There is nothing better in this world than ringing in the New Year with a bunch of friends, good wine, Sharon's homemade mussels, her amazing Irish coffees, and a few silly games.
Amazingly, all the grown-ups stayed up to see the ball drop this year. Plus, the kids all got to have their sleep-over, and we managed to stay off the roads last night. This morning, we breakfasted on fruit, bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers, thinly sliced red onions, and dill.
As of 2008, I am retired from competitive swimming. I know, how can a nobody like me be retired, and who cares, you ask? Well, many of my close friends and family have always thought of me first as a swimmer, and now I confess to spending more time on the treadmill and the elliptical than in the pool. I still love swimming, but I no longer compete, and I no longer track my yardage.
There were a few factors that led to my retirement. The first was that getting up every morning at 4:45am just got old. Second, our team workouts are 90 minutes, and I always felt that was excessive. I would often have rotator cuff and other repetitive motion stresses. I would have preferred a 60 minute workout with more intensity. Third, yes, that intensity word. Our team, with a change in coaching, turned into a long-haul yardage endurance team, and many of the intensity and drill workouts went out the window. In short, it became pretty boring. Finally, the last reason was my adoption of the Body For Life program. I was no longer maintaining a "tight streamline" with just swimming alone. Body for Life found me in the gym more, and in the pool less. I've been doing Body for life for nearly two years now, and I've been really happy with it.
My old team still swims. They are the Leesburg Area Masters Swim Team at Ida Lee Recreation Center in Leesburg, VA. LAMS is a coached team that has been around for more than five years. They have a variety of age groups and abilities and currently swim in the mornings from 5:30 - 7:00am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If you are interested in more information, send me an email.
As is quickly becoming tradition, we took a one-nighter on the day after Christmas. This has become a nice and relatively easy way to get away, for not much expense, and gets us out of the house after the holidays. The boys love to stay in the hotel, and we always have great food and fun.
This year, we decided to go to Baltimore, which is only about two hours away. Ed used his Marriott points to get us a room on the 31st floor (the Concierge Floor). The boys really enjoyed the high room with a spectacular view of the harbor below. (If you click on the picture at left, you will see a labeled version detailing all the places we visited.)
Even though it was raining as we arrived, we didn't let the weather deter us. We immediately toured a retired Coast Guard cutter, and Ed was happy to give us the tour, since he is intimately familiar with vessels like these from his days in the marines.
After touring the cutter, we had to warm up a bit in Becky's version of heaven--the largest Barnes and Noble bookstore ever. The bookstore is built in the old power plant, where even the smokestacks have been incorporated into the renewed architecture. While Becky, Eddie and Ed browsed the stacks, Luke and I warmed ourselves up with hot chocolates and Chai lattés.
Upon returning to the hotel, we checked out the pool before heading over to dinner at McCormick and Schmicks. This restaurant had the most excellent seafood! I had a San Francisco Seafood Stew (which is more commonly known as Cioppino), Becky had a Parmesan encrusted sole, Kathleen had rainbow trout, and Ed had salmon. Dessert was also exceptional, with créme brulé, raspberry cobbler, cheesecake, bread pudding, and an enormous fudge torte sundae. Unfortunately, I the lighting was really low, and I didn't get any good pictures of the food.
I was able to get some really nice nighttime shots however. The first one was taken from the restaurant, and the glow of sodium vapor lamps yellows the sky unnaturally. The other one was taken from the hotel room, and I think it turned out perfectly.
The next day, we breakfasted in the hotel restaurant before heading to the Baltimore Aquarium. The aquarium is always enjoyable, even if we see it at top speed when seeing it with the boys. I think they spend a grand total of 10 seconds on each display. I can't complain; I was the same way when I was a kid.
We did have some amusement at the cayman tank--during feeding time. One of the caymans got a little rambunctious and got tough with Luke, although Luke held his own pretty well.
The dolphin show held the boys attention pretty well, and we saw some excellent tricks and jumps.
We ate lunch at California Pizza before heading home. Later that night, Becky and I went to see Spamalot at the National Theater. The show was delightful and silly and crude, but totally enjoyable. Yet, with all that driving, we were pretty worn out by the end of the night.
The boys are now fully addicted to their Wii. Eddie is playing Hannah Montana's game, and Luke is doing Wii Sports and Rampage. I like the Mii channel. The boys and I created Miis of all the family. Here we are, wishing you all a Merry Christmas!
And some of the boys Miis: Afro-Andrew, Eddie's Hannah, Luke and his pencil-thin mustache, and my own alter-ego, Rio Grande.
Christmas came a little too early this morning--even earlier than in years past.
Since I accompanied Becky to Midnight Mass, she and I didn't get to bed until 1:30 am. So when Eddie woke up at 5:30 am, we were not exactly ready to get out of bed.
But ready or not, Christmas had arrived. After setting the coffeemaker to go, we staggered into the Orange Room to open our presents.
I won't begin to try to list all of the presents here, but some of the highlights are the Wii game that I told the boys they'd never get, including Hannah Montana, Rampage, Need For Speed, Avatar, and Wii Sports. Eddie got an Estes rocket that has a video camera in it, and Luke got a "bionic eye", which is a neat microscope that displays on the television.
My favorite gift, by far, was the keychain that Luke gave me. You'll have to check his blog for the, well, I'll just leave it a surprise. Totally Luke.
Becky got a night reading light called a Light Wedge (as much of a gift for me as for her), some Lily of the Valley perfume, and a Yankee candle that took Eddie over an hour to select.
Ed and Kathleen were here to enjoy the holiday with us too, receiving very nice shirts, books, and a bit of jewelry, plus a nice quilted runner from my mother.
Thank you to everybody for the great gifts. As I wrap this up, the boys are in playing on the Wii right now, with the soothing sounds of chaos and destruction flowing from the Purple Room.
Eddie composed this hymn, "Bless the Lord," the first in his Choral Series for Christmas. I tried singing it, but I don't think I got the notes right! Eddie complained that I was singing it "goofy."
Here are some photos from today's Christmas Pageant. All the kids did a really nice job on this pageant! Eddie and Luke were both shepherds--Benjamin and Isaac--and Luke even had a snoring role!
"If we are to have peace on earth ... our loyalties
must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and
our nation; and this means we must develop a world
perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation
can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we
are going to have war in this world. We must either
learn to live together as brothers or we are all
going to perish together as fools."
