Thankful
Josh Groban

Welcome to my blog, updated whenever something of interest happens in my life (for the most part). Complete with pictures and video, you're sure to have a great time (although I can't promise you that). Anyway, thanks for visiting!

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Journey Of A Lifetime
November 25, 2007


What a trip. What a Thanksgiving. Pictures speak louder than words, so I won't jabber too much here. Please be sure to see both page 1 and 2, as page 2 holds a special announcement that will forever change the rest of my life. To God be the glory.

Lord bless you all!


A Massachusetts Movie ...


Airport art. Sue me, Michael.


A familiar sight. This marked my 5th plane trip of the year, a record for me.


Farewell again, Ozarks.


Chicago O'Hare has this really cool walkway running below the airport. I didn't purposely make this blurry, but it came out pretty cool ... like one of those big public wall advertisements you often see that make you feel like you're behind in life and a total loser. I'm putting this picture on my resume just to impress the guy.


I've passed this fantastic dinosaur skeleton a number of times in Chicago without ever a taking a picture. So there's a picture.


So my flight gets delayed for nearly two hours, and I spend an hour and a half of it simply trying to get one bloody phone call out to let the Thomas' know! I went to like 5 different phone places, none of which the phones therein would accept the money I inserted thereunto. After about a half hour, I finally asked a lady ... "Why is it that none of the telephones properly function within this port of air?" (and yes, I'm quoting exactly what was said word for word.) She looked at me peculiarly. "You must procure a phone card." - "Ok, I will obtain a phone card," I answered. So I went to a few airport shops ... "Does your establishment retail cards of phone?" - "No, it does not," said they. "How then can it be," I said, "that in order to call from this port of air, I must acquire a card of phone, yet within this port of air cards of phones cannot be acquired?" - "Such," they replied, "is of your concern, not ours, neither is it of consequence to us nor our establishment. Remove yourself from this place." Fortunately, however, a kind black man overheard this engagement, and said unto me, "To where do you fly?" I turned to him. "Why, to Massachusetts, of course." - "Ah," said he. "You spoke the magic word. I hail from Massachusetts. And of what line of air do you fly from this port of air in the midst of which the lack of cards of phone have robbed you of your call?" I stopped for a second. "Why," said I, "of United, of course." - "Ah," said he. "I doth work for United. Here is my phone, of which you may make proper use." And such I did, and such ends this retarded paragraph.


"Where is he? I mean, he's pretty cool and all, but not worth this."


Jordan was nowhere to be found. Instead, the Thomas' were to be greeted by a mock "oh ho ho" character in jeans and a fake cell phone. I know, pathetic, but I had to do something. lol, I love that guy's blank stare on the left. Just trying his best to ignore the freak walking behind him.


Time for huggies.


Micaiah shows his excitement by ascending the family van and ... like ... putting his arms out or something. That's a pretty cool picture with the lighting and stuff.


The next morning Michael showed me his new hover board. Heh, actually, he's practicing for a stunt he plans to carry out this winter ... playing a fiddle while snow boarding.What's the point? I don't know. Either he wants to set some kind of new ridiculous Guinness world record, or there's a girl out there he's really trying to impress. Probably the latter.


This is how I impress girls ... pretending like I know what I'm doing as I help make granola.


Barbeque chicken pizza! And then later that night ... banana cream pie! I sat Melissa down and was like, "Meliss ... you're not gonna believe this. Barbeque chicken pizza and banana cream pie are like my two most favorite meals ever! What are the odds!?" Then later that night, as I lay in bed thinking things over, I was like ... "Oh, wait a minute..."


Micaiah and I in the backseat as we run some errands. Must have been quite the distraction for the driver to look in their rearview mirror to see these two hunky hunks staring right back at them (oh wait, Michael was driving. Never mind).


Um ... while the girls and Matthew were in the store, we went out in the rain and took this ... picture ... of me looking to my left. Actually, right after this we decided to hide behind a wall before they came out. We neglected to notice, however, that the walkway out from the store went directly to the place where we were hiding. lol, we just stood there and were like, "Oh, hi." Everyone started laughing.


Time to visit Jeff Flynn's office! Check that out ... Niednagel.com on a 32-inche screen (or roughly that size). Life doesn't get any better. Anyway, Jeff (JFly on this blog) and his family are longtime friends of the Thomas'. He's such a cool, thoughtful, easygoing guy. You can just tell by looking at him. :-)


We get a "Programming In Seventy-Five Easy Steps" lesson from Jeff.


Heading home, I snap this artistic shot of Melissa's hand. We stopped by Whole Foods briefly, where I bought a couple Kaumbucha fruit-flavored drinks for us all to partake of. Yep, we all drank from the same bottles! I'm not used to that, but now, to all the Thomas children, I have ingratiated myself by becoming an official backwash brother. Yes, blood binds, but spit binds deeper still.


Back at home for the evening, Melissa plays the hammer dulcimer while her father accompanies her on the drum.


Marscel & I ... the two reflective feelers. This is one of those sentimental photos I'll look back on with a sigh and a smile.


Standing out in the freezing rain at 6 in the morning. What for? The L.L. Bean grand opening, where the first 500 customers are given a gift certificate that can range from $25 to $500! What a memory. To my right is Mrs. Thomas, below which is Mrs. Axberg and Mrs. Thomsen to her left. That guy on the right, Doug Mascot, was quite the character. :-)


By around 8 o'clock, the line was insane. Thankfully, we easily beat the crowds, and were within the first 100 people or so to enter the store.


