Madrid

Right after Thanksgiving, John travelled to Madrid on a short trip to visit one of the Amazon teams there. While he was only there for less than two days, he got a little bit of time in to see some of the sights. It's an old city with a bit of character, and a few large public squares.

A Spanish specialty - churros with a cup of very thick chocolate that
the churros are dipped in. Delicious, though very rich!

Thanksgiving 2018

Joseph came home for Thanksgiving late on Wednesday night and had a quick long weekend home before flying back early Sunday morning. It was filled with usual activities - Issaquah Turkey Trot on Thursday morning, Rodgers Bowl on Thursday afternoon, of course a turkey dinner, and then we got our tree on Friday morning. It was a rainy weekend, so rather than braving the mud to cut our own tree down, for the first time in a long time we just bought it on a lot. There was also lots of sports over the weekend - Virginia basketball won their holiday tournament versus Wisconsin, but a disappointing football weekend - UVA lost to Virginia Tech in OT on Friday, and Michigan was crushed by Ohio State on Saturday.

Waiting for the Turkey Trot to begin

Setting up the Rodgers Bowl

Getting a tree

Enjoying a turkey dinner

Jack Buys a Car !

A big incentive for getting a job at Pizza Hut has been having the money to buy a car. After a lot of research online, Jack decided upon a Jeep Patriot. He very much wanted a black one, and got a good deal on a 2014 Patriot. It of course has 4 wheel drive so he hopes to drive it to go skiing for years to come!

Michigan Football

Michigan has a great football team this year, up to #4 in the polls and contending for a spot in the college football playoff. In mid-November, John went out to Detroit for work and combined it with a trip to visit Joseph. He got to see Joseph's apartment, went out to dinner a couple of times, and went to the Michigan-Indiana football game with 110,116 other people. It was a cold evening, and a closer game than thought, but Michigan won 31-20.

New Ski's

Both Jack and Henry have grown quite a bit in the past year-plus, so they have outgrown their skis and needed new ones. Both picked out more unique skis offered online. Jack's were shipped to us; Henry's were made by a shop in Portland. We were headed to Oregon for a weekend, so we decided to stop in the shop and pick them up. It's called ON3P, and it's a small hole-in-the-wall in an industrial park, but they are well regarded for their skis. When we came by to pick them up they gave us a tour of their manufacturing facility so we could see how they start with a flat sheet of bamboo and turn it into the finished products that can be skied on. Very neat!

Henry's skis up against the wall when we first arrived at the ski shop

The lobby of the shop. No photos in the manufacturing area - top secret production methods in use!

Bringing the skis into our garage

Jack with his new skis