After more than a week of holiday festivities, we’re packing up today to drive back to Chicago. It’s always a little sad to go, especially now that Gabe is a little older and having more and more fun with both Christmas and with his cousins. I’m a little eager to get back to Chicago. With Steph going back to work soon, It’ll be my first chance to try out my new lifestyle of staying home with Sam and having Gabe go to school. Still, I’ll miss the relaxation and family of the holidays. Can’t wait until next year!

This year’s New Year celebration was epic. We started with a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament. I had only ever played Hold ‘Em once. I actually spent the night before my wedding playing Hold ‘Em for skittles in the motel lobby. Since I was pretty ignorant, I checked three books out of the library and read up on it during the long drive up to South Dakota.

My brother-in-law Jeremy is quite the card shark as it turns out. With a combination of very shrewd reads and a couple of good deals he took an early lead. I played very conservatively and stayed in mainly by folding before the flop. By 11:30pm it was just him and me, but he had a mountain of chips and I had barely anything. My cards turned better, and I struggled to stay in. My goal was to stay in past midnight, so after the New Year I started playing more aggressively. I think we both had a lot of fun, and there were some very very close hands. In the end, my concentration faltered: I thought I would win with an Ace kicker, and failed to notice that there were four hearts on the board. Jeremy won when I went all in against his flush. I learned to my chargin that Hold ‘Em is as much about stamina as anything else, I just couldn’t keep up my focus as long as Jeremy could. I also had a secret advantage. When they were passing out whiskey shots I secretly poured them down the sink while no one was looking! So, I think I was the only fully sober contestant. More kudos to Jeremy for beating me with more than a few shots in his system. While Jeremy and I finished out the tournament, the rest of the family watched the official New York ball drop, and we all toasted champagne and shared kisses with our spouses at the New Year’s moment.

After the Hold ‘Em tourney, we had several rousing rounds of Catch Phrase and Guesstures. Lots of drinking and the adults got a little rowdy. FInally, I had to take Sam to bed, and fell asleep trying to put him down. But, still, it was a great night of partying, just what New Years Eve should be.

Here’s another old photo. Since we just passed Christmas, I’m reminiscing about Gabe’s fifth birthday party this summer. Here’s a picture of him with the crown he made at preschool, opening his presents.

When he was younger, Gabriel had a very strong OCD streak. Here’s a picture of all his Batman toys lined up just so.

Gabe's "All About Me" Poster

This is a picture of Gabe, shortly after he started Kindergarten, with the poster he made so that his new friends could find out all about him. On the top you can see his name, with a lot of arrows pointing at it. Under that, in green, you can make out the Willis and Hancock Towers — his favorite places to go in Chicago. Along the left, you can see his whole family, including grandparents. I particularly like my mother’s pony tail. Gabe’s self portrait includes his dream of growing up to be half Spider-Man and half Hulk. In the bottom left hand corner is a drawing of the cat he wants, but doesn’t have, and our new house next to the house of his best friend, Dwyer. There’s a sticker with Marvel Super Heroes on it, and a photocopy of his favorite Star Wars Lego game, which has some weird colors because we were out of black ink. Finally, last but not least, he chose one stick and one rock from his collections and stapled them to the front!

All about Gabe!

Looking through some old photos. Here’s one of the great Columbus Day Cake which Stephanie and Gabriel made this year (2011). Everyone can see that it features the three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and Santa Maria. Those more perceptive among you will also notice that Baby Sam is also pictures in the lower left-hand corner!

Today is my birthday. I just turned thirty-five. My wife said, “If it’s okay with you, I’ll just take Sam as much as I can today and let you watch TV and work on your computer.” I said, “Honey, you know me so well. Thank you!” It was a lovely day, with lots of relaxation during the day, and cake and ice cream at night. I skyped with my dad, and had nice phone calls with my mom ans sister. Chill. The way I like it.

We’re in South Dakota for the week, enjoying the various holidays and birthdays of the season. Today we went to the Children’s Museum here in Brookings. It’s an old renovated public school. It’s huge. And it’s really well designed. It definitely gives the one in Chicago a run for its money. A good time was had by all. Steph and I spent most of our time in the “mini-explorer’s” room with little Samuel. But, Gabe and Grandpa came in and spent a good amount of time playing with us in there, too!

Gabriel's one man band

My favorite part is the CSI investigator looking on incredulously in the background.

As usual, we headed to South Dakota for Christmas this year. This year brought a twist, though, our first year taking the road trip from Chicago with our newest, now four-month-old, son. We were planning to leave after Gabe’s school, but we ended up leaving even later that. We didn’t get on the road until 4:30pm, and then immediately had to stop to feed Sam and hit heavy traffic. After an hour and a half, we’d only gone a mile! But that wasn’t the worst of it. As soon as we got out of the city, we stopped at a rest stop for a bathroom break and locked outselves out of the car! An hour and an insurance-covered locksmith later, we were back on the road. From there on in, everything was gravy. Steph sagely requested that we “start over” mentally and emotionally. Both kids fell quickly asleep and we resolved to drive until they woke up. They didn’t wake up at all, and Steph ended up driving all the way through to South Dakota. We arrived at 4am, sleepy but none the worse for wear, and with one more anecdote under our belt!