It's been two weeks since I've posted anything on here and the enormity of how much there is to write to catch is up is almost mind numbing. I'm going to do my best to not be up until 3:00 am trying to write it all down. It's 10:15 pm as I start this. Let's see how far I get. Oh, that I were like Allen Isidro who writes notes every night while he is on vacation so throwing a blog together when he gets home is "simple."
I left off on Sabbath, December 22 which, of course, is a very important day because it marked our actual 10-year anniversary. To celebrate, we took a cruise on a big yacht, The Odyssey, through Boston Harbor. It was from 8:00 - 11:00 that evening. These sort of cruises are probably more popular in the warmer weather so that you can go out on the decks and enjoy the beautiful skyline. Clearly, that wasn't the main attraction with temps in the low thirties but I was sucked in by the thought of the two of us dining (by ourselves) as we gazed out the windows at stunning Christmas lights while a band played Christmas music nearby. Sold! Well, that sort of came true. We did have seats next to a window but the Christmas music only amounted to two whole songs. Major disappointment. They played plenty of other stuff, which was nice, but not what I had in mind. On the plus side, we did sit next to a table of about twenty people who had imbibed some adult beverages before they even boarded which proved highly entertaining as we watched them stumbling and falling over the dance floor. This prompted Duncan to rename it a booze cruise. But on a serious note, I thought the food was very good and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We did try and take some pictures on the top deck with the skyline in the background. It was super, super cold with the wind blowing and Duncan's finger wouldn't even register as a finger on his iPhone. He took a few pictures of me and then I started to take one of him and he made an obscene expression just after which my phone died (his was already dead). So we never got a real one of him which made us laugh and laugh. We also though it was pretty humerous that both our phones were dead. I don't know if the cold or what bothered them but mine went from 20% battery to nothing. We had joked earlier "wouldn't it be funny if both our phones were dead? What would we do?" Ahhh, yes. A real panic. Being in Boston late at night with no cell phones. What did they ever do in the old days?
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| Duncan sipping his $6 Espresso |
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| Gorgeous city! |
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| The yacht. |
Sunday was the Boston Pops. We had a big group of us that met first at the Cheesecake Factory at noon. I have been dreaming about that meal ever since. I have been going to the Cheesecake Factory since 1997 (yes, I actually remember the year I first went to one of them) and I have never ordered Evelyn's Pasta which is made up of broccoli, artichokes, pine nuts and some other stuff. Well, I ordered it this time and it was so good that I've been dreaming about it since then. Every now and then I come across stuff like that. Anywho, after our meal and walking around the mall for a bit we walked over to Symphony Hall for the concert. We have typically gone in the evenings but decided an afternoon performance was more conducive to the kids. Regardless of the time, Brady was still a bit of a handful. I was in and out about three or four times. I did manage to get him to sleep...on the last song before the intermission and then he woke up on the first song after intermission. Bravo on the timing Brady! He also had peed through his pants which got on my jacket and helped me discover that apparently Symphony Hall has no baby changing tables. Nice. Despite these little bumps in the road, I will not be deterred! The Pops are a family tradition and will continue to go on. We were all a little sad, though, when they did not play "White Christmas" for the encore which is an all time favorite for many of us.
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| Hanging out a cool store at the mall. |
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| Walking to the Pops. |
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Monday was Christmas Eve which was a flurry of activity. The first thing being a trip for Brady to see Dr. Cassy. Starting Saturday night while we were enjoying our booze, errr, sightseeing cruise, Brady developed a cough. Yes, it was reminiscent of the old days. A runny nose soon accompanied it and Monday morning we faced the reality that he was sick. Stupid me had not brought his nebulizer since it's been so long since he's needed it that it just wasn't on my mind. So here we are on a Christmas Eve, away from home, and you think, "What are we going to do?" All I can say is thank goodness for Cassy Walcott! She is a family friend that stayed at our (my parent's) house on weekends for many years while she was in medical school (Harvard, I might add!) and we could not be more grateful that she has a practice nearby and that she is such a wonderful soul. She happened to be working and told us to come on in at noon and she would check Brady out. She said that between his getting two immunizations the day we left, the weather change, and being around some sick people (while we were in Newport), it was too much for his system. We gave him a nebulizer treatment with Albuterol and Pulmicort to see if it would help which it did. But let me tell you, if we thought giving him the nebulizer treatment was tough before, OH MY WORD! Duncan likened it to water boarding. You would think we seriously harming him. It's almost unwatchable. Duncan had to squeeze his legs between his and then I had to hold down his arms while Duncan then kept his head in place. It's amazing how much strength an 18-month old has. It is serious work to keep that mask on his face. Cassy lent us their nebulizer and gave us a prescription for the Pulmicort to give to him orally for five days and then we continued the Albuterol three times a day after that. I'm happy to say that he's almost back to normal. I'm not anticipating this thing dragging on for months like it did last time with that cough.
