Happy New Year!

We spent a quiet New Years Eve at home. When we lived in Egypt our two favorite restaurants were Gaya, a Korean restaurant and Abu Al Sid.  Most often we took visitors to Abu Al Sid for a more Egyptian experience yet whenever we ate there we pretty much always ordered Circassian Chicken which is Turkish and so good.  A few weeks ago Mark decided he really wanted to try to make it himself so we decided to try it out for New Years Eve.  Jared and Lydia were less then impressed but were strongly motivated to eat it so the could have some chocolate fondue later. They did enjoy their sparkling cider of course. Mark did a nice job but it was lacking that distinct flavor.  We don't know what we would need to add to find that flavor so while it lacked that spice it looked very similar to what we were served there. We will have to keep trying out different meals to see if we can find a "New Years Eve" meal.

After dinner we played some board games with Jared and Lydia which will most likely become a yearly tradition. Then we had our traditional fondue.  We all agree that the strawberries are the best. There are not many combinations as amazing as strawberries and this chocolate sauce.

 Lydia was particularly adorable tonight. Typically she is not thrilled to have her picture taken but earlier I was taking some pictures and she kept saying "More! More!" 

We put Jared and Lydia to bed at 8:00 and then Mark and I played some games and enjoyed a delicious peppermint chocolate chip milkshake because clearly chocolate fondue was not enough. It has been quite a few years since we stayed up until midnight. Our neighbors had mentioned the fireworks being set off of Pikes Peak at midnight so I decided I better stay up for that.  It had been cancelled the last 2 years because of high winds.  It was not a super impressive display but pretty amazing that they do it.  It  is done by a highly advanced hiking group called AdAmAn (add a man they only add one member each year) "club". Every year since 1922 this group of hikers or mountaineers (it started with 5 men) hikes up to the top of Pikes Peak and sets off fireworks when the weather permits.  While we were outside waiting it was 31 degrees and felt like 23 so I can't even imagine what it felt like up there.

 It was fun to stay up and ring in the New Year. We are looking forward to 2014. I read this really great article today and would like to implement a lot of their ideas.  Just good common sense.