Thanksgiving Break, 2012 - Part 1

We headed up to WI on Wednesday - it was foggy from Peoria to Rockford.  It was warm in Green Bay on Thanksgiving (61 F, broke daily record, tied Thanksgiving record).  We had Thankgiving dinner with my parents and my sister.  At night, Karen and I went to Shopko - I felt weird about it, though it was my idea and we did get good deals.  Today was colder and windy with flurries.  We went up to Sturgeon Bay to meet Karen's dad.

All she wants for Thanksgiving is her two front teeth...

Katie lost her second tooth at school today.

Transitioning between seasons

This afternoon we put up outdoor Christmas lights.  We do not plan to light them much until after Thanksgiving. Our pumpkin person has both a leaf rake and a snow shovel now. Tonight, PBS is showing the Ken Burns film "The Dust Bowl".  We were interested in watching the movie because we read "The Worst Hard Time" in the spring, and as a result drove through the Texas/Oklahoma panhandle region in the end of June.  The dusty weather we saw then (note the horizon in the picture) was enough for us; I can't imagine the big dust storms.

Frosty day and lights at night

On the way in to campus this morning I stopped down by Kickapoo Creeck to take pictures of the frosty plants.  This afternoon Kris and I worked a science demo event at the new Riverfront Museum.  It went OK.  The museum is nice, but  it seems a bit small for the admission price (we got in for free as volunteers, though). This evening we went to the Festival of Lights Parade in East Peoria.  East Peoria is known regionally for its extensive light displays, and I have previously posted pictures of our visits to the park where they are posted.  Many of the displays are paraded through East Peoria to kick off the event.  This was the first time the parade has ever been held the weekend before Thanksgiving (rather than after), so we finally got to see it (although we thought it was bit on the early side to do a lot of Christmas stuff).  We were near the end of the parade route where the crowds were thinner.  Temps were about 50 F, so we were well chilled when the parade reached us after an hour or so of waiting.  Alas, my camera battery died so I have no pictures of the floats themselves.  It was nice to get close to the floats all lit up.  Some played music; most sounded like portable generators!  My favorite sight of the evening was Kris holding Katie up as she excitedly waved to Santa at the end of the parade.

Windy Weekend

Yesterday was warm, which tempted me to put up Christmas lights, but it was really windy so I opted to stay off the ladder. I did move a bunch of decorations out of the shed into the house - I thought we were more unpacked than this! Tonight I noticed that a downspout has blown off my house. On the plus side the wind has blown most of the remaining leaves off the trees in our yard, so I was able to finish mowing/raking for the year (I hope).  Today the weather turned colder (chance of a little snow tonight) and wetter.  While Kris went to her friend's concert, Karen dragged me away from paperwork to go to the Bass Pro Shop.  As you can see by Katie's hair it was still windy.  Santa was there, and Katie (who lost her first tooth at school this past week) got her picture with him.  She blanked out about what she actually wanted for Christmas, but Santa reassured her that she could send her request to him.  We (not Santa) also went bowling there.  The alley has an under-the-sea theme (for example, our ball return looked like a shark).   As usual, I was best in my first game, beating Karen and Katie.  I faded fast:  Karen won the second game (overall we actually tied) and Katie beat me, too!

Election Approaches and Other Things

Thanks, Barak Obama, for your ad encouraging early voting - the content polarized me enough to do so. I was 4th in line in West Peoria on Friday morning. The check-in computer crashed after voter #1, but the very-stressed judge kept things moving and I made it to my 8:30 office hour. It was more annoying not being able to vote in some regional races where we still had to endure the advertisements. Karen voted later in the afternoon. 

The cool weather has been driving mice indoors - we set out traps last night and caught 3 of them, but none tonight. Many of the leaves are off the trees and we have been keeping up with the raking. 

Saw something interesting at Sunday school.  Eight Kindergarteners (all Caucasian and suntan free, mostly blond-haired and blue-eyed) were asked to describe themselves.  Their responses to hair and eye color were immediate, but they all struggled to describe their skin color.  My favorite response was "skin-colored".  Nobody said "white".  I hope I am not somehow insulting anyone, but I thought it was was kind of inspiring that they were not quickly categorizing thmeselves as white, black, red, yellow, purple, green, or any other color.

My Cousin's Medium-Sized Syrian Wedding

Last Thursday I presented the second half of my seminar about my sabbatical efforts.  I guess it went OK, but I'm glad it's over.  Also on Thursday the first full-sized Chick-Fil-A opened in Peoria.  I heard it was pretty busy.  Katie and I stopped there on Friday night and it was still busy.  I think part of the popularity, based on various conversations I overheard, was due to people eating at other Chick-Fil-A places (mostly in the south).  On Saturday, the family and I attended a wedding for my cousin up in Chicago.  It was been nearly 2 years since I have been there, and the first time Katie ever saw the city during the daytime (she was impressed by the big buildings). My cousin married into a Syrian family, so the wedding was a good opportunity to broaden my cultural horizons. I was reminded of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and Karen was reminded of "Bride and Prejudice." The half-hour ceremony was at St. Odisho Church (the denomination was the Assyrian Church of the East).  Much of the ceremony was not in English, we wound up near the back, and people stood the whole time, so I cannot offer extensive details, but I did notice there was very little iconography on the walls except lovely script over the altar, and at one point both the bride and groom wore crowns.  Afterward, in the receiving line, an older lady threw coins at the bride and groom (as opposed to the rice I had at my wedding).  The reception was an interesting fusion of Midwest and Syrian traditions.  There were two musical acts that alternated sets - one was a loud, talented rock band playing a variety of mostly 80's anthems.  The other was a trio (drummer, keyboardist, and singer) that sang Syrian songs. The Syrian songs were really long (like a very extended remix) - there was basically one or two songs per set.  Some saw the singer actually stop singing, take a quick call on his cell phone, and then resume singing during one song.  Dancing to these types of songs typically consisted of everybody joining hands and dancing sideways in a long snaking line (sideways bunny hop).  The people near the front of the line actually had some steps that they followed, but where I was toward the back it was basically a shuffle.   Our room was under the ballroom, so even after we retired for the evening we could still hear the music (and later on the vacuum cleaners).  We all enjoyed the wedding, and I got to see some people that I have not seen in a long time.