It's Basketball Season

We're settling into winter here in Philly. We finally had a few snowfalls and the kids were able to go sledding in the neighborhood. Various activities have been keeping us busy this month.

Basketball started a few weeks ago. Both Evan and Madeleine are playing this year. Evan likes it and Madeleine really likes the sport. Her height and assertive nature is coming alive on the court. She seems to do better in sports where she is active all the time.

We took the kids to their first "nice" restaurant a couple of weeks ago. We went with another family into Center City for the evening. We started out at "Lucky Strike" bowling lanes. It's a newer place designed to look retro. All the kids really enjoyed themselves.

From there we went to dinner at Bookbinders, which is a Philadelphia institution. It turns out that, quite coincidentally, Koch (one of our group) dined at Bookbinders 52 years to the day there. Koch went into the Marines that was where they had their last civilian meal before they went into boot camp.

The kids behaved pretty well. Fortunately there was a kids meal so we didn't have to serve them lobster bisque or ahi tuna. There were some kid friendly selections that they were happy with, The Nintendo DS games brought by all were extremely helpful to keep them occupied so the adults could talk. Also, the restaurant was pretty quiet and we were away from everyone else so they passed.

The winter is starting to get a little long, but at least we're still not in Syracuse. Winter never seems to end there.

It's 2009

The break between Christmas and New Year is coming to an end. It was a peaceful time and we got a to do a lot of fun things. The weather was colder, but there wasn't any snow so the outdoor winter activities did not occur. We took a day to visit the Franklin Institute and see the IMAX movie Grand Canyon. It was a good time and the kids had fun.

New Year's Eve day Tina and I took in an early dinner in Center City. We did this last year and are turning it into a tradition. We'll make a reservation for 3:30PM (before the New Year's Eve parties start) to talk about the current year and toast the new year coming. We'll get home by 7:00, just in time to spend the evening with the kids. This year initially we were going to have some friends over, but were invited to another neighbor's to celebrate. So, we took our party across the street to another neighbors and celebrated there. It was good to see people we don't ordinarily see during the winter.

The break also included a trip to the movies to see "Marley and Me". My company's products "Dog Chow" and "Puppy Chow" were featured in the movie so I was interested to see how they were featured. The kids didn't really understand why I got excited when I saw the Chow on screen. Not that I would expect them to.

Here's hoping you have a rewarding and prosperous 2009 !