Oh the Weather outside is Weather

So, all of our plans for this past weekend were thwarted by "SNOWPOCALYPSE 2009." Katie was not able to attend the Walker Holiday Gala in Virginia Beach, Matt and Eileen were not able to have dinner with their friends in DC, and despite the emphatic suggestions to drop everything and make haste for Deep Creek Lake, we decided to ride out the storm and adopt the policy of flex and press. Being snowed in was about the most fun ever...



Eileen and I pioneered the trek to the store for more baking supplies, pizza and firewood.

And the party would not have been complete without Shane, Karlie (and Hershey!)...it took an hour for us (ok, Matt) to shovel the Pathfinder out of the cul-de-sac.




I wish we had pictures of all the neighbors helping to get us down the hill or of me and Eileen pushing around the corner on Forest Drive and then running to jump in....






Turns out nothing beats baked goods and peppermint hot chocolate...




And games....



And wine...





And apparently the combination of all those things turns into this....







BEST DAY EVER.

Let's all say what we're NOT thankful for. Meghan: Say.

Thanksgiving this year was rather epic. It all started with a quote from Mom: "So it's just me, Dad and.....Lisa?" Yeah. And up in Shore Acres it was Katie, Meghan, Eileen, Matt, Mary, Joe, Kelly, Aunt Kate, Kathy Kelley, Uncle Joe, Shane, Karlie and Sam Dog...with celebrity appearances by Beckers and Galsters (and a partridge in a pear tree).

We started with a family run in Newport "Team Mimi: will run for PIE" and we won! Okay, not really...but everyone said our shirts were sooooo creative. We didn't really get it. It was the annual Newport PIE run so our shirts said PIE...





After we visited Mimi....


We went back to the house to get ready for a delicious Thanksgiving feast....by taking the sailboat out in Wickford cove....




Matt got a lesson from Uncle Joe on Varsity sailing with no wind....






We set dinner making records that night since we spent the entire afternoon out on the water....but it was a delicious and wonderful evening (Even though Matt "the Grinch" Graham wouldn't let us watch White Christmas!!)

We blew off steam the next day playing on the rocks, climbing the Navagation aids in the sound, throwing around a football, skipping rocks on the water (we have determined that this is a gender specific skill), going to a movie and out for our favorite stuffed Quahogs at the Rhode Island Quahog Company in Newport. The weather was cold and rainy, but kind of perfect :)









The highlight of the weekend was definitely the spontaneous tri-tip dinner courtesy of Uncle Joe along with the delish Cabernet Franc that he HID!! During the dinner, instead ofthe traditional round of "What are you thankful for," Meghan shared what she DOES NOT like about all of us...it had us laughing and crying - the perfect end to a wonderful weekend.

Meghan.....would you like to share your thoughts?
Love,
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