So, Remember me?
I'm alive. We're all doing well. Really.
What have we been up to?
Well, we spent a week in Michigan over Thanksgiving. It was terrific to visit my brother and his amazing family - including my brand new little baby niece. Then we spent some time up in Midland and were able to hang out with Dan's family. It was a lot of fun and the girls were able to hang out with almost all of their cousins. We stopped in Ithaca on our way home and spent the weekend with my Uncle Bob and Aunt Helen. My Aunt Pam and cousin Kurtis drove up from Virginia and we had so much fun! We were all a little sad when we got back home. It's hard living away from family sometimes.
Thank goodness Julia kept us super busy. She was in a performance of Anne of Green Gables that was terrific. We were so proud of her. She worked so hard to memorize a really tough script and was beautiful. She was poised and remembered her lines so well. It was great to see her in something like that.
The rest of our time was spent planning and preparing for our trip to Arizona for Christmas.
We had a great time in Arizona, up in Phoenix we finally got rid of our storage unit (I know, I know) and spent time with some special friends. We also had In n Out burger which you know was high on our lists.
We spent the next 10 days with my parents which was beautiful - although our first day down there felt like we were still in Maine. We woke up to three inches of snow! The kids too advantage of the pool and swam even with the snow!
Back up in Phoenix we spent more time with our friends and my friends came down to visit for an afternoon of bowling and yummy food.
Back home in Maine we were left with a little post vacation depression.
More snow and winter got us back on track especially an ice rink that Dan made in our backyard.
So - we've been busy and that just brings us to January! Perhaps I'll have another update soon.
Or.... maybe not!
Miss you too!
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Monday, March 08, 2010
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
What I did on my Summer Vacation... Part I
So.
Long time no see.
HI!
It's been a busy couple of weeks. Trips to New York for a beautiful wedding. A long visit with my parents while the girls showed them around our town. Parades. Trip up to the lake. It's been great so far.
I probably won't be around all that much over the next two months, but I'll be thinking of you. I'll miss you. I promise. Will you miss me?
I'll send pictures and try and write when I can! I know separation can be hard, but we can do it, right? We can make a long distance relationship work!
Take care, I'll talk with you soon.
Love,
Het
Long time no see.
HI!
It's been a busy couple of weeks. Trips to New York for a beautiful wedding. A long visit with my parents while the girls showed them around our town. Parades. Trip up to the lake. It's been great so far.
I probably won't be around all that much over the next two months, but I'll be thinking of you. I'll miss you. I promise. Will you miss me?
I'll send pictures and try and write when I can! I know separation can be hard, but we can do it, right? We can make a long distance relationship work!
Take care, I'll talk with you soon.
Love,
Het
Thursday, January 10, 2008
2007 Portion of our Trip...
Because that's all I have!
I left my camera battery in the charger at my parents, so there were no photos taken after Dec 30.
The other criteria for these photos are that they are they only ones in the horizontal format. Office isn't working on this computer (this is my long dead computer that was sent off for repairs while we were gone over the holidays, can I give a shout out to Notebook Mechanix? They ROCK!!) I need to enter my product key, and it's in a box on it's way here.
See there was fun to be had!! The girls LOVED swimming in December. My parents pool was over 90 degrees while we were there. It was all Julia and Anna talked about for the 2 weeks leading up to the trip!
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Day ONE
So our trip began with the alarming news that Dan had to work the morning that we were leaving.
For those that know Dan, know that this did not bode well for our timeline.
We ended up leaving our house at the time we intended to arrive at the airport.
Can you say holy hell?? How do we get all of our stuff checked in, drop the car off at the off site parking, and get 3 kids worth of stuff through security.
Dan and I split up. I took Em and Anna and stood in line to have our bags checked in at the skycap. Then I headed off to the security checkpoint.
The girls were great and we headed to our gate. They were boarding and so I headed to the preboard area to get in line.
They had me wait a moment until they finished boarding group A.
