Pictures from yesterday when we went out to Ko Olina for a couple of hours before we met Keane and Kristyn for dinner.
Scott and Nicole at the beach.
View at Ko Olina
The beach.
A self portrait of the two of us at Ko Olina
Archive for December, 2008
Beach Day
December 25th, 2008
Hawaii Day 2
December 25th, 2008Our second day in hawaii involved running errands and picking scott up from the airport. Originally we had planned on getting started around 9:30 in the morning but since we were up so early we ended up leaving the earlier in the morning. We grabbed a quickie breakfast from zippys and then went to Ala Moana so that nicole and mom could get a pedicure. They ended up getting their pedicures from the same place that they went to before the wedding. Mom treated nicole as part of her Christmas gift. I kinda just amused myself while they were in the spa by picking up dads gift and mailing a package for mom. It was nice to just wander around the mall and people watch.
At that point it was time to pick up scott from the airport. It was a bit of a disaster getting to the airport from the mall but we eventually got there. Once we picked scott up we headed back into the city to have lunch in chinatown. Since we don’t know any of the places in chinatown we ended up just going to the same place that we had the ching family reunion a couple of years ago. The food was ok but it was fun at least to eat local Chinese food. After lunch we picked up a bunch of stuff that aunty Donna asked us to get from chinatown.
Me in front of the duck place in chinatown
After lunch we headed back home to take it easy. Well I took it easy at least. Nicole decided to start baking up storm in mom’s kitchen. She baked 4 or 5 differnt types of cookies and double batches of some of the recipies. I swear mom’s oven saw more use that night than in the last 20 years combined.
Nicole baking
Just a few of the cookies that nicole baked that night.
Hawaii Day 1
December 25th, 2008We’re in Hawaii for Christmas this year. Since we haven’t seen my side of the family since the wedding it was their turn to see us this Christmas.
Getting out here ended up being fairly painless. On the morning we were leaving the temperatures had dropped to the point that the rain from the night was starting to freeze over. This made for some treacherous driving conditions. However we lucked out and our cabbie managed to avoid any major accidents on the way to the airport. It was a close thing, since as we approached our exit on 295 to go to the airport we saw that they had closed 295 in both directions (probably because the overpass had frozen). Luckily our exit was just before where the cars were backed up. So we easily made our flight out to houston. We enjoyed the first class upgrade for that leg of the trip (christmas gift to nicole) since we got to skip the check in lines and had a very yummy breakfast on the flight. Our houston leg was uneventful except for the hour delay before take off while we waited for people from newark who had been delayed as a result of all the ice up there.
We took it easy the first night we were in hawaii. I just had to run some friend’s of my fathers to the airport for their flight to LA. Nicole started to prepare some of the stuff she would need to bake cookies as a way to stay awake. Unfortunately we both ended up getting up way too early the next morning even though we went ot bed exhausted. Think that was probably due to sleeping in a strange bed.
Nicole baking the her first batch of cookies.
Chorus Line
December 7th, 2008
Us at the Chorus Line
Last night we went to the Chorus Line at the Hippodrome theater. It was a show that is a part of our subscription we bought for the year. Unfortunately when it was time to go for our show it was snowing outside. It was a really light snow but it was the first snow of the year so I was kinda concerned. Especially since as we were leaving columbia road was closed in one direction. I think the city was caught flat footed because there was no salt on the road and a lot of the bridges and overpasses were in danger of icing over. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad going in and it was clear by the time we went home.
Nicole was craving Indian food so instead of going out for a fancier dinner we went to the Indian restaurant Kumari on North Charles St. Nicole had been there before with her lab and is a favorite of Abbie and Cale’s. I thought the food was really good and the service was fantastic. Thankfully our waiter warned us that one of the things we initially ordered was very spicy so we changed the order and were very happy with his lamb recommendation.
Walkin in the snow
The show itself was very good. I can see why it lasted so long on Broadway. At first we were a little disappointed since there was no intermission so we thought it was going to be a short show. It ended up being over 2 hours long which was great. Again the theater was pretty empty which probably isn’t good news for the theater business. I was surprised at how minimal the set was for the show I really enjoyed it. The cast was fantastic and their singing was a lot of fun.
The only low point of the evening was the other audience members. It amazed me at how rude Baltimore people could be. The woman sitting next to nicole had her coat half on nicole and then couldn’t sit still during the entire performance and kept shifting around. Her husband wasn’t any better as he seemed incapable of whispering to the person next to them since I could hear him talking during the show even though i was 3 seats removed from him. Also people 2 rows in front of us left in the middle of the last number instead of sitting still and waiting to the end of the show like any other reasonable person.