Besides that, we did have a typical Christmas Eve with lots of last minute shopping. I'm so happy to report that our Christmas Eve and Christmas were back to normal this year with Uncle Charlie, Aunt Lori, Steve, Kelly, and now baby Caleb joining us. Last year they were at Uncle Charlie's parents but we solved that problem this year by having them, Chuck and Millie, join us. So, so, so happy to be back to "normal." I should say, though, that it wasn't completely normal because Ricky wasn't there. He and Ana were with us last year so this year they were with Ana's family. The downside of marriage! This is why I hope my kids marry orphans :) Or, maybe people whose parents I am friends with so they will want to be with us, or vice versa, on Christmas. Yeah, that will work. Anyway, we were back to our usual game playing on Christmas Eve with me devising six games. Duncan and Shawn were on the same team and I at first thought they would run away with it but Aunt Lori/Camille and Mom/Steve/Kelly (they played as one person since the other was watching the baby) gave them a run for their money although they did eventually win. The highlight game was one called
"Mennonite Manners" which is a dice game I had never heard of but proved to be very entertaining.
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| Dad trying to get the cookie into his mouth. He was not successful. |
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| My boys. |
I did my usual boneheaded move by not wrapping any presents until Christmas Eve and was up until 2:00 am wrapping. Someday I'll get smarter about that. But, I think deep down, I like to save it until then because I enjoy it.
Christmas morning we awoke to find some strange white stuff falling from the sky. Wait. It's snow! It had been so long since I had seen some I almost didn't recognize it. Yes, it had been two years since we had seen any. We got just enough to coat the grass and trees and make it a white Christmas! Perfection. We started our stockings at about 9:00 am. This year I had Dad and Duncan had Camille while Camille had me and Dad had Duncan. I just realized we all had each other. Weird! After that, let the present opening begin! First, it's always a speech by my mother about how it's not the number of gifts but the total amount spent, blah, blah, blah. It's really a speech that's not necessary any more but we always have her do it for tradition sake. When we were younger we would always wonder why Ricky (or which ever sibling it would be that year) would get more presents than the other two would get and my mom would always say she spent the same amount of money on each of us but some presents were more expensive, etc. I will say that by not having Ricky there, we also missed out on that "I'm pretending that I like this gift but I really hate it and do you have the receipt?" smile. Hope you're there next year, Rick!
I muttered to a few people that I wonder at what age kids let go of there obsession of "me, me, me." They'll open a present and then 20 seconds later, it's "Where's a present for me?" "When is it going to be my turn again?" 10? 12? Teens? I don't know but I look forward to that day. Although, I'm sure we aren't helping them achieve it by giving them more than we probably should. Having said that, the girls big gift this year were backpacks from LL Bean. Ever since Nova Scotia where Calleigh coined the term "Nature Hunters" to denote a group of them (namely, Mia, Calleigh, Aubree, and Camden) who liked to go out in nature and hunt for stuff (as you probably already ascertained by the aptly named "Nature Hunters") she has been talking about getting backpacks with nature stuff in it. It's always nice when they want stuff like this instead of Barbies or whatever. So we got the two girls and Camden backpacks and filled it with things like a water bottle, head lamp, magnifying glass, etc. It was a big hit! Duncan's big gift from me was a VitaMix which has wanted for a long time and I found a good deal on at Costco. Happy times!