Little did I know they were summoning the big guns to tell me my ass was too big for their plane. The little ticket taker agent guy was so cute. He was too nervous to tell me what was going on, so he pulled me on the the little jetway thing to have his manager tell me my ass was big. The manager was super nice. She apologized since it was unneccesary since I was flying with two children and would have plenty of room for my excess ass if necessary. She escorted me on the plane to help me get situated with the kids which was super helpful. She was pleased as punch when my sizable ass fit in the seat. She also informed me that this was brought to her attention because there was another "customer of size", or C O S as it were, on the flight. She did not purchase an extra seat for her left butt cheek and since the flight was full, she was going to have to fly with half an ass on the plane and half out.
All of this fun and excitement was a nice diversion to my other concern. That my husband and daughter hadn't arrived. The plane was full. Very, Very full.
They made it on, as in last people on the plane made it on.
It was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG six hour flight. The girls did really well, but we were all ansty to get off the plane.
My ears did not pop on the descent and I was in quite a bit of pain. I started popping decongestants in hope of relieving the pain.
Oh, before I forget. Here is where I mention that as we pulled our bags of the carousel Dan was panicked that one of our bags didn't arrive. I pointed out that all of our bags were indeed there. I checked them myself. 3 bags. Another Holy Hell moment. Dan had put one of our bags in the middle of the van and I had only pulled the bags out of the back. Of course it was Dan and Julia's suitcase. The two people in our house who do NOT need a single additional piece of clothing.
Did I mention we landed at 830p AZ time (1030P EST) and the kids did not sleep on the plane? Not at all? After bathroom breaks and fun at the luggage carousel, Anna and Em and I hung out side the airport waiting for Dan, Julia and little tiny rental car to arrive. At 11pm AZ time (1am EST) they pull up in an electric blue Toyota Camry. We load up and head directly to In and Out for dinner. By the time we had our food, 2 of the 3 kids were sleeping and Julia apparently was too tired to eat. That left Dan and I with 2 Double Doubles, 3 grilled cheese sandwiches, 2 milkshakes, 2 lemonades and 1 coke. Oh and 3 fries.
We make it to our hotel and are pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. We head up in the special "key card" elevator to our special floor. The room is awesome. A big old flat panel tv, cookies and milk and relaxing music set out. In a room with one King bed. Yes. One King bed. for FIVE people. No crib either. It was midnight (2am for my girls) and everyone was spent. The hotel kindly and quickly moved us across the hall to an equally cool room but one with 2 double beds and a crib. Everything is great except Anna is moaning as she tries to sleep. From a little after midnight until 2am I rocked her as she cried. Her little ears didn't pop either. Dan ran out to Walgreens and bought some Ibuprophen. She was out at 2am. I was out at 2:01am. Oh, did I forget the EST time? That would be 4:01AM Eastern Standard time.
At 430am the fire alarm begins chirping. After 10 minutes and it doesn't appear to be stopping, we call the front desk. Em wakes up and isn't thrilled. I spend until five AM getting her back to sleep. I bet you can't guess what time Julia woke up. That would be SIX. as in A.M.
I guess technically we're at Day 2 of the trip... So I'll leave you with the promise of dust and vomiting and hysteria for the rest of the day. Did I mention my doctor had me go cold turkey off of my Zoloft and start my Wellbutrin on this trip. You KNOW more hilarity will ensue... I know you can't wait!
For those that know Dan, know that this did not bode well for our timeline.
We ended up leaving our house at the time we intended to arrive at the airport.
Can you say holy hell?? How do we get all of our stuff checked in, drop the car off at the off site parking, and get 3 kids worth of stuff through security.
Dan and I split up. I took Em and Anna and stood in line to have our bags checked in at the skycap. Then I headed off to the security checkpoint.
The girls were great and we headed to our gate. They were boarding and so I headed to the preboard area to get in line.
They had me wait a moment until they finished boarding group A.
Little did I know they were summoning the big guns to tell me my ass was too big for their plane. The little ticket taker agent guy was so cute. He was too nervous to tell me what was going on, so he pulled me on the the little jetway thing to have his manager tell me my ass was big. The manager was super nice. She apologized since it was unneccesary since I was flying with two children and would have plenty of room for my excess ass if necessary. She escorted me on the plane to help me get situated with the kids which was super helpful. She was pleased as punch when my sizable ass fit in the seat. She also informed me that this was brought to her attention because there was another "customer of size", or C O S as it were, on the flight. She did not purchase an extra seat for her left butt cheek and since the flight was full, she was going to have to fly with half an ass on the plane and half out.
