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We had a really fun weekend. My mom came down from St. Louis on Saturday and stayed until Monday. On Sunday, we went to the Conservatory and the Art Museum. The conservatory was really pretty - alot of cool plants. I would have taken more photos, but our main lens for the Nikon D80 is on the fritz so I was using my backup Olympus 750UZ. We didn’t get much time in the Art Museum, but we were able to visit a number of the wings and exhibits. Will have to go back there soon. Sunday night we had dinner at Teak for Emily’s birthday. Its a thai place. Brian tried to order his food with a spice level of 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10), but luckily he let us talk him out of it and ordered a 5
Monday, mom got to spend the day with Sean while we were at work. We are going to visit her this weekend too, so that will be nice quiet weekend away from Cinci.

Sean likes bath time!

We started out on Saturday by attending a musical that Emily’s cousin Wes was in. It was a small theatre group introducing a new Christian musical. We enjoyed it. Sean enjoyed his afternoon with his Auntie Gamma (Emily’s Aunt Laurie).
Emily made us a reservation at John Philip’s in Crestview Hills. Its one of my new favorite restaraunts. The menu is small (wine list huge), but the selection of appetizers and entree’s is not missing anything. I went with the Filet (with a side of mushroom bourdalaise sauce) and Emily got the prime rib. Having a restaraunt of this nature makes me feel we don’t need to drive down to the waterfront anymore! The service is great as well. Our waiter was never overbearing and even remembered the last time we came in (and he wasn’t even our waiter that time!).
Ashley kept an ear out for Sean while we were out to eat - Thanks again Ash! Another advantage of the colony! Emily and I finished up the night watching the movie Jumper - although she didn’t make it through and had to finish it on Sunday. I don’t know why that movie got such a bad review when it was in theatre’s, as we both enjoyed it. Def. a renter and not a buyer though.
On Sunday, Emily, Sean, and I went to the Newport Aquarium. We got the idea a few weeks back when we visited a Petsmart store. He just stared with great awe into the little aquariums there.

We had a great time. Sean stayed up for it as long as he could. We actually got almost to the end before he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. He only missed the penguins (We’ll just have to catch them when we go to the St. Louis Zoo next time).
On Monday, I came home to a Father’s Day surprise! Emily and I have been looking for a small table and chair set to have on our front porch, but never got around to picking one up. I had a model that I liked, but Emily was unsure about it. Turns out, she liked it enough to make it my father’s day gift - I was quite pleased!

I know I know, I should have posted this a few days ago, but I’ve been sick!
Like I mentioned earlier, Emily and I made the trek to St. Louis to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. Sean was also in town from Seattle. Wednesday night, my sister Megan and I stayed up sharing a bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle cabernet and talking until 3:30am (430 my time!). We rarely get to do that, so it was very cool. Thursday was Turkey Day! Man I love thanksgiving…I think we should have it at least twice a year! Although, I’m sure there are a number of turkeys out there who disagree with me. Mom cooked and awesome meal for us and Emily made the famous Marshall Rolls. Aunt Karen, Uncle Ted, and Scott made it down from west St. Louis as well and it was really nice seeing them.
Sean, Manders (friend of ours and Megan’s from high school), and myself then made our trip to the movie theatre to catch our annual bad-movie-on-turkey-day which started back in the day with my selection of “Paycheck” starring Matt Damon. Sean’s selection this year was Hitman. HOO BOY was it rotten. We got to the theatre about 15 or 20 minutes late so we missed the beginning of the movie ( **cue Office Space “I wouldn’t say I was missing it, Bob…” ***). The acting was lousy, the female character in the movie probably only got the role cause she showed her boobs. What can you expect from a movie produced by Vin Diesel? But I digress…
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful - we went out to an irish pub in Belleville, IL that was nice, hung out at a local bar in O’Fallon, had an awesome hamburger at Denny’s (eggs and hashbrowns on a burger! YUM!), and hung around the house. Saturday we did a family trip to Pierre Marquette State Park to lunch on their lodge’s famous fried chicken and take some family photos.
While we were home for thanksgiving Mom and Dad presented us with some new gifts for Little Sean. As we’ve mentioned before, my dad is *very* handy in wood working. When Sean and I were born, he made us a cradle that was also used for my sister when she was born. Well, now we have a cradle of our own:

Paul’s mom has also recently dusted off her knitting needles and made a fun little hat for Little Sean:

Can’t wait to have him try them both out (only three more months to go!!). Here are some highlight photos from the trip:
me showing my approval of the baby bump:

My parents - dad looks great! (mom too!)

I’ll post some more from my dad’s set of photos after I process the huge DSLR snapshots from his Nikon D80

Emily and I took a trip to St. Louis for Thanksgiving this year.  My sister and brother were both in town as well.  I didn’t bring a heavy enough jacket with me and now I’m fighting a nasty cold….so now I am going to bed and I will post photos and a run-down of turkey day at a time in the very near future.

Max & Erma’s triples loss in 3Q, considers sale - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

Saw this on an RSS feed and it simply doesn’t surprise me.  Emily and I ate there a number of times since they opened in Crestview Hills and every time the service was lousy.  I know I am sometimes picky with my service, but it is VERY rare that I won’t leave a at least a 15% tip (I normally leave 20% or more).  We always had problems with their service, the kitchen, the food, etc.  Its a shame to, because they have some nice, unique, and yummy menu items.  Even Ashley blogged about this. We’ve called their corporate offices and sent them emails about the bad service we received.  Nothing has really changed.  Oh well, there are too many of those style restaraunts anyway.

-pc