Thanksgiving Weekend

A tremendous weekend at the Casa de Bartolo y Bonita in Houston.

Five F's for all of my alliterative friends.

We had Family:

In addition to myself and our brood, my parents and youngest brother came down on Wednesday. My youngest brother Steve is fifteen and knows all. He’s currently working on his driver’s license and was driving the car when they were pulled over:

Officer: May I please see your license and registration?

Steve: Her it is, sir. (My parents are arguing in the background)

Officer: Did you know that your tail-light is out and your proof of insurance is out of date??

Steve: “Perhaps you’d like to talk to my parents…”

The officer let him off with a warning…

I really enjoyed Steve at this meeting. He, Bartolo and I played basketball with my Dad for about the first time ever. We played Horse (which Steve suggested we change to “Loser” because of our embarrassing play) and even some two-on-two in a local park. I don’t recall us ever doing this before. Steve is a good eighteen years younger than Bartolo and twenty-two years younger than myself. Since Steve was born the same year I got married, we’ve never lived in the same house together. I’m looking forward to other opportunities to hang out with him. Modesty prevents me from mentioning who utterly dominated on the court.

We had Food:

We had a great Thanksgiving meal with all the fixings. The centerpiece of the meal was a culinary dish Bartolo created called “Trash Can Turkey.” Results were…interesting. I should have some pics up tomorrow. Bonita and Bartolo graciously accommodated our new weird diet, and put us up for five days (not an inexpensive proposition with three kiddos)

We had Football:

Bartolo actually uttered the phrase “I think we’ve seen enough football” late Sunday evening. On Thanksgiving we watched the Cowboys crush the Bucs. All hail Tony Romo! (Geez, even Achilles had his heel, I haven't seen Romo's weakness yet). We skipped the Lion’s game. (Does anyone ever actually watch that game??) Then that evening we saw a bit of the BC/Miami game. On Friday we watched UT lose to A&M—Bartolo is an Aggie, so much rejoicing accompanied their win. On Saturday we went to the Rice-SMU game and joined a joyous throng as Rice completed an improbable season as they defeated the ponies from Dallas. Sunday we watched the Texans stink it up and caught a bit of the Patriots-Bears matchup.

Around and between all of these games Bartolo, Steve and myself played Madden 2006 football. None of us play it that much, so we were whipped pretty soundly.

(Tomorrow--Frivolitry and Fun!)