Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!: November 2020

Last week was "week 36," and I didn't post anything about week 35 because that was pretty much our last normal week. So here's last week:

MONDAY: the boys SHOULD have had school a few days this week (leading up to Thanksgiving), but their school announced a few weeks ago that the previous Friday would be their last "in person" day. And that they were (rightfully) giving the teachers the first few days of this past week to get their remote plans in order. So that just meant NO SCHOOL ALL LAST WEEK FOR MY BOYS!!

I posted 2 things on Instagram:

The start of a memoir, by 6-year-old Charlie: “The story of my life. I had a lot of fun in my life. In fact, I had so much fun I have at least one memory of it.”

Charlie’s class was featured in Sunday's Pioneer Press with some writing they did in school about what they are thankful for. Charlie surprised us with a shout-out!! (Sure sweeter than the kid who said “chicken nuggets.”) ❤️

And then we scootered around the neighborhood that evening:

A quick playground stop.

TUESDAY: Charlie's really gotten into reading! He sat in the corner and read for an hour this morning:

I had been teaching a "hybrid" class which was in person 1 day each week, and remote the other. This was our first FULL remote day as the college had gone fully remote as of the day before. I led a remote critique that went pretty well!

It was a 38 degree drizzly day, but the boys still wanted to get out. So we scootered nearly 4 miles:

I'm on my ole' commuter bike.

Staying out of the rain as the boys played at a different park.

I taught that evening in person at another university, but first was a remote faculty meeting:

WEDNESDAY: the day started with my friend's memorial ride as I posted about on Saturday:

And then my sister-in-law and I took our kids to play by the Mississippi until just after noon:

Bridal Veil Falls and 4 tiny kids to the right.

Another shot zoomed in on the kids.

THURSDAY: THANKSGIVING!! Here's what my wife posted:

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours! We got out the good china, used Grandma Aggie’s wine glasses, turned Grandma Monica’s pumpkin into a pie, and mashed up Grandma Connie’s garden potatoes. We are thankful that despite being apart today, we are not alone.

Henry's plate!

And here were a few photos that I posted:

Our 19 lb turkey turned out SO WELL!!

My plate.

Cleaned up!

Packing up delicious breasts and legs for later.

Some boring grading at work that evening.

FRIDAY: just did a bunch of stuff around the house all day, and Charlie and I went for a run:

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do this. My last “stroller run” was 15+ months ago with both boys, and it was the run that confirmed I was injured which kicked off 7+ months of 0 running. As time went on, I figured that may have been my last stroller run ever. But we’re back at it today with 2x2 mile intervals in 11:59 and 11:49. I love my runs with the boys. ❤️🏃🏻🇺🇸

More on this tomorrow.

And then made "Thanksgiving leftover pizzas" for supper. (I got the idea from Rhett and Link.) Here's what I did:

I parbaked some flattened jumbo biscuits as crusts until just light brown. I let them cool a little, and then added cream cheese, salt, pepper, and a little garlic seasoning. Then, I piled on mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, creamed corn, gravy, and some mozzarella cheese. (I forgot to make mac & cheese today, or I would’ve added some of that as well. And I considered adding sliced-up green beans.) Then I baked it for 16 minutes at 350, and then turned on the broiler in our toaster oven to brown the cheese on top. I had moderate to high hopes for this, but it tasted even better than I thought! I made three, and then made two more right away.

Before adding gravy and cheese.

Cooked and DELICIOUS.

Two more (next to the stock I had started with our turkey carcass).

Seriously, they were GOOD.

SATURDAY: oh, flashback to Friday night: the stock cooked until JUST before I wanted to go to bed. So I pulled out the bones and veggies, and my wife said I should just set it in the backyard as it was going to be 31 degrees all night and our fridge was quite full. I didn't trust the squirrels in our neighborhood, so I strapped the lid down under our backyard light:

It survived the night! Here's a shot Saturday morning as I was scraping off the fat.

After finishing decorating our tree (the boys and I did a LOT
of it Friday), we ran around under a nearly-full moon at the park.

SUNDAY: I did a lot of grading in the morning, and then the boys and I got out for some river fun after the exciting Vikings game:

Running through the trails to the water's edge.

Our Christmas scene at home! (Complete with 1 of our 2 cats.)

The boys are re-starting distance learning today, so OFF WE GO!!

This past week, my friend Jamey and I went on our yearly memorial ride for our college buddy Aaron who succumbed to brain cancer. (If you've been a long-time reader, you'll remember me writing about his life and a fundraiser I wanted to do for his family, and then the subsequent "24 hour relay for Aaron" that a bunch of us put on.)

A few days ago, I posted this:

Caption: "6 years. #RIPBigPurm"

On our ride, Jamey and I bumped into another one of Aaron's friends who's actually done the ride once or twice with us over the years. And he wasn't planning on bumping into us - he was just out on a ride and would not have been that far south looking for us. Jamey had on his Aaron-related shirt, Tony had his Spider-Man figurine, and I had mine (as seen in the photo above). I posted this later:

Another pic from today (from Jamey, obviously). As we were on his annual memorial ride, we just happened to bump into Tony (another friend of Aaron’s). We rode the last half of our ride as a trio. As Tony and I split off across the river to our homes in St. Paul, Jamey shouted “See ya fellas! Think some good thoughts of Aaron today!” #RIPBigPurm