All of this fun and excitement was a nice diversion to my other concern. That my husband and daughter hadn't arrived. The plane was full. Very, Very full.
They made it on, as in last people on the plane made it on.
It was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG six hour flight. The girls did really well, but we were all ansty to get off the plane.
My ears did not pop on the descent and I was in quite a bit of pain. I started popping decongestants in hope of relieving the pain.
Oh, before I forget. Here is where I mention that as we pulled our bags of the carousel Dan was panicked that one of our bags didn't arrive. I pointed out that all of our bags were indeed there. I checked them myself. 3 bags. Another Holy Hell moment. Dan had put one of our bags in the middle of the van and I had only pulled the bags out of the back. Of course it was Dan and Julia's suitcase. The two people in our house who do NOT need a single additional piece of clothing.
Did I mention we landed at 830p AZ time (1030P EST) and the kids did not sleep on the plane? Not at all? After bathroom breaks and fun at the luggage carousel, Anna and Em and I hung out side the airport waiting for Dan, Julia and little tiny rental car to arrive. At 11pm AZ time (1am EST) they pull up in an electric blue Toyota Camry. We load up and head directly to In and Out for dinner. By the time we had our food, 2 of the 3 kids were sleeping and Julia apparently was too tired to eat. That left Dan and I with 2 Double Doubles, 3 grilled cheese sandwiches, 2 milkshakes, 2 lemonades and 1 coke. Oh and 3 fries.
We make it to our hotel and are pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. We head up in the special "key card" elevator to our special floor. The room is awesome. A big old flat panel tv, cookies and milk and relaxing music set out. In a room with one King bed. Yes. One King bed. for FIVE people. No crib either. It was midnight (2am for my girls) and everyone was spent. The hotel kindly and quickly moved us across the hall to an equally cool room but one with 2 double beds and a crib. Everything is great except Anna is moaning as she tries to sleep. From a little after midnight until 2am I rocked her as she cried. Her little ears didn't pop either. Dan ran out to Walgreens and bought some Ibuprophen. She was out at 2am. I was out at 2:01am. Oh, did I forget the EST time? That would be 4:01AM Eastern Standard time.
At 430am the fire alarm begins chirping. After 10 minutes and it doesn't appear to be stopping, we call the front desk. Em wakes up and isn't thrilled. I spend until five AM getting her back to sleep. I bet you can't guess what time Julia woke up. That would be SIX. as in A.M.
I guess technically we're at Day 2 of the trip... So I'll leave you with the promise of dust and vomiting and hysteria for the rest of the day. Did I mention my doctor had me go cold turkey off of my Zoloft and start my Wellbutrin on this trip. You KNOW more hilarity will ensue... I know you can't wait!
Monday, January 07, 2008
Holy Hell We're Home
Our trip recap will have to be done in multiple parts. It was just too full of blogworthy goodiness to spew at one time.
Let's just say that from the moment we were SUPPOSED to be leaving on our trip, the fun began and it just didn't end until we were nestled back in our Maine beds.
To tease you I'll highlight some topics we'll be covering (not necessarily in order)... in bulleted form for your convenience.
* Almost missing planes
* Vomiting
* My fat ass
* Cold turkey off Zoloft
* Visits cut short
* Birthday cakes
* Unexpected shopping trips (3)
* Drinking
* Significant lack of drinking
* Hot tubbing
* Crying kids
* Rashes
* Crying moms
* Did I mention stopping Zoloft cold turkey
* Storage unit debacles
* Credit card debacles
* Panic attacks
* Hour long massages
* Christmas
* Happy kids
* Returning home to sub zero weather
* 12 inches of snow
Oh yes, it was fun. We did have nice moments, and it was wonderful to visit with old friends and spend time with my family. Unfortunately we weren't able to see more than half of the people we had hoped to and or that, I'm sincerely disappointed.
We're home, and we know now that this is indeed our home.
