Tukey Day 2007

Thanksgiving is always one of my favorite holidays, but this year it was especially great. This year marked the first official "Watkins-Ulrich-Wright-Niece Thanksgiving." That's right; we had four Watkins, three Ulrichs, two Wrights, and one Niece under the same roof during the Thanksgiving holiday (not to mention three different family dogs and one cat). Needless to say, it was a blast.

For the enjoyment of all of you blog readers, I thought I would narrate the Thanksgiving festivities via some pictures.

The Thanksgiving menu was divided amongst all the participants. Matt, Tracy, Meghan and I were the first to arrive in Vero; so, we had to do some of the prep work for the feast the night before. Here, Matt and I prepare possibly one of the highlights of Thanksgiving 2007: Grant's famous smoked pulled pork.

Jenni and Scott made a green bean casserole of sorts. They named it "I Green of Beany." Yea, I thought that was awesome too.

The post-Thanksgiving malaise. About half of us passed out directly afterwards. I barely made it back up.

Activity #1 of the weekend: Bocce Ball. We ran out to Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving Day and got a Bocce Ball set, which was huge. Pretty much anytime we were just hanging around, we would pick up the Bocce and do it to it.

Activity #2: DDR. Yea, we thought it was kinda nerdy at first, and then we started breaking it down and voila! I think I heard Earth, Wind and Fire about one hundred times.

Activity #3: Mom's 5th Degree Black Belt Test. The day after Thanksgiving my mom took her test and did an amazing job. Everyone came and some of us (ahem ahem) even participated.

I could post a bunch more pictures, but I'll leave it there for the time being. The holiday went great; we all had a fantastic time, and I'm trying to think of the closest possible time to make it happen again.

Dartmouth Here We Come!

Two weeks ago my dad and I made a trip up to his alma mater to celebrate the 35th anniversary of his championship football team (they won the Ivy League and the Lambert Trophy that year). I'd show a picture of him with his teammates but my thumb somehow ended up in that picture (my bad). The trip was a lot of fun and getting the chance to hang with my dad made it even more worthwhile.

After flying into Manchester and staying the night Thursday night, we rented a car and drove across the state to Hanover where Dartmouth is located. The weather and setting couldn't have been more beautiful. I had to admire how gorgeous the campus was; it made me wonder what it would've been like to attend a small college instead of the University of Florida (not saying I'm regretting it -- just pondering). On the plane, dad and I talked about how smart these kids are who are enrolled at Dartmouth; it became a running joke that we were surrounded by geniuses. Well, at least I managed to escape college without any debt!

Here are some more pictures:

Dad and I at the Hanover Inn, the oldest and nicest hotel in Hanover, NH. We tried getting a room at this place, but the whole thing was booked. Apparently, the class of 1937 and 1942 were having their reunions that weekend. How crazy is it that the members of the class of '37 and '42 are still around in such numbers that they would book the entire Hanover Inn?! Unbelievable.


Here I am at Lou's Restaurant, which was also celebrating an anniversary -- 60 years. Dad and I made sure to hit all the classic establishments to get "real" Hanover, NH. While at Lou's I got a "real" tuna salad sandwich, and it was delicious.


I cannot tell you how funny I find this picture. One of the first places we went when we made it to Hanover was my dad's old fraternity house, Theta Delta Chi. It's still around after all of these years, and my dad claims that it hasn't changed a bit. He told me rumors of a "party basement" where they threw their big shindigs, and when we got to the house we made our way there and noticed that...well...it seems nothing really has changed. My dad instantly started laughing and said, "Looks like they still haven't cleaned up from thirty years ago!" Needless to say the place reeked of beer and urine and my dad wondered how they ever convinced girls to come down there. I was wondering how they ever convinced THEMSELVES to go down there.

Great time overall. Dartmouth ended up beating Penn (snapping a nine year losing streak); my dad and I got free stuff, and we got to enjoy a weekend away in beautiful New Hampshire. Can't beat that.

A Summary of the Past Few Months

Okay, thus begins the new adventure of being a "blogger" replacing my former attempts to spam your inboxs with updates on my life and experiences. I'll admit that this is just a tease; I'm going to make a better post in a few days once I develop some film from a recent trip with my dad to New Hampshire (notice dad was included in the story thus it must be good!). For the first post, I figured I would just update you all on where I am right now in life, the universe, and everything (Douglas Adams allusion anyone?).

Meghan and I are still in Gainesville, FL right now. Meghan's working at Santa Fe High School as the band director, and I'm finishing up my M.A. in history at the university. We're currently house-sitting for two of my professors, which means living in a two-story, four bed, three bath, castle of a home with a pool. Needless to say, the living situation is great. I'm also working at Servants of Christ Anglican Church as the part-time youth minister, and this semester I actually got an appointment as a Teaching Assistant for the Department of History at UF. I'm teaching AMH 2010, "American History to 1877" which includes leading three discussion sections on Thursday morning and afternoon. It's been a great experience; I've really enjoyed it thus far, and it's another great thing to throw on the CV.

Jenni, Scott, Matt, Tracy, Grant, and others are all still here in Gainesville, which means that Meghan and I have a great group of friends that we hang with as much as possible. Recently we've taken to watching college football and then having a poolside barbecue at our house on weekends. We also play ultimate frisbee on Monday nights. It's nice to have that time of leisure each week with friends and family.

I'll post more later and continue to update you all on everything that happens in our lives. I hope the blog thing works and that you guys feel free to leave comments and let me know what's happening in your lives. That's the whole point, right? Hope to hear from you!