With Age Comes Wisdom...

More wisdom teeth that is.  I went in for my semiannual dentist check-up last week and after some x-rays and general cleaning, they were able to identify what had been bothering me: ANOTHER wisdom tooth.

I was displeased at the news to say the least.  I had two wisdom teeth removed in high school and it was a generally miserable experience.  My younger brother still loves to taunt me to this day about how I cried while in a drug-induced haze.  It was painful and something I was assured I was done with.

But sure enough there it was on the screen for all to see...one more to go.  "Luckily" (according to the dentist) it had erupted and would be a cinch to get out.  RIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHHT.  I scheduled the appointment for this past Friday, but then rescheduled it to Wednesday so I could just get it over with...all the while defying logic and reason because I had an interview Thursday AND Katie's holiday party Thursday night.  After some gentle coersion, i.e. complete and total overtaking of my life (in a good way), Katie convinced me to move it back to Friday.

And it actually went down just as the dentist described.  I was in and out in 30 minutes - even with the obligatory Tebow talk - and besides some soreness over the weekend, it was a true non-event.  So adios wisdom tooth number three!  Hopefully the Tooth Fairy has something sweet up her sleeve...

See ya sucker!

Happy Turkey Day!

From the 30,000 feet:



Yes. This is what the Parisian's call "Thanksgiving dinner".  I didn't take a picture of what they called "pumpkin pie". When we landed - both Emily and my Mom said "THAT'S WHAT THAT WAS??!" A for effort here- but I'm thinking Paris should stick to what they are good at. And that is basically anything besides turkey dinner.

We landed safely in New York- and were on our way to Connecticut for a nice weekend at home. We cooked our real turkey dinner on Friday- and it was amazing.

Our amazing chefs:

The candle lighter & the sommelier

The feast:

If you are curious what that is in the top right... it was my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner. I really was trying hard. Until I realized my turkey themed cupcakes had no return. Yes, I know, it looks like a blind dog decorated them. But the caramel buttercream frosting made them taste decent... so once we could get over the fact that it looked like a turkey special ed class- I think everyone was pleased.

Friday night was my 10 year high school reunion- which was an all you can drink affair. I think Wes & the other husbands got their full money's worth... and enjoyed sitting at a booth by themselves pounding as many bud lights as they could.

While the reunion was fun- and it was nice to catch up with old friends- I was so happy to be with my girlfriends who I miss dearly being out in Colorado. It's hard to believe we have all been friends for over 20 years now. Equally as close now- as we were in elementary school. And it's so amazing that a second generation will be entering the world in a few short weeks- it's amazing how time flies!

A bit hungover on Saturday- we headed to Westchester to FINALLY meet baby Reed Jackson & catch up with Pat and Michelle. Reed is to die for. Such a cute little peanut. It made us miss them so much to see their wonderful family!

We got back in time for the 2nd annual turkey bowl. This year was a BIT more rough than last year. I think the presence of more males from the Lohse clan contributed to this. But I was thankful to be on Kralik's team... therefore my team won.

After a week of fun- Sunday was time to buckle down and do some chores around the house. I wish I had pictures of the damage the snow storm caused to my parents house. It was devastating. So many trees had fallen down- I barely recognized our yard. Unfortunately there was not much we could do- but be thankful for the lifetime supply of firewood my parents now have.

Wes standing in front of the mulch pile (this was only half way through the clean up!):

Mom with the leaf blower.... Dad with the chainsaw.

The barn clean out....

We were sad to be leaving on Monday morning- but were looking forward to getting back to the daily grind in Denver. It was such a great family vacation- we couldn't have asked for anything more for the holiday! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday as well!!!

j'aime Paris!

Since it was going to be on of our last opportunities to fly Open Skies (the airline my dad worked for)- we decided to take a jaunt over the pond to beautiful Paris for a few days before Thanksgiving. Being the 2nd time in Paris for us together, I decided to teach Wes the finer part of European traveling -- doing absolutely nothing. This was a fine art I learned when my parents lived in London... travel to Europe to... Sit around. Eat. Read a book. Explore. Walk with no direction. Go to a park. Take the tube to a random stop. Eat local foods. Get to know the local bums (London still is home to many of my favorites). So it was time Wes experienced the Erich way of traveling. And I must say- he was a sucker for it. By the end of the trip he had learned to love all of the wonderful parts of traveling to Europe with no agenda or purpose. I couldn't have been happier.

We were lucky enough to be joined by my brother Scott and his girlfriend Emily. We met at Newark and after a little hassle with TSA (and by little- I mean we are lucky Wes didn't get arrested for trying to defend his triathlon massage tool that the TSA officer thought was a "club-like item")- we were off to Paris!

After 6 quick hours of restless sleep- and a serious in-flight scare on approach to Paris- We were thankful to be on the ground at Orly. We spent Sunday & Monday exploring Paris. Unfortunately I didn't take that many pictures - because we were too busy eating cheese and drinking cafe au laits (albeit, not together).

At Nespresso... OBVI I had to visit the headquarters....

An afternoon snack of wine & cheese:

Adding out "lock of love" to the Pont de l'Archeveche near Notre Dame. Thankfully my mom knew all about this tradition- and brought locks for all of us to lock to the bridge!

Mom & Dad outside their old apartment. I was coveting the blue door:

Tuesday we decided to take the train to Brussels for the day. Pete was in town for business- and he didn't have to work- so he came with us on a culinary hunt for beer, waffles, and chocolate. I was really excited to take the train and see the French country side... the boys... were not as excited:

(If you can't tell- the dynamic duo is fast asleep.)

Our first food stop covered all our bases. It was only 11 AM and we had already covered beer, waffles, and chocolate (and hands down, probably the best chocolate I have EVER eaten).

We didn't really have a plan. And we had a map/guidebook written by a monkey. So we spent the majority of the afternoon roaming and getting lost. We found the Mannekin Pis - who was disappointingly small and wearing strange Uncle Sam pajamas...

Luckily the boys found a better, life size, plastic version- holding a waffle. We really got out culture in.

Halfway through the day- we realized we had forgotten 2 very important famous foods of Belgium: Mussels & French fries. So we were on a hunt for one or both. Not without a stop at the public, outdoor urinal... WHAT?!

(don't worry - he is not really using it... and yes- that is me in the background trying to distance myself from the dynamic duo posing for photos at the creep-o-nal)

A stop for some Gluhwein at an awesome bar in the main square...

And another stop for mussels and fries (with clearly had too much beer in our system)

And we knew it was time to call it a night when the "bro wearing shades" was asking the innocent women of Brussels for directions...

We spent our last day in Paris exploring more... and saying goodbye to a city we loved infinitely more than we did 4 days before. We made sure to go back to the spots we missed. Eat as many pastries and baguettes as possible. And Wes had to make sure to get his last Djibouti Dream- his new favorite night cap. Kaluha, Baileys, Vodka. Sounds like death to me. But it was a fan favorite of the Erich family for the week.

On Thanksgiving morning- I couldn't help but wake up in our hotel in Paris and be so incredibly thankful for such an amazing family trip to Paris. It was the end of a chapter for the Erich's... and we left Paris with some amazing memories. I'm sure there will be bigger and better cities lined up next for my parents- and we can't wait to find out what's next (perhaps Hawaiin Airlines, Dad??).