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| Opening stockings. |
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| The backpacks. |
After all the gifts we had our traditional Christmas brunch which I will not go into details on but it's always delightful. Because we weren't leaving until Thursday, the rest of the day was very relaxing. We didn't have to pack up anything or go anywhere. Very nice. Unfortunately the Shawn Braces did leave that afternoon and were very sorry to see them go. They were going back home to join up with Camille's family some of which were coming in from out of state.
I don't remember much else that went on between then and when we left Thursday morning. We decided that it would be nice to stop in Maryland and see Ricky and Ana on our way through so we planned to leave at about 10:00 am (normally we leave early afternoon to break up the two days that we'll be on the road) thinking that would put us in their area around 7:00ish as it would be less than an eight hour trip in an ideal world (meaning, no kids or traffic). Alas, we do not live in an ideal world. I had thought that leaving two days after Christmas would make travelling better but if this was better, I wouldn't have liked to see the other. Our first trouble was in New York as we got near the George Washington Bridge. We were a few miles away and we slowed to where we were barely moving. And then yes, you guessed it. "Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom!" That was Calleigh from the backseat. She is not like Aubree who seems to say that all the time so when she says she has to go, she means it. We finally managed to creep off an exit but then you are in the middle of the Bronx, where, no offense, it does not do much for my opinion of New York City (not that there is really anything wrong with the city but in the sports world it's always Boston vs. New York so it clouds my judgement on the actual city and its people). We finally manage to locate a Dunkin Donuts and Duncan (not to be confused with the donut) double parks (because of course there is no parking anywhere in the city) so that I can quickly get the girls out of the car, sans coats, to run in. As luck would have it, there is no darn bathroom in the Dunkin Donuts. It's like, here, drink a bunch of coffee but don't you dare have to pee afterwards. Back out onto the street we go, in the cold, as I glance up and down the street for a place with a loo. I spotted a Macy's across the street that we started making haste too but then on the way, out popped a Starbucks and we made a beeline there. Thank goodness they had higher standards then Dunkin Donuts and there was a bathroom. We finished our business and located Duncan on a side street parked illegally in front of some big garage type doors. As I get in the car, I smell something terrible and realize Brady has a dirty diaper. Just great. I get him out and put him on the floor of the front seat to change him and as I take off his pants, I quickly discover that this isn't just a poop diaper, this is a massive blow-out of epic proportions. Its basically covering his entire lower half. Wouldn't you know it, just as I make this horrific discovery, a delivery truck comes to turn into the garages that we are illegally idling in front of. What to do? I wrapped the changing mat as best I could over Brady lower body, sat him on my lap and yelled for Duncan to drive. So yes, we were cruising the streets of New York with a dirty, smelly, toddler sitting on my lap. We finally found a residential area and Duncan pulled over for me to finish the changing operation (which included putting on a whole new outfit). As luck would have it, people had their trash out for pickup and I threw the filthy diaper in one of the bags. Take that New York! That's a little gift from us for the Giants beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl last year.
We finally made it over the GW but the traffic nightmare didn't end there. We got stuck on the New Jersey Turnpike between exits 9 and 8. I think we were averaging about three miles an hour. We got off at exit 8 and traversed some back roads. I have no idea if any of it actually helped us save time but it just makes you feel better to be moving rather than sitting bumper to bumper. But yes, we hate New Jersey too.
Our dreams of meeting Ricky and Ana at the Olive Garden were dashed and we didn't roll into their place until after 9:00 pm. Sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles I guess. But it was nice to see them albeit for only 30 minutes or so. We hadn't seen them since their wedding in June. It was funny because the color purple, which was the big color at the wedding, must have stuck out in Calleigh's mind. She is in this "green" only phase and hates pink and purple. As we got close she said "I really hope that the house isn't all purple." Of course, it wasn't.
