When I arrived back home from my January work trip last week, I was tired. It was late, I had a few long days with productive, but exhausting meetings, my to-do list in several areas of my life was too long, Colin kept the girls up so they could see me before they went to bed, and Zoe had a bad rash that was going to need medical attention in the morning. After a good night's sleep and recovering (to some extent) from the most recent trip, I realized that feeling so drained may have been a result of so much travel over the past 10 weeks. I'm still feeling a little drained after a 3-day weekend, but it was good to get more things checked off the to-do list.
Between November 7 and January 11, I've spent almost 6500 miles in the car. The bulk of those miles came from trips up to the northeast for both Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years. And while sitting or driving the car is one aspect of travel that can be difficult, I find the packing, unpacking, and recovering from the trips to be the hardest. My monthly travel for work is the easy packing since it is just me. But trips up north require thoughts about the weather, holiday outfits, activities we might do, and making sure things like clothes, diapers, snacks, food, beverages, and activities are available for the 12 hour trip. Most of that planning and packing falls to me since I get to rest in the car (or entertain in the backseat) while Colin does the bulk of the driving.
In between all these trips, which took place just about every other week, we tried enjoying some holiday events in or around home. We enjoyed a holiday potluck with Portuguese friends, gingerbread house making with our friends and neighbors, tried making Aunt June's famous cookies as a family of 4, and checked out a few holiday light displays and shows. We capped off our holiday fun with the annual Pullen Park Express, which is a fun evening of endless rides on the carousel, holiday crafts, a train ride around the park, and the girl's first (and only) time meeting Santa.
All dressed up for a holiday dinner
Girls enjoying their fancy, sparkly silver shoes
Scheduling and actually doing activities with two toddlers is no easy feat. They did surprisingly well in their holiday outfits, but we spent more time entertaining them and chasing them around the holiday dinner than talking to anyone. Colin spent a long time building gingerbread houses, only to have Zoe eat part of one and Darwin completely demolish (ie - eat) our neighbor's house. The clean up for any food activity is always a challenge and I wonder if it is worth it. But, I know it is. While Zoe is still too young to follow some of the rules, I see Rose focus and take pride in her work. And watching Zoe naively eat a gingerbread house is endearing. I sometimes catch myself all wound up in a type A personality, and it seems we all have different triggers. I am constantly grateful for a husband who is much more relaxed and doesn't seem to mind spending an entire afternoon putting together gingerbread houses that will all be demolished either during decoration, or shortly thereafter.
Gingerbread house decorating (or eating if you are Zoe)
Rose likes to organize mommy's cookies - perhaps picking up on some type A organizing skills
I've never been too eager to have the girls meet Santa. It seems cruel to force kids to sit on the lap of a stranger so we adults can take a picture. We gave Rose the option to meet him and she said she wanted to, so we went for it. She was completely into it this year, but we made the mistake of trying to have Zoe sit with Mrs. Claus for the picture, an experience that petrified her. When we got to Santa we didn't bother trying to see if Zoe wanted to sit with him. Even Rose was a little reluctant to sit on his lap, until they got to talking about the movie Frozen.
Our friend Lucas and his family joined us at the Pullen Park Express
Rose hamming it up on the carousel
Zoe enjoying her ride on the carousel with mommy
Ready for the train ride
First time meeting Santa
While traveling 12 hours is not ideal, we continue to make it bearable by leaving between 1-2am after a few hours of sleep. It helps if we can have the car packed early so we can go to bed shortly after the girls do. They typically sleep for the first 5-6 hours, and are fairly content in the car for most of the morning. We have been able to make pretty good time on our recent trips. Unfortunately, during the Christmas trip, I battled a sore lower back, which has been hurting on an off since starting the trip.
Rose alternates between sleeping and playing in the car
Zoe could sleep for most of the drive
While visiting family, we were able to engage in some new and some regular activities. There was some snow on the ground in New York, so the girls got to try sledding down Colin's parent's front lawn on Christmas Day. We also checked out a museum in Albany that has a free carousel. We rode it about 3 times. In Rhode Island, we checked out the awesome Boston Children's Museum and managed to make a trip down to the beach. It was a little too cold for me, but Rose enjoyed playing in the sand.
All smiles waiting for the carousel ride in NY
The girls loved spending time with their entire family over the Christmas-New Year's trip. Rose looks up to her 6-year-old cousin Isabella, and is exhausted after a day of playing together. Both Rose and Zoe love the attention from their aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I always feel like I've gained 10 pounds when we get back, but there is so much comfort in being surrounded by family and food during the holidays. I also like getting a quick glimpse of winter and then heading back to our warmer weather. Though Colin and Zoe managed to catch a bug during the week, it was short-lived for both of them. My back was (and continues to be) a major bummer, though I hope some rehab and massages (Merry Christmas to me!) will be the fix I need.
Opening presents in New York on Christmas Eve
Rose posing with presents on Christmas morning
Girls opening presents on Christmas morning
I'm glad we were able to enjoy some holiday fun and visit with family to celebrate the season, but I'll admit that I am very grateful to have a few weeks with minimal travel and scheduled events on my calendar. It felt good to take down the tree and Christmas decorations this year. For me, it was the promise of a less hectic schedule ahead. We've started to get back on track with our diet (except for a few lingering sweets). Now, I'm hoping the weather can cooperate so we can enjoy some walks to the park as a family on the weekends and I can get back to some regular exercise.
I hope you were all able to enjoy the comfort and joy in your family/friends this holiday season and that your New Year is off to a tremendous start.
