Happy Thanksgiving!

This past week was Thanksgiving. As there usually is we had a big crowd with lots of family to celebrate with and be thankful for. This year it was pretty amazing that for dinner all 29 people from the Kukesh side of our family were there, plus Russell to round out the number at 30. From San Francisco to Boston and everywhere in between everyone managed to make it for the holiday, which hasn't happened in quite a while. Later in the day the Fieldsend side of the family came to visit which made 18 out of 21 on that side of the family accounted for which wasn't too shabby either. After that we went to Jen's parents where a good chunk of her family showed up too, making for another 21 people to see. All in all I think we saw 54 people other than ourselves, unless I forgot someone, which made for a busy but fun day. I tried not to stick my camera in too many peoples faces but there are a few pictures from the day as well as a few other recent things here if you want to see them.

Other than that it's now the Christmas season. It will be Emily's first. Between that and the fact that Brooke really gets it now it should be lots of fun. I know it will fly by but hopefully we'll see most of you again before it's over. I'm sure I'll get plenty of pictures of everything and eventually I'll get them up so check back again in a little while.

Oh, almost forgot. Anyone who wants a print of the "Kukesh" family photo let me know. I thought it came out pretty good. I had a few to chose from but in this one nobody is blinking or blocked out and even the babies were looking at the camera. Just tell me the size and how many and I can either print them up and bring it to you, mail it to you or have it printed and ready for pick up at your closest Walmart, drug store etc. OK, that's it. Bye for now!

Climbing; Mountains & Stairs

This past weekend Ryan, Jon and I went on an overnight hike up Mount Lafayette. Hard to believe but it had been over a year since we last got out for a hike together. As sort of a training run for a winter Presidential traverse we decided on Mount Lafayette, after much discussion, up the Schoochumchuck Trail since we had never been up that one. We hiked about an hour the first night with headlamps and set up a nice little camp site, made dinner and went to bed. We got an early start the next day and summited in some strong cold winds late in the mostly overcast morning, but all in all it wasn't too bad for mid November. It was Jon's first 4000 footer, my 125th if I counted right and somewhere in between that for Ryan. The trip down was uneventful and it was in the 50's down low so for once we made it back to the car at a decent hour. There's pictures from the trip here if you are interested. There's also a video of the view from the summit of North Lafayette below if you're interested.

There are a couple short new videos below of the girls too but that's about it. There hasn't been much going on lately so no other pictures this time.Thanksgiving is next week however and there is supposed to be quite a crowd this year so there should be some from that. Hope to see all the family then. Bye for now!

Mother Nature played a mean trick on us this year for trick or treat. A couple days before the big day we got an overnight dusting of snow. Then the next day a big Nor'easter came through dumping anywhere from a couple inches to 32 inches of snow across the region. Because the trees still have leaves they collected a lot of snow and fell on the wires which knocked out power across New England for days, even over a week to many, which delayed trick or treat for most people, including us. Brooke took it in stride, knowing the big day would come, and when it finally did she was very excited. She was really into it this year and ran from house to house filling a bag with candy, most of which she couldn't eat. She had lots of fun all the same and it was really fun to see her that excited about it.

There's a bunch of pictures here of the pumpkin carving, snow and trick or treat as well as a few from a ride we took down the beach today to feed the seagulls for lack of much else to do with two kids that suddenly came down with pretty bad colds. If you're interested in that you can find the pictures here. Other than that not too much exciting has gone on around here so that's all for now.