After that, the rest of the trip went very well. We are so fortunate that we are such good drivers during the night because as good as the kids are, I can't imagine doing all the driving during the day. We arrived home a little before noon which made it a 25-hour trip, three more than the way up. If Duncan had his way, this would be the last time we drive for Christmas because as we sat in the bad traffic, he stated a few times, "I'm never doing this again." Just like he does every other year. I just smirk because I know that like a woman who goes through the pain of child birth and swears she'll never do it again but soon forgets it all and has another kid, next December he'll forget. Or, he'll see that it will cost us $2k to fly and he'll realize he's a fool!
It was good to be home...mostly because it meant I was no longer sneezing, blowing my nose, and wearing glasses. My allergies had gotten worse over the last few days. Amazing how it all stops so suddenly. But it was also nice to be in my nice bed and not have a little body, namely Brady, in it with me. He ended up coming into bed with us during the night most of the nights we were up there. Thankfully that has not been repeated (not that it would be here because I would just let him cry if we're at home).
Duncan didn't have to go back to work until this past Wednesday (1/2) so we had the weekend and then some free to get unpacked, laundry started, and take care of other odds and ends. Sunday afternoon we had a little work party for the leadership of IT which took place at the Mission Inn in Howey-In-The-Hills. Yes, you read that right. That's an actual name of a town in Florida. Ask Duncan if you want to know how it got named. It's not fit for publication. Ron and Elaine came over to watch the kids so we could enjoy the brunch. It was quite a spread and I camethisclose to eating bacon on a broccoli salad that Duncan spotted at the last moment. My other snafus with meat involved beef and chicken. Pig would take it to a whole other level. Whew!
Monday evening, New Year's Eve, we had Christmas 2.0 at Ron and Elaine's. It went very well and the girls were especially exited to get MobiGo's which are little handheld devices that you can play learning games on. We have relegated them to (mostly) car use only so now they are begging to go places.
The automatic sliding door on our van stopped working the day we left for Boston. That proved to be a real pain in the neck (hey, when you get used to those automatic doors, doing it manually becomes a burden!). I was anxious to get it fixed and things worked out well here because Allen and Tangie were gone and we were able to use their car yesterday. It's always challenging to figure out how to work that logistically because we can't fit three car seats in Duncan's truck.
Today wrapped up with Isidro's and Bergherms (minus Bruce) coming over for supper. We're all now back as Duncan picked the Isidro's up at the airport last night. It's good to be back in the company of friends and I know the kids feel the same way.
That is that. I will not let two weeks go by again!
Other pictures...
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| Tuesday I worked all day and Duncan took the kids. Here they are at the Mall at Millenia. |
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| At Lowe's |
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| Another big gift was the light up pets that project shapes and colors on the ceiling. Okay, we really need to work on the binky situation with Brady. |
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| Brady put his pajama bottoms on his head. |
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| I was looking through the pictures on my phone and found these Aubree self portraits. So funny! |
Pictures missing from the last post...
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| Almost arriving at Papa & Gigi's. Excitement was mounting! |
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| Very happy to see Bruno |
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| I will not show my face in the these but yes, I do have sleeper pajamas like the kids. Hey, it's cold up there! |
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| Helping to set the table at Aunt Lori & Uncle Charlie's. |
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| Caleb |
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| LOVE this picture of Calleigh. Cracks me up! |
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| American Girl doll store...before the flood of tears. |
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| Trying to get a picture of the five cousins at Bass Pro Shop. |
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| "What you talking about Willis??" |
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| Singing for the nursing home folks. |
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| Aubree, Tyson, and Acadia at the Children's Museum. |
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| Westin |
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| Challenging Dad to tic-tac-toe |
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| This totally cracked me up! I sit down to go to the bathroom at the Children's Museum and this was what was on the wall in front of me. Poop samples from different animals. One of these is from a moose and it's not the biggest one. |
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| Edaville Railroad |
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| On the train. |
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| Newport |
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| Three of the four girl cousins. Missed you Al! |
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| Toni being congratulated by my dad for seeing the first load of Christmas trees back in early November. She won the $25 prize. Alas, a prize I will never win. |
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| Helping Gigi make meatballs. |