I'll admit it was really nice not to travel for the holidays this year. We are usually the ones traveling the northeast circuit between Rhode Island and upstate New York and now that we are in North Carolina, it poses the extra challenge of having to drive up through DC and New York City. We decided awhile back that we wouldn't travel this year, not knowing how I'd feel this late into pregnancy. I'll admit that I'm starting to feel uncomfortably large and the fatigue I've heard a lot about is kicking in.
Since Thanksgiving was so late this year and we were in Jamaica, the weeks leading up to Christmas flew by. We managed to put up our Christmas tree and some decorations around mid-December, and added all the holiday cards from our friends and family to the fireplace mantle as the weeks passed. By the time my parents arrived the weekend before Christmas, we were fully in the holiday spirit and even had a few Christmas Pandora stations programmed on our phones. We'd occasionally rock out to them while cooking or hanging around the house.
Our Christmas Tree
The day my family arrived, the temperature in Raleigh was about 70 degrees. It certainly did not feel like Christmas at all with us in shorts and a t-shirt. But it didn't take long for the weather to normalize again. By normal, I mean daytime highs in the 50s and lows overnight in the 30s. It certainly is nothing to complain about. We spent the week enjoying the weather with long walks in and around the parks, building our appetites for hearty holiday meals.
Speaking of meals, on Christmas Eve we enjoyed bacalhau - a Portuguese tradition - and opted for a non-traditional Christmas Day meal of roasted chicken and vegetables. Since we have a farm share, we tried to continue eating according to the season through the holiday week, using the meat and vegetables we received.
The Miller Family on Christmas Eve 2013
The Clementes + Colin on Christmas Eve 2013
One tradition from Colin's family that we attempted this year was to make his Aunt June's cookies. We tried making them a few years ago when we lived in NYC after Aunt June gave us a cookie press and her recipe. Unfortunately, the cookies did not meet our expectations at all the first time around. This year, Colin opted to try again and though they didn't look that great, they actually tasted pretty good. It wasn't until after we made the cookies that we received a letter from Aunt June that we might have to add a little extra liquid! I guess that means we will have to try again next year. They say third time's a charm, right?
Colin's attempt at Aunt June's famous cookies
Another highlight of Christmas was checking out a house in the neighborhood that had a very large light display choreographed to holiday music. We managed to record and upload a portion of the 15-20 minute show. Later in the week we found a few other light displays, but we all agreed that the first one we saw on Christmas Eve was the best.
Without our lead vocalist and main band member, my brother, we didn't play as much Rock Band as we usually do and instead played some dominoes. I generally felt less up to the task of hosting and sightseeing, but we went out a few times to go shopping, get our hair done, and walk around downtown Raleigh. I was really looking forward to checking out Vidari chocolate factory, but they weren't making any the weekend after Christmas, so the self-guided factory tour was a major bust! It is when we host friends and family that I remember how much more difficult it is to show people a good time in Raleigh than it ever was in NYC. Too bad we didn't have our 4 bedroom house there!
I can't believe how quickly the week passed and that we are now already a few days into 2014. I knew that the big holidays in November and December would pass quickly, but it feels surreal that our daughter is due in less than 6 weeks! Stay tuned for an update and photos in the next post.
After having family in town for a week, we opted for a quiet New Year's Eve.
The day started out with a 5:30am wake up to get my parents to the airport for their 7am flight. We decided not to go back to bed, because we wanted to check out REI's garage sale I had heard a lot about. The sale was set to begin at 10am and tickets were to be given out 2 hours beforehand. We considered going straight to the store to wait in line after dropping my parents off, but opted instead to come home and eat breakfast first.
Arriving at the store around 8:15am got us #s166-167. The first people in line had arrived at midnight and slept in tents outside the store. Granted it is fairly mild in Raleigh, the overnight lows were in the upper 20's to low 30's.
Instead of waiting around until the store opened and then waiting some more inside the store until our number was called, we used the time to go grocery shopping and run a few errands at Target and Sam's Club.
Back at the store, our numbers weren't called until close to 11:30am. We managed to find some pieces we needed for a Yakima rooftop car rack (since 1 tower of the 4 that was supposed to come in the box was missing, we got 3 for $40) and picked up a few other small items. Some people got amazing deals on things like kayaks, bike frames, and electronics.
By the time we got home, unpacked groceries, and ate lunch it was already late afternoon. We managed to enjoy the rest of the beautiful afternoon outdoors with Darwin. By 8pm, we knew it would be a struggle to make it to midnight. We baked some oatmeal raisin cookies and made our own buttercream frosting as a special treat for the New Year and played some rock band to keep ourselves awake.
Oatmeal Raising Cookies
Colin's homemade buttercream frosting
Delicious cookie sandwiches!
Colin was the first man down. By 10:30, he was failing on the guitar and we were losing fans. We turned off the xbox and flipped through the channels (yes, we finally got a TV - but no cable), alternating between Ryan Seacrest/Dick Clark and the other New Year's show. I don't know about you, but it pains me to watch Dick Clark since his stroke. Colin fell asleep on the couch and decided to hit the hay not long before the ball dropped. I stayed awake to see the countdown, Gaga's kiss with Bloomberg, and a few minutes of 2012 before putting Darwin in his little apartment (aka his crate) and heading to bed myself.
It was a quiet night after an eventful week.
One of the benefits of a quiet evening, is that you get to enjoy your first day in 2012 without being hungover or tired. January 1st reached into the 60s in Raleigh/Cary and there was not a cloud in the sky. We enjoyed a huge portion of the day walking and jogging through new areas of Cary, NC. It was even better to have another day off after the first (extending my vacation to 10 days!). I hope this year is filled with lots of great things for us and for all of you!!