I don't believe I've ever had coffee before, but being a human ice cube all morning was just getting a little old. So, I threw all caution to the wind and took a few sips. Not bad, but not a habit I plan on starting.


Did we win big? No, not really. Our certificates ranged from $25 to $50, but it was worth it. Here Melissa and Melanie get interviewed by a L.L. Bean camera crew. I actually was interviewed too, even after I tried explaining to them that I've never worn anything from L.L. Bean in my entire life.


Cutie pies.


"Why won't they interview me?" (that's Mr. Axberg ... what a guy)


Melissa explores some new child training possibilities.


"What am I getting into."


A really beautiful owl outside the store.


Afterwards we walked over to a Barnes and Noble to fill out another prize contest thing. Look at me on the floor. I'm so deferential.


Found this in one of the books ... the original Boston Celtics. Some things just never change over the years, you know?


That night we went to the Eckerson's to watch "The Return of the Daughters," a well-done documentary on young womanhood and their proper place at home and in society. Remember Susanna (she had her arms around me in a picture from my last trip)? To call her adorable would be an understatement. What a loveable squishy bug.


The next morning we were off to Plymouth to enjoy a fantastic Thanksgiving Parade. This is about as American as it gets!


Best seats in the house. From left to right ... Josh Lueken, Lydia Flynn, Micaiah, Matthew smelling somebody's shoulder, Aiden Flynn, and Anna Flynn.


An American Idol contestant sings for the crowd. No, Nathan, I don't remember her name, nor did I recognize it. Her voice was pretty good, though.


Whatever floats your boat (get it? Float? Boat?).


Michael takes yet another one of his patented pointless photographs.


Pointless.


Trooper Dan. This guy was hilarious. Watch the video.


Pilgrims on unicycles. Things were getting creepy.


Crossing the Delaware. My image of George Washington would be forever scarred.


Me, Mr. Thomas, and Jeff Flynn. You can imagine how surprised I was when Mr. Thomas leaned over to me and whispered, "Dude, don't we look cool?" I'm kidding. :-)


What a spanking time! But to home we must go!


To home I thought we were going. Stupid. The girls wanted to stop by a little shop first, and they didn't even end up buying anything. Stupid.


Having an ENTP around is like having a canary in the coal mines. When the canary dies, you know it's time to evacuate the mine. When a high-strung ENTP falls asleep, you know it's time to go home.


Upon arrival, I am serenaded by the lovely Marian and her skilled brother violinist.


Time for some Scrabble! Marscel and I were here to defend our title.


*blush*


Can we cut the slop and move on!? Ok, grief. Take it easy.


Some things I just never experienced growing up ... like having your little brother fall asleep on your lap. Keeping your legs in the same position for an hour is pretty tough, but worth it. Love you, Marscel!


The next day after church, we went to this pretty Audubon walk trail. Early in our relationship, I won Melissa's heart with this crooked tongue look (expand).


And conversely, she won my heart with this twisted face look.


Ok, Melissa, let's try to act like the adults we're supposed to be ...


... there we go. Robin and Marian.


That night we played another game where you sell and buy paintings ... can't remember the name. It was SO MUCH fun. Not sure what was happening here. Just loved our faces.


I can't remember exactly what was happening here either, but I think I had just sold Mr. Thomas a forged painting for a few thousand dollars, and was doing my best to act innocent. What would you do if you had just totally scammed the father of the girl you were courting!?


Looking over pictures together from the week. Love your face, Matthew.


Now this is an aspect of the Thomas' lives that has NEVER made it to Michael's blog! Every other Tuesday or so, they take their trash to a local dump. Next to the dump they have a little room filled with free stuff people no longer want. Check out the awesome junk we found! I love my crazed look.


Micaiah amidst the light of the lamppost. We went to the Eckerson's to pick up some chairs Tuesday night.


After loading the van, we had some time for ping pong. Hey Nate! I think this is actually the first official time you've made my blog! Anyway, we had some good games with a makeshift ping pong ball that almost bounced like the real thing.


Ping pong in leathers. I like it.


Every morning we got up to do some Navy Seal exercises (video tape). Notice how I'm the only one who's really blurry. There's a reason for that.


Had fun helping Marscel out with his math. If ever he slacked off, I started singing and playing the guitar. "PLEASE, STOP! I'LL DO ANYTHING!"


The day before Thanksgiving, it was time to get to work. We had three bags of balloons, and they all needed to be blown. People have always told me I'm full of hot air, so naturally I volunteered.


"Oh it hurts!"


Melissa did such an incredible job decorating the house. She went outside and cut branches and other natural tidbits that made for a visual Thanksgiving masterpiece.


Momma helped out a bunch too. Love you, momma.


Can't ... blow ... any ... more ...


Moving tables. Work just isn't work when you have so many wonderful people around.


This is Micaiah. No, really, this IS the true Micaiah.


I was given a courtship choice ... either work seven years, or clean out the family oven. After looking inside, I actually did take a moment to think about it.


This is not what it looks like.

And now, my friends, please click the link below to share a Thanksgiving day that I will never, ever forget.

------> A Thanksgiving To Remember ------>




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