Update, Part I: November

I was going well there for a while, but the busy fall schedule finally caught up to me, and before I knew it, two whole months went by without an entry. Here's what has been going on with the Morris clan.

The passage of Halloween means the arrival of November, and thus the transition from Tony's birthday month to Everett's. It was another multi-part celebration, beginning with a small party at Grammo's house in Diamond Bar, on the eve of a surprise (to the boys) early-morning trip to a "Day Out with Thomas" the Tank Engine, at the railroad museum in Perris. That's Perris, California, of course, which we had to explain to Tony is not the city where they have that famous tower--although I do think I might have caught a glimpse of a water tower or two while we were out there. Despite the early morning chill, it proved to be a very fun day, with rides on several trains, including historic L.A. trolleys, a special caboose train, and the main attraction: a ride behind Thomas himself. We then finished the day with a scenic drive home via southern Orange County, including a stop for an early dinner at a nice little neighborhood brewpub and pizza place in Ladera Ranch.

Everett's birthday celebration continued the following week with both a family gift celebration on the 15th itself and a small bounce-house party here at the house with his new school friends. It was another really fun weekend, and the party on Sunday helped ease the pain of Cal's depressing loss to USC the day before. Yes, it must be November: time to start dreaming of the Rose Bowl "next year" all over again.

The celebrating continued the following week with Thanksgiving. Rather than traveling this year, we stayed close to home as the extended Hoereth family gathered at Uncle Scott's in Long Beach. We were missing three of the cousins and their families, but otherwise the entire gang was able to make it--not only to the traditional feast on Thursday, but to another big meal on Friday here in Westchester. I tried my new (used) water-smoker for the first time, breaking it in with a basic Carolina-style pulled pork recipe. I woke up early to get the fire started, but it proved to be not quite early enough as the meat wasn't served until well after dark--and even then, it wasn't cooked as completely as it could have been, winding up as more of a chopped pork than a true pulled pork. But it still tasted quite good, and I was able to keep the patient masses tame through generous pre-dinner servings of grilled chicken, Audrey's Italian stuffed onions, a variety of homebrews, and mojitos. We then finished the weekend celebration with another dinner gathering at my grandparents' home in Riverside, which is just up the Interstate from Perris--again, the 909, not the city with the tower.

Part II of the update to come: December.