01), Ryan Sutter from The Bachelor (3:21), and Al Roker (7 hours +!!!) will get as much press from completing the marathon as Flanagan will get from the awesome run she had in her first marathon.

So I just want to say congratulations to Marblehead, Massachusetts native Shalane Flanagan for finishing second in her marathon debut!

Run of a lifetime.

With an upcoming road trip approaching, I was thinking about what my running options will be when we get to our destination. Sarah said she’s not even bringing her running shoes because we will be doing so much walking while there. I, on the other hand, am going to bring some running gear in hopes that both time and energy allow for a couple of runs. As I thought about the upcoming family road trip, I started to think about some of the cool places I have run since I started running (about 15 years ago):

…through the streets of Rome, Italy

…by the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, The Capitol, and all the great, historic spots in Washington D.C.

…along the scenic coastline of the Massachusetts’s North Shore

…through the hallowed streets of Salem

…by Cinderella’s castle at WDW, Orlando

…up the hills of the Georgetown section of Washington

…across the finish line of The Boston Marathon

…alongside the canals of Venice, Italy

…while honeymooning on the beautiful islands of Maui and Hawaii

…past the scenic Nobska Point Lighthouse in Woods Hole

I guess it doesn’t matter whether I get a run in while we are away, as long as I have my running shoes with me. You never know when an opportunity for a run like this will happen again!

Halloween 2010

Sarah beat me to it, so this post has ended up being an addendum to Sarah's post about our Halloween. Halloween started for us Thursday night at a local library for some Halloween themed songs and stories for young children ages 2 - 6. The girls, as usual, started the night in shock and sat staring at all the other kids for the first half of the "show". They did, however, eventually warm-up and had fun dancing, singing, and blowin' feathers around.

Friday and Saturday were build up days until Sunday when all their pent-up excitement came out. There was a Halloween parade during the day which we participated in - it was fun. Outside of having to listen to kids blow whistles at the conclusion of the parade (the town gave whistles as part of a goody bag to all the kids), Sarah & I survived the chaos.

The end of the our Halloween day was the best, though. The girls' excitement about trick or treating far exceeded my expectations. They had a blast going house to house and Emily literally tripped and fell because she was so anxious to get to the next house!. And then when we got home they LOVED going to the door to see the kids in costume. This was one day you gotta love if you have kids!

Here's a few clips from our day: