Last week Aaron and I made our usual trek down to DC to celebrate Thanksgiving with Aaron’s family. To our surprise, it was a very easy travel experience – no delays, minimal annoying fellow travelers, and our luggage was successfully returned to us at BOTH airports. We flew down Tuesday night and therefore had a nice long visit and a great opportunity to catch up. As usual, we ate a lot of good food, made our traditional pizza dough centerpieces (please make sure to check out the photo of Aaron and Andrew’s Thanksgiving seal), played games and even squeezed in a few movies. It was a fun trip and a great way to kick off the holiday season. Click on the photo of Molly and Aaron above to see the small album of photos.

Last week James took a day off from work and drove up from CT to spend a day with Justin. Later that same day, Peter, Aaron and I joined James at Amy and Joe’s house for an impromtu mid-week sibling gathering. It was really great to sit down, have dinner together and catch up. Above is the first picture of the four of us together (five really) since Justin has been born. Oh, and you might have noticed, Justin was a little surprised by the camera’s flash… Click on the above photo to see a small album of pictures (some of which are Amy’s – thanks Amy!).

A couple of weeks back Amy and I went out for a night and left Aaron and Joe home with Justin. We had a quick dinner and then saw Kathy Griffin’s stand up routine at the North Shore Music Theater. I love her! When I bought the tickets I told Aaron if I couldn’t find anyone to go with me that he would have to come and that I would to explain who all the celebrities (that she would be making fun of) were afterwards. He agreed but was quite relieved when Amy expressed and interest in going with me. For anyone who doesn’t know Kathy – she is a comic whose entire show is poking fun at celebrities and the culture in Hollywood by recounting her personal experiences there, while at the same time openly admitting how much she wants to be a part of it. For me, she’s a great storyteller and really funny. Amy and I both enjoyed it.

So on our last day in Sedona, we got up early, stocked up on coffee and baked goods and headed north to the Grand Canyon. It’s about a two and a half hour drive – but well worth it. We headed for the South Rim of the canyon, as it was closer and we only had the one day. We got there before lunch time and had plenty of time to explore. We visited many overlooks, had lunch at El Tovar Hotel and hiked from Mohave Point to Hopi Point. The path between Mohave and Hopi was rocky and narrow. The proximity of the path (which had no guard rails mind you) to the actual rim of the canyon varied, but at times the two were separated by mere inches. Good news though, I only came close to falling into the canyon once or twice. We watched the colors of the rocks change all day from bright orange when we first got there to deep purple at sunset. After the sun went down we loaded back into the car and headed back to Sedona.

And before we knew it, our week was over. We had a great vacation and really enjoyed our time in the Sedona area. Click on the photo above to see the last chunk of our vacation pictures.