a week before Thanksgiving

I was watching the boys sit together on the couch. They were so quiet, sitting straight on the edge, Jackson taller than Rylee, almost touching, and then this morning it was back to fighting. The morning begins with cuddling. Then one boy rolls over on the other, and one thing leads to another. "Get off me."

Ariel should be in Paris about now. We'll be going to church this morning, then some time in Belen to deliver the turkey from Costco, and then I need to get work done before Monday morning. The boys have off all week. Thursday, the boys' school had an early Thanksgiving meal in the cafeteria, and the parents were invited to join. I went for Ry's while Cyndi went for Jack's.

Jackson got his glasses last week. According to Cyndi, the first thing he said when he put them on was, "Everything is so pretty."  Jackson denies saying this word-for-word, but the gist of it was about the same as my first time seeing with glasses, when I noticed the leaves on the trees. David when he was here remarked how he first noticed the individual blades of grass. Cyndi remembers the lights no longer glowing with halos.

Friday we splurged for dinner. For months now we haven't gone out, except maybe for a pizza. Jackson has been asking for shrimp and crab for a long time. When Ariel was here last she recalled the first time she had crab.  She and I went to place in Atlanta. Of course, our best crab feast was with David and Sandra, either in Maryland or when we gathered crab from the pots in the Alaskan sound off Juneau, yanked off the legs and claws on the beach as we took them off the boat, and threw the legs and claws into a big steamer, all the while being bombarded by mosquitoes and flies.

So I thought maybe we could get some crab this weekend. There's not many seafood places in Albuquerque. There's Pelican's, a local place, and just a couple of chains. Pappadeux's is popular and near us, a chain with a Cajun/Lousiana/Gulf of Mexico take on seafood. Cyndi likes it. When Cyndi came home from restorative yoga with the boys, who played in the Junior Room at the gym with their cousins, we left.

It was late for us but not late enough. The place was packed, with an hour wait. Folks were gathered outside and inside. The bar was packed, too, but we walked around it, found a place along the wall to claim a spot with a little ledge and a single chair. I ordered a martini and a beer for me and Cyndi, two root beers, and a shrimp cocktail, with pico de gallo and avocado.  Yummy, but too spicey for the boys to enjoy. They ate the crackers and drank a bottle of root beer.

We could watch the numbers on the wait list on a red digital display on the wall, and our number was far away. So we ordered a round of draught beer and coconut shrimp, also a little spicey for the boys to have too much. Cyndi and I ended up with more than our share of the appetizers.  We struck up a conversation with some people at the bar, and for a moment Ry lined up his toy soldiers on the edge of the bar. 

When our number came, Jackson ran to claim it, we closed the bar tab, and walked to our table. Our table was next to the traffic and the wait station, so I asked if we could have the cleared one right next to it but closer into the dining room and out of the traffic.  The hostess paused just long enough to say it was for the next customer and I barely said, well, before she moved us. I thanked her.

We had fun. We ordered a small platter of crab with some sides of clam chowder, pasta, onion rings, and bread. The waiter was wonderful. He brought out the hot butter and the bibs, a cracker and a little plastic implement that worked like an old can opener to cut through the shells.  Jack and Ry were unsure at first but after soaking the bits in the hot butter they loved it. I ended up cutting the crab free for the boys, with a few choice pieces for Cyndi.  When it was gone, everyone said they were so full, even the next morning.

Jackson had religious ed the next morning, a long Saturday session to try the host and wine before he has First Holy Communion on December 5th with his cousin, Nicholas.  I took Ry to the skate park that morning. It was pretty crowded with lots of big kids, but Ry held his own out there, going up and down ramps, trying a few tricks, and he even tried to go up the half-pipe. He had to be among the very youngest. A few kids near his age rode Razor scooters, but Ry was the lone 5 year old on a big board. It won't take him long. He didn't quit until about an hour later, when it was time for Jack and Cyndi to be home.

Ry is drawing many pictures and playing intently with any toy figure, especially the little figures that come with the Lego sets. Jackson is still planning to develop his website, but I'm still trying to figure out the basic code.

I wonder how Ariel is doing in Paris.