New Year in North America 2016

We (C, L, T and K) set out on Amtrak, teeming (?) across the state of New York toward Montreal. The ten hour ride was comfortable and allowed us to get a good game of Catan going...

Montreal and snoooooooow.  T and K ill-equipped for the weather, having raided the box labelled WINTER and washed the mildew off it's long-forgotten contents. Ben jetted in from DC and we had a great couple of days eating, drinking and exploring the city in the snow.

And getting warm after

Had to try some local microbrews:

Catan time!

Hmmmm...is he cheating?

T had been looking forward to Canada's national dish, poutine, for months.  We were not disappointed--we went to a restaurant entirely featuring the high carb wonder dish of French fries, curds and gravy.  The menu:

They even had a veg version...

and many non-veg versions

 enjoyed by all

Frozen people

New Years Eve and the above frozen people (well, except the statue) made it to the waterfront but turned back when they realized that the midnight and the fireworks were 20+ minutes off...  But on the way back to the hotel the hour struck, horns blared, people kissed, and this wonderful person stuck in traffic screamed joyously, emerged from her car and ran to passersby to hug them.  K ran to share a hug...

Back at the hotel, we braved the elements for our traditional New Years' Eve cigar.

 Happy New Year! Bonne Annee!

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Back to New York...  Due to K's planning skill, which has, its true, been known to experience a FLAW once or twice before, we manage to hit all three New York airports on the trip. We fly back from Montreal into LaGuardia airport...

Cam and Lisa are back at work the next day

And we are off to Hong Kong...from JFK :-)

Christmas 2015 in North America

Some crazy traveling and some excellent family time. First, the send off at Penang airport by our taxi driver friend, Daya:

Penang - Hong Kong, Hong Kong - New York (the latter a 14+ hour ride). Met at the airport by Cam and Lisa, and whisked off to their spacous flat in Paterson NJ. Treated to Cam's home brews, great food, and tickets to Broadway!

A memorable evening for sure, the culmination of a day in Manhattan with an early dinner at Dad's fav: Peter Lugar's steakhouse.  The play was aMAZing! The music, the jokes, the choreography--entertainment at its best.  We sat close to the front and could see the actor's faces and dance moves. Super fun.

Here, Cam with some of his 1,00 or so Christmas cookies

Having missed Cam's graduation from college (he missed it too...), it was fun to go with him to pick up his diploma three years later

On to Vegas, K and T fighting killer colds acquired perhaps from airplane air? Climate change shock?  Ah, but our world is now full of doctors and doctors-to-be, so we were well taken care of  :-).

Mooradian Madness = lots of love and way too  much good food. 

 

Master chef

Master host!

well-fed stupor

We stayed at a casino, and had our Moore Christmas in a hotel room there.  

(In lieu of a tree, a hand drawn one and a couple of sprigs of stolen foliage from outside the hotel...)




Prezzies!

Cam brought us into the 21st century with a flat screen TV (delivered to Malaysia), Apple TV, and lots of downloaded shows. OMG!

Ben brought estate bottled olive oil brought from Italy!  And estate-bottled balsamic vinegar too!

Super yum!

A fun family outing to the bowling lanes in the casino complex:

Hmm, wonder who set up the score sheet??

Of course we had to have a little casino action too

T won a little

spotted plenty of casino regulars...

We saw the news Star Wars movie, in 3 D Imax :-)  [dark in there!)

We drove out to Red Rocks Canyon, thinking a hike would be good,  but it was really cold, with blustering winds. Only the bravest emerged from the car.

Our time in Las Vegas at an end, we are treated to a traditional goodbye of water-throwing, to wish for safe travels.  Here is our smiling water crew at the ready.

And a last glimpse of the lovely Muradian home, front yard palm decorated with Christmas lights.