Let's just say that from the moment we were SUPPOSED to be leaving on our trip, the fun began and it just didn't end until we were nestled back in our Maine beds.
To tease you I'll highlight some topics we'll be covering (not necessarily in order)... in bulleted form for your convenience.
* Almost missing planes
* Vomiting
* My fat ass
* Cold turkey off Zoloft
* Visits cut short
* Birthday cakes
* Unexpected shopping trips (3)
* Drinking
* Significant lack of drinking
* Hot tubbing
* Crying kids
* Rashes
* Crying moms
* Did I mention stopping Zoloft cold turkey
* Storage unit debacles
* Credit card debacles
* Panic attacks
* Hour long massages
* Christmas
* Happy kids
* Returning home to sub zero weather
* 12 inches of snow
Oh yes, it was fun. We did have nice moments, and it was wonderful to visit with old friends and spend time with my family. Unfortunately we weren't able to see more than half of the people we had hoped to and or that, I'm sincerely disappointed.
We're home, and we know now that this is indeed our home.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
We're married...
The renewal was wonderful. It was quiet, private and amazing. The girls were beautiful.
After some debacles... Anna and Julia walked down the hill with me carrying sunflowers.
Then our long time family friend talked with the girls about family being part of you, then we renewed our vows, and joined hands as a family.
It was just what we had hoped for.
After some debacles... Anna and Julia walked down the hill with me carrying sunflowers.
Then our long time family friend talked with the girls about family being part of you, then we renewed our vows, and joined hands as a family.
It was just what we had hoped for.
We're back!
If only briefly.
It was the best vacation. Little travel time, 11 days that felt like 30, lots of relaxation, lots of family and great friends, beautiful surroundings, perfect weather, campfires, swimming and happy kids. Oh yeah... and lobster.
We had so much fun we're going back. I'm taking the girls back up on Thursday to spend some more time with my parents.
Julia's self esteem boost from Mugglefest carried over into her vacation. She stayed with my parents for a week before we went up. My extended family (all 17 of them!!) was up there and the kids all had a blast. I think this year of Kindergarten did a world of good for Julia. There was NONE of the crying and hurt feelings from years past. She just plain old had fun. At one point there were 14 kids age 10 and under. That's a force to be reckoned with. Julia also wrote a counting book for Anna that is just beautiful. Her birthday buddy helped with the writing and her cousins helped with some of the illustrations. Her hair has bleached out and she has a dark tan even with all the sunblock we chase her around with.
Anna also had fun. She spend 5-10 hours a day in the lake. By the time we left she went from walking around but not wanted to get her face wet, to spending most of her time underwater. Friends of ours K and G taught her to swim and she was doing great. She had a good time playing with the kids and usually fell asleep from pure exhaustion during dinner.
Emma was the most changed little one. Constantly surrounded by new people she has mellowed out tremendously. She's even letting "strangers" hold her now. She has almost stopped her Pteradactyl like yelling when she doesn't want something... and now says "nuh uh". Her vocabulary increased by leaps and bounds too. Other people were even starting to understand her. She also likes the water and loves to jump off the dock, whether or not someone is there to catch her.
It was the best vacation. Little travel time, 11 days that felt like 30, lots of relaxation, lots of family and great friends, beautiful surroundings, perfect weather, campfires, swimming and happy kids. Oh yeah... and lobster.
We had so much fun we're going back. I'm taking the girls back up on Thursday to spend some more time with my parents.
Julia's self esteem boost from Mugglefest carried over into her vacation. She stayed with my parents for a week before we went up. My extended family (all 17 of them!!) was up there and the kids all had a blast. I think this year of Kindergarten did a world of good for Julia. There was NONE of the crying and hurt feelings from years past. She just plain old had fun. At one point there were 14 kids age 10 and under. That's a force to be reckoned with. Julia also wrote a counting book for Anna that is just beautiful. Her birthday buddy helped with the writing and her cousins helped with some of the illustrations. Her hair has bleached out and she has a dark tan even with all the sunblock we chase her around with.