Ross at Kumari
Self picture at the Hippodrome
In the lobby
Just before we went to our seats
Some of the pictures are a little blurry because we were having problems with our new camera (more in another post).
Thanksgiving in Chicago
December 2nd, 2008This year for Thanksgiving Ross and I headed to Chicago for the big Crnkovich Thanksgiving. I have three Aunts/Uncles that live in the Chicago area. My Aunt who lives in a north shore suburb hosted all 30 of us. Everyone was able to make it this year except my brother (who was working in NYC).
We arrived in Chicago early Wednesday morning. It was nice that we were there early in the day and had the whole day to visit with family, but those early morning flights are killers. Most everyone arrived either late Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Wednesday was a low key day hanging out at the house and helping to get ready for dinner the next day. My Aunt had 19 people staying at her house, so Ross and I and my cousin and her husband stayed at a friends house about 1/2 mile away. Wednesday night we had lasagna and pizza for dinner. Afterwards some went out for a movie – but we were too exhausted from the early morning flight to stay awake during the movie.
Thursday morning we arrived at the house, had a little breakfast and hung out in the morning. Appetizers (shrimp, bacon wrapped dates, spianokapita, mozzarella sticks) went out around 1pm, but the “locusts” got to them and they went really fast. My Aunt (who has 3 girls) was surprised how fast food went with all of us around — she doesn’t know what it’s like to have teenage boys around! The dinner buffet was set up in the front hall — turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, crescent rolls, salad, butternut squash soup, cranberry sauce from a can, and cranberry jello salad. We squeezed all of us around 3 tables set up in the dining room. We waited a few hours before having dessert. There was pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie, oreo pie, brownies, cookies and ice cream…mmmm. After dinner we all hung around and talked for a while, then groups got ready to go out to the movies. Ross and I saw Bolt with two of our younger cousins, some went to see Twilight and some went to see Australia. Both Bolt and Twilight got good reviews, but Australia got mixed reviews.
It’s a carving party
Friday most of us went into the city to see the Broadway musical Jersey Boys. Before the show we went to Carla and Lee’s place in the city for a nice lunch, and then all headed down to the show. Jersey Boys is the store of Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons – so there was a lot of fun up-beat music. It was one of the most fun shows I’ve seen in a while. After the show we headed out to my Aunt’s house who lives in the Western Suburbs. My Aunt went to the show with one of my cousins, so my Uncle was left in charge of putting dinner in the oven. Whoops..he forgot about putting the lasagna or casseroles into the oven until we got there…so we had a long wait until dinner. That also meant that the appetizers were devoured by everyone – a huge cheese platter with crackers, chips and salsa. After dinner we had cake and ice cream for Grandpa’s birthday which was very nice.
Grandpa and his birthday cake
On Saturday people split up into groups and did different things. There was a group that went into the city to see a fashion exhibit at the Chicago History Museum – and then for some shopping on Michigan Ave. Ross and I went with a group to the mall to do some shopping. I got a sweater for my cousin whom I had in the gift exchange. We ate lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen that was in the mall for lunch and it was quite yummy. Saturday afternoon Ross and I made an attempt to go to the Chicago Botanical Gardens to see the Christmas lights and displays, but took a wrong turn on the way, and decided to give up and go home.
Saturday night we played paddle tennis at the courts in Winnetka. My Aunt had reserved all 6 courts and the little club house. Paddle tennis is a winter racket game which uses paddles similar to ping pong paddles, on a court smaller than a tennis court. The courts are enclosed by fences, so you can play the ball off the fence. They also have heated floors for when it’s snowy out to melt the snow. Everyone had a good time playing paddle. Ross and I enjoyed the ‘non-competitive’ courts -where we just had fun hitting the ball around, or were playing for fun with little pressure. We also had dinner there – chili, cornbread and all kinds of snacky foods. It was a good way to end the weekend.
We left early on sunday morning to catch a 7:30am flight. Ross and I were so exhausted we fell asleep before they closed the cabin doors and woke up as we were landing. Once we got home we went on our Christmas tree adventure (see post).
Other highlights of the weekend included air hockey, ping pong, the kitties (Domino and Tigger), football, and lots of old pictures that Grandma brought to give to everyone. It was a great weekend full of fun, food and family – and I’m glad we got to go.
