12.1.14 - Thanksgiving trip

I'm sitting at the Denver airport waiting for my late flight to leave for home. I was out here for a week and had a great time.

I'm so glad Jack got to spend at least part of it with us. While he was here we had a karaoke night (specially arranged at the local pub by Dad and Jill so that Jack could join us), we played Tichu, and Jack and I got to share in babysitting my nephew Malcolm. And of course we ate tons of food, especially pie.

Rick rolling the whole bar.

Some of the pie.

I was bummed Jack had to leave early but the rest of the trip was still great. Neil and Everett went with us to take Jack to the airport (a 1.5 hour drive each way, roughly). It was good visiting time. After Jack was gone I think the highlights included all the time I spent babysitting Malcolm while Julie worked with Denny on their move, and the paper game Jill, Ellen, Everett, Neil, and I played one night. We must've played 5 or 6 rounds and my stomach was actually sore from laughing so hard.

Actually, the cutest is when he smiles at you
while he's trying to eat, but I didn't get a pic
of that.

Paper game reactions.

One evening I also went to church with Dad and Rocket, just to see what their church is like. It was alright, but mostly I was happy to get out of the house for awhile and have a chance to talk a bit with Dad one-on-one to and from church. It was also interesting to see how little Rocket (4 years old) responded to the service. He did a pretty good job being quiet but of course he had no idea what was going on.

I kept trying to give Ellen a chance to feel Clara kick, but Clara didn't cooperate. At one point she did kick Malcolm while I was holding him, but I'm pretty sure he didn't notice at all. That is their first interaction, I guess.

This morning I rode with Jill to the airport to drop Neil off, and it was good visiting both there and back. I believe that's the only chance I got all week to spend any one-on-one time with Jill, but that was nice. Hours later Dad took Julie, Malcolm, Ellen, Everett, and me to the airport. We stopped for Chipotle on the way. Ellen's flight was first and she left quickly. Julie, Malcolm, Everett, and I hung out on the upper floor of the airport for an hour or so until their flight left. I got to hold Malcolm in standing position in front of the glass barrier so he could watch all the people walking below us to their gates. He was interested in that for a long time. He got drool from his hands all over the glass, just at baby height. Sorry about that, cleaning people. But it was pretty cute.

Making sure Malcolm is buckled in for the ride to the airport.