Cincinnati Thanksgiving

Well as you all know I went back to Cincinnati for the first time since moving to New York this weekend. It was my turn to go see Ando and since it was Thanksgiving now was as good of time as any. Really I haven't been able to go before because I don't have the time off work. Luckily the day after Thanksgiving is considered a holiday at our company and I didn't have to take any days off to head to Cincinnati for 3 days.

I flew out of JFK on Thursday morning and was expecting some long lines to get through security since that is all you hear about this time of year, and I have never flown around Thanksgiving, but I was mistaken. I didn't need to leave myself two and a half hours to get to the airport and through security. It only took a half hour to get to the airport, with my gabby driver, and even shorter to go through security. Lets go back to my car driver though. He was quite a talker and didn't shut up the whole car ride. I found out all about him and his family as well as how he like Thanksgiving more than Christmas because he can work more. It was 6am too, the last thing I felt like doing was talking to my driver the whole way to the airport, but you can't win them all.

When I got to my gate I talked to the gate agent about not needing my connecting flight anymore. I thought I was going to have to make up a story about how I needed to get off in Cincinnati because it would be quicker for me to drive to Dayton than wait two hours for my next flight to take off, but that wasn't the case. He said it was fine and he unchecked me from the flight right away. Thank goodness I could get off Cincinnati and not waste time waiting around for a flight to Dayton and then have to drive an hour back to Cincinnati.

My plane landed an half hour early in Cincinnati and I called Ando to see if he had left yet to pick me up, but he hadn't. I told him to leave right away since I was so early. Luckily I came into the C terminal so I took my time walking back and didn't get on the tram, which I really don't understand why anyone would need to.

That afternoon Ando and I went to his family gathering and then at night we went to my families Thanksgiving. This year we only ate one Thanksgiving meal; with Ando's family and that is what I am most grateful for. Last year I was so stuffed from eating twice and I am glad that we decided not to make the same mistake again this year. I also got to see my nephew whom I haven't seen in quite some time. He is really starting to come out of his shell and is becoming just what you would think a 3 year old little boy would be. Christmas should be exciting with a child around this year.

On Friday Ando and I met my dad downtown for lunch; it is just something my dad and I have always done since I can remember. Really all of my sibling will go down and meet my dad for lunch. We used to ride the bus downtown when we were little to go meet my dad for lunch and somehow it has continued on all these years. After lunch Ando and I went to the Contemporary Arts Center. We still had not been to the new space and we had the whole day off and were downtown so we decided to go. I'm glad I finally went and got to see the space as well as see the art. Nothing blew me away in the exhibits, but I still enjoyed them all.

Friday night was some dinner at Asiana with Ando, Jenster, Teed, Mo, Wint, Wenda and ED. For some reason it took longer than usual for us to order and get our food so it was a good thing we had some back-up adult beverages in the car. And after everyone got their meals Ando and I realized that they forgot our sushi boat. We decided to just split some sushi as our dinner, but they forgot to look at the back of the sushi menu and missed our boat completely. We finally got our sushi after everyone ate and Teed and Mo had already left for the night; Mo wasn't feeling well.

The night was topped of with Ando, Jenster, Wint, Wenda and myself all heading to Molly Malone's for some good beers on tap; TD met up with us as well since she was in the area, or Cincinnati for her.

Saturday Ando and I had an appointment to meet with a florist and cake person to discuss wedding plans. Well really I had some appointments and I just drug Ando to them. The appointment was supposed to be for 11am, but the cake lady didn't show up till noon, I think. It felt like we were sitting there forever talking to the flower lady with nothing really to say. After sitting and agonizing for an hour the cake lady finally showed up and we talked about cake flavors and price, don't worry I worked in a coconut layer. We haven't officially gone with this place, so I will let you know when the final decision has been made and what to look for when selecting a piece of cake at the wedding.

When we finished the appointment we met Rando at his place and walked down to Skyline for some lunch. I realize that I don't really miss Skyline that much. Yes, I like it, but I wouldn't say that it was so awesome while I was eating it. I can definitely go two months without eating Skyline and not have a craving for it.

That night was my 10 year high school reunion, which I hadn't decided if I was going to go to or not by the time the night rolled around, but in the end I went. I kind of only went because Jenster was feeling sick that day and couldn't go any more. She already paid to go, so I was just filling in for her which didn't matter in the end. They weren't checking anyone in or making sure you paid to be there. The reunion turned out to be a little disappointing as well. All the people I was hoping to see weren't there. In the end it was just a strange mix of people that you wouldn't think would be at the reunion and not many people who you thought would. In fact I have no really good stories to share with you.

After the reunion we headed over to BW's and met up with Ando for a little hanging out amongst ourselves. I didn't want to stay out too late since I had to get up early for my flight the next morning, plus I had a huge headache, so we left around midnight to head home. My flight was out of Dayton this time around and we left out house at 6:30am to get me to the airport on time. When a flight is early in the morning is when you wish you could just fly out of CVG for cheap.

There were no problems with my flight on the way back either, in fact I got in about 20 minutes early this time around. Of course my cab driver had no idea where he was going to get me home, so I had to lead him in the right direction, or really just lead him the whole time. It was a crappy day out in New York as well, but there were things that I just wanted to get done so I pushed myself out the door, after a quick nap of course, to get some laundry and grocery shopping done.

That pretty much sums up my trip back home for the long Thanksgiving weekend and I am sorry about the lack of pictures, but I just didn't think about pulling out my camera ever.

I flew back to Cincinnati for the first time since moving; there was no baby flying with me.