Thanksgiving Past and Into December

On Friday, December 9th we visited the National Aquarium in Baltimore with the Jonses. When looking at anything through the glass, she always wanted to "see the other animals". They have fantastic exhibits of all sorts of sea life and a great dolphin show. Afterward, Spencer and I enjoyed a much anticipated dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Thanksgiving Day, Anne got her Uncle Spencer play time. This was probably right before or right after she told me to "get off Spencer's bed". I set the record straight that it was my bed too.
Sister, sister! We were so happy that Natalie and Kristin would come to town for the holiday! It was also good fortune and a great blessing that they weren't swept away on the Susquehanna after Spencer dropped them off to go canoeing earlier in the day. Natalie made a lovely apple pie and Kristin wowed us with her hand whipped cream! We sure loved having them here.
Scott, Nancy, Anne and June, also slaved away to double our feast! Some of the dishes included: pomegranate salad, candied sweet potatoes that Spencer changed our minds about, leek gratin, orange jello salad, blueberry, apple and pumpkin pie. We also had the standards too. The turkey we were cooking seemed done to us, but then the scientists and mother Nancy inspected it and turns out 'parts was underdone'. So we waited and waited some more for the feast to begin. In the end, no one got sick just a little stuffed. Success and leftovers!
Our friends through Scott and Nancy, Alan and Lyanna, came up from Richmond, VA to join the feast. They shared some mighty fine sparkling drinks and some scrumptious chocolate caramel bars. It was so good to have their company. The day after Thanksgiving, the Greens toured Gettysburg, grabbed some custard and played at the Ellsworth's house. We also painted on some tee-shirts using freezer paper stencils. Natalie and Kristin painted birds on theirs and I painted a ship on a shirt for Spencer. He wears it all the time now.

On Saturday we took Natalie and Kristin to catch their buses in Philly and stopped for a cheesesteak lunch on our way. Its too bad their wasn't enough time for us all to go to the Fonthill Castle museum- I loved it! Spencer had been there before and enjoyed it his second time through as well.

Plus Ultra=More beyond was the builder/visionaries motto. He also made tiles like the one above which were throughout this fascinating 40+ room cement 'Castle for the New World'.

Oh, and here I am at 35 weeks pregnant: