Thanksgiving in Michigan 2010

Last week Ashley and I made our annual trip out to Michigan for Thanksgiving. Her step-mom Amy lives in Fenton along with her little brother Jake and little sister Casey. We flew from Denver to Chicago where we met up with Ash's brother Ken and his girlfriend Bobbie. From Chicago we flew to Flint, which is a lot closer to Fenton than Detroit is. Amy and the kids picked us up and we headed back to house. Early Thursday morning we woke up and began preparing for turkey dinner. I was in charge of peeling the potatoes and Ash got the green beans ready. People started trickling over around 1:30, and I was hard at work getting the world-class mashed potatoes ready.




Ashley's Uncle John with his daughter Sam, before the big feast. We don't hold it against them that they both went to Michigan State! :))




Ashley's little sister Casey makes sure the knives and forks are up to par before eating.




Ash's Aunt Mary and cousins Sam and Shannon. (More Spartans!) Sam graduated last year and this is Shannon's freshman year.




It took some rounding up, but post-meal we were able to get a group photo together.




Uncle John, Ash's step-mom Amy, and her boyfriend Mark.




Me just acting silly in what was supposed to be a girls-only photo.




It has become somewhat of a tradition post-meal to head down to the basement of Amy's house and play what we like to call "Thanksgiving Pong". It's basically beer pong but instead of using beer in the cups, we use water in order to let all ages play.




Jake felt like it would be more fun to play with someone's phone.




Water pong does have its exciting moments I must say, shown here by the dominating duo of Amy and Ash's cousin Sara.




Sam's boyfriend Ben, who is a 5th year wrestler at Michigan State, puts his gameface on to try to take down Amy and Sara.




Ash's cousin Katie (who we previously visited in Boston) and her boyfriend Nathan.




Ash, Aunt Mary, and Shannon.




Ash and I trying our hand at Thanksgiving Pong. We did not fare well.




Casey provided musical entertainment on the karaoke machine.




Ken's girlfriend Bobbie along with Jake back upstairs for some yummy dessert.




Ash's cousins get together to chat and catch up.




Ash and Jake.




Friday morning Ash, Ken, Bobbie, Casey, Jake, and I headed to the New Calvary Catholic Cemetery to visit Ash's dad and grandma.













Friday was also John's birthday so we all headed over to his house for some home-cooked grub. It was delicious!



Ken watches Casey play with some cards.




Some horsing around.




Ashley, Ken and all their cousins.




Happy Birthday John!




Saturday morning the sun popped out for a bit and the fall colors are always pretty.





Ashley, Casey, Ken, and Jake in front of Amy's house.





These are my two favorite photos of Casey. She decided to play in the leaves for a little bit.






Back at the Flint Airport, headed to Chicago, then to Denver.




"Runway 2-7, clear for takeoff."




Lake Michigan on the right, Chicago on the left.




O'Hare was very festive.




On the plane back to Denver before I tried to grab some Z's prior to having to go into work soon after we arrived.




We had such a fun time and it's always great to see Ash's family. Thanks again to Amy for letting us stay at her house and for hosting an awesome Thanksgiving dinner. Next trip is back to California for Christmas. That first day back we are going down to Pasadera Country Club to do our food tasting for our wedding. Less than 6 months to go!

Colorado Avalanche game

Back in Mile High Country, Ashley and I decided to head to a Colorado Avalanche game. They played the San Jose Sharks, so to be fair, we didn't really care who won since we're both originally from the San Jose area. The Avalanche play at the same place the Denver Nuggets play, at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver.





It kinda felt like that scene in the original Vacation movie where Clark Griswald got to Wallyworld and, not realizing that it's closed, says "First ones here...First ones here."





We normally buy the cheap seats in the upper deck but these seats for some reason were really cheap on StubHub, so we were pretty close to the action. Here are the teams warming up before the game started.





The flexibility of hockey goalies is amazing. Here is Avs' backup goalie John Grahame stretching before the game.




Opening faceoff between Avs' Matt Duchene and Sharks' Logan Couture.





Before the first minute is over, the Sharks had put one one in the back of the net.




Shooting some hockey made me remember how much I used to love shooting sports back at the San Angelo Standard-Times in San Angelo, Texas. But thankfully San Angelo didn't have a hockey team when I was there because it's almost impossible to follow the puck!





Ash and I.





Some game action shots.










Sharks' Logan Couture made great facial expressions as he drove the puck down the ice.




The Avs were down 3-1 starting the 3rd period, but scored two goals, including the tying goal with only a few minutes left in the game.




I like how when they score, all five guys on the ice skate past the the bench and get congrats from all their teammates.




Two minutes into overtime the Avs scored and their come-from-behind victory was complete.




And the crowd goes wild!




We found a nice guy after the game to take a photo of us.




Waiting at a long light to cross the street, I figured I'd put the camera on the ground and take a time-lapse photo.




We had a great time at the game, and can't wait to head to Michigan next week for Thanksgiving!