A "Deep Fried" Turkey Day

Thanksgiving has came and went and we got to have our first Thanksgiving dinner of our own since Genevieve's Mum was up in Rochester, NY awaiting the arrival of the next grandbaby.

Kenny got up early and ran in the Thanksgiving Day 10k race in Rio Rancho called the Hobbler Gobbler and set a new personal best of 54 mins 4 secs (on a hilly course in the rain) before heading home to help Genevieve with all the prep for the Thanksgiving day dinner

We planned to do the full big dinner of turkey with all the delicious trimmings (creamy mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, bread rolls, stuffing….all from scratch) made by Genevieve’s fair hand and with assistance of Miss Mac and Cameron.

We decided to deep fry our turkey instead of roasting and with the help of our friend Don (who has the turkey fryer and was joining us for dinner) the guys all ventured out into the cul-de-sac in the showery rain to fry up the bird.

It went great and we managed to avoid injuries, grease fires, 3rd degree burns etc and ended up with a very crispy, yet moist turkey.

Genevieve's Dad and brother Matt arrived and joined us for dinner too.

We all over ate (as always happens) and watched some football allow things to settle before we attacked the desserts…(yes plural). Genevieve baked furiously during the week and made apple crumble, apple and cherry tart and mini mince pies, which were all served with ice cream or whipped cream…..YUMMY!

All in all a day of feasting and being VERY thankful for all we have!

How 'bout dem Cowboys???

Christmas came early for me this year when Genevieve and Don surprised me with a gift on the second week of November.

Yes it was a trip to the "Mother Ship"

A one day round trip to fly to Dallas to see the Cowboys play the 49ers in one of the last games ever to be played in Texas Stadium. The Cowboys move to their new stadium next season.

I have been a Dallas Cowboys fan for many years (since I played for the Paisley Panthers as a Cornerback while at university in Scotland and when the Cowboys were at the peak) and yet had never been able to visit Texas Stadium for a game. Even though I have seen them play in Arizona and in Buffalo in previous years I had never been to a home game. So with Genevieve being pregnant and not able to travel this year and our plans to make our annual pilgrimage to an NFL game put on ice, it seemed like it would never happen.

However, unbeknownst to me, Genevieve and Don had been making plans for this trip for months and on Sunday 15th November while getting ready for our usual Sunday ritual of sitting down to watch football, a surprise was sprung. A mixture of shock, disbelief and amazement hit me all at once. After a few seconds I realized that the next Cowboys game I watch would be in Texas Stadium from the 50yd line! I was gobsmacked.

After a long week of waiting (and hoping that Scarlett did not put in an early appearance) the day came. Don and I flew out (first class) on the 6am flight from ABQ and got a cab to the stadium. We arrived about 3 hrs before the game which gave me just about enough time to circle the stadium both outside and in to be able to take it all in. We got to watch all the players arrive, got my "fairwell to Texas Stadium" shirt and took a ton of photos (a few of which are posted below.

I won't bore you with the details of the game but I will say it was great and the Cowboys played well and won (easily). I had an amazing day and flew home that night. Exhausted but exhilarated.

All I can think of now is......how do I try to top that for Genevieve's Christmas gift.....I better get my thinking cap on!

In summary, if you ever give Genevieve a gift, think carefully because......the one she gives you will always be better!

Arrrrrr me hearties! It be Halloween

Ahoy there me hearties, It be that time o' year again to be dressin' up an' be goin' out huntin' for booty by the Trick or Treat. This year we be goin' wi' the theme o' PIRATES!

So on this fair moonlit night, Cap'n Black hoisted the Jolly Roger and led his band o' buccaneers together with his loyal wench, the fair Genevieve, and navigated the River's Edge area of Rio Rancho. On the voyage we be plundering as many ports as possible to gather all the doubloons and pieces o' eight we could carry from the landlubbers afore the night be closin' in.

After a great grand night o' pilliging and wi' bountiful swag in hand, it were back to Port Jewell fer some fine eatin' and some grog.

Not a night fer the lily-livered among ye.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2008!

What perfect weather for the balloons this year! Mackenzie was the perfect age and loved all the special shapes! We got there nice and early and had time to eat breakfast before the balloon launch.

We got to take pictures with Steve Stucker, the channel 4 Weather guy! He collects balloon pins and he said his jacket weighs over 25lbs.

We found the Intel balloon too!

There were also some guys walking around the park dressed up as Star Wars characters. Cameron chased them all around the park until he got pics with all of them.

What a fun day!!!

Elephant Man Trip

In September Kenny completed 2 triathlons including his first Olympic distance (1 mile swim, 26.5 mile bike, 6 mile run), called the Elephant Man Triathlon.

Completing this race was the main goal of Kenny's training all year. The race took place at Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico and of course the whole family (aka Kenny's cheer team) came down also and we spent the weekend there with our good friends Ron & Bridget (who kindly let us stay with them, as always).

Kenny was up early on the Sunday morning and had a great race over a very challenging and hilly course in temps of about 90degF, cheered on by his "fans" and he finished in 3hours 27 mins, which was 3 mins ahead of his goal!

Kenny is an Elephant Man!

Sunday was rounded off by a trip to the beach where we all got to play in the water and Mac got to wear her new swimsuit.

We then headed back to Ron & Bridget's and had a great meal while watching the sunset, which always seems to be beautiful down there.

We stayed until Monday and we spent most of that day out on the lake on Ron & Bridget's boat and Mac got to show off her driving skills.

Cameron got to go kneeboarding again and proved that it is like riding a bike by getting up on the board quickly and looking like a pro after just a few minutes.

Genevieve and Mac took frequent dips into the lake to cool off and Mac gladly jumped in after sitting on deck in the sun for a while. Kenny got to brush up on his waterskiing for a while too.

Below is short slide show with some more pics from our fun weekend:

Click on this link to view slide show full page in its original form or to download any of the pics: Elephant Butte - Sept 08

After working up an appetite out on the water, Ron and Bridget then took us all for the Monday night special at their favorite little taco place where we got a good feed before packing up and making the drive for home.

Every time we go down to the lake we always have so much fun and we always say we should go more often. We love being down there as a family and Ron & Bridget are so hospitable and welcoming. Maybe next year we will go there more often and not let day to day life make excuses for us.

Cameron's First Day of 5th Grade

Cameron's first day at his new school, Cielo Azul. They built the new school less then a mile from our new house. Cameron just loves the new school and his new teacher, Mrs. Knutzen.

Another hard day at the office?

Yesterday was a tough day at the office. It was the 6th event in Kenny's department's Olympic teambuilding summer games. It is basically 10 events that run over 10 weeks where 7 different team compete against each other to be top of the medals table and win gold!

So far there has been everything from basketball and volleyball to an Olympics quiz and even a Ms PacMan competition.

Event 6 was Tug o' War ! Below you can watch the video of Kenny and his team in their first round match which the won convincingly (2-0).

Kenny can be seen at the front of the rope for his team.

All good fun! But need to work on that technique now that they are through to the next round.

1....2....3.....HEAVE !!!!



Tug o War