Anna also had fun. She spend 5-10 hours a day in the lake. By the time we left she went from walking around but not wanted to get her face wet, to spending most of her time underwater. Friends of ours K and G taught her to swim and she was doing great. She had a good time playing with the kids and usually fell asleep from pure exhaustion during dinner.
Emma was the most changed little one. Constantly surrounded by new people she has mellowed out tremendously. She's even letting "strangers" hold her now. She has almost stopped her Pteradactyl like yelling when she doesn't want something... and now says "nuh uh". Her vocabulary increased by leaps and bounds too. Other people were even starting to understand her. She also likes the water and loves to jump off the dock, whether or not someone is there to catch her.
Monday, November 13, 2006
We're hoooome
We had a great trip. As always it was too busy, too much driving, too many people we love to see, and not enough time. We were able to see my mom, Dan's parents and grandma, his brother and sister-in-law (SIL) and neice and nephew and my brother and SIL and my nephews. We have the cutest family. Seriously.
I was so happy to be able to attend my nephew H's first birthday party. I felt bad since it was our lateness that pushed back the fetivities into his naptime - but he was a trooper and was precious as always.
I think we packed well on this trip - although I actually forgot a couple of things, but I didn't feel drowned in clothes and excess like we had on other trips. It will however take us 3 weeks to unpack the van.
On our trip we visited Spicer's Orchard, and had a picnic lunch of Jimmy John's, and then the kids played at the playground, and we got to pet the prettiest little cow I've ever seen, and you know I love me some cows.
We also went to Birch Run where Dan and I tackled a BLT made with 1 lb of bacon (picture to come - and we are proud to say that we couldn't eat the whole thing!) and then did some shopping. Later that day we headed to Frankenmuth (aka, "Michigan's Little Bavaria") and did about 70% of our Xmas shopping at River Place and Bronners. The girls just loved Bronners - and really, what kid wouldn't, there are a million bazillion christmas lights and decorations. One employee told me their electric bill is $900 a day.
We spent an afternoon in Chelsea with my brother-in-law and his family. My SIL, T, made this cheeseball mix that was soooooooooooooooo good. It's Lemon Cheesecake by Wind & Willow. We dipped graham cracker sticks into it - and it was delicious. She made the mistake of telling be where to buy the mix - and I bought quite a bit of it for future use and gifts.
My other SIL, M, made the cutest little cake for H's birthday. I think she should go into business making cakes (I'll share a picture later once I find the camera and download some). She's really good at it - and it was super tasty too!
I'm committed to finishing out NaBloPoMo even though our travels left me unable to accomplish my goal of everyday. :)
I was so happy to be able to attend my nephew H's first birthday party. I felt bad since it was our lateness that pushed back the fetivities into his naptime - but he was a trooper and was precious as always.
I think we packed well on this trip - although I actually forgot a couple of things, but I didn't feel drowned in clothes and excess like we had on other trips. It will however take us 3 weeks to unpack the van.
On our trip we visited Spicer's Orchard, and had a picnic lunch of Jimmy John's, and then the kids played at the playground, and we got to pet the prettiest little cow I've ever seen, and you know I love me some cows.
We also went to Birch Run where Dan and I tackled a BLT made with 1 lb of bacon (picture to come - and we are proud to say that we couldn't eat the whole thing!) and then did some shopping. Later that day we headed to Frankenmuth (aka, "Michigan's Little Bavaria") and did about 70% of our Xmas shopping at River Place and Bronners. The girls just loved Bronners - and really, what kid wouldn't, there are a million bazillion christmas lights and decorations. One employee told me their electric bill is $900 a day.
We spent an afternoon in Chelsea with my brother-in-law and his family. My SIL, T, made this cheeseball mix that was soooooooooooooooo good. It's Lemon Cheesecake by Wind & Willow. We dipped graham cracker sticks into it - and it was delicious. She made the mistake of telling be where to buy the mix - and I bought quite a bit of it for future use and gifts.
My other SIL, M, made the cutest little cake for H's birthday. I think she should go into business making cakes (I'll share a picture later once I find the camera and download some). She's really good at it - and it was super tasty too!
I'm committed to finishing out NaBloPoMo even though our travels left me unable to accomplish my goal of everyday. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)