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.
Sometimes it feels like life is flying by and I want it to slow down and other times I find myself looking forward to the next milestone. I'm one of the first to admit that the first year is really hard and on many occasions I have said that I will look forward to this fall and winter when Zoe is a little older. I do appreciate this age and how fun it is to see our little girl grow and develop. But, it's also difficult to have a young child who can't yet communicate her needs and still relies on mommy's milk.
Zoe at 10 months (a week or two late)
A smile now that she can play with the camera lens cap
The big news at 10 months is that Zoe is close to walking. She still crawls from place to place on one knee and one foot, but any time she can stand with support, she will. I often leave and find her standing playing with toys at school. And at home she loves standing at the coffee table that doubles as a toy storage area. There she can reach into the toy box to grab the toys she wants (within reach). When she's busy playing, she often forgets that she is not holding onto anything and she can stand unassisted for several seconds. She hasn't gotten over her fear of taking steps on her own, but I expect she will fairly soon.
At 10 months, Zoe has mastered the wave hello and bye bye. Often, she makes the number 4, by tucking her thumb into her palm as she waves. And, we call her wave, the "pope wave" because she puts her hand just slightly above her head and away from her body and makes short quick waving motions. You can see a little bit of it in one of the science museum videos.
During June and early July we did a fair amount of traveling. Colin and I describe summer in North Carolina as "dog breath air." It didn't seem like June was that bad, but July has been very hot. We try to get out of town as much as we can in July. Our big 4th of July week trip took us up to State College, PA to visit a friend, further north to Niagara Falls, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario (Canada), a little farther north and east to Montreal, Quebec (Canada), and back home to North Carolina with stops near Burlington, VT to visit a friend and the Albany, NY area to visit family. I'll post about our travels on another post, and will stick to Zoe's updates during the month.
Enjoying the baby play area at the Toronto Children's Museum
Standing to play and poop at the museum
Zoe exploring the Toronto Science Museum
Zoe cruising and almost walking
Zoe pooping:
As you can see in the video of Zoe playing with the brush on the wall, she's very inquisitive and cautious. Many of you have seen how long it took her to smile for the camera. She's somewhat shy, but determined. Even though that brush pricked her hand the first time she touched it, she proceeded more cautiously the second time and focused on the task at hand. Learning is serious business.
I'm almost afraid to post of our good fortune related to health with both girls at daycare/school. Over the past month or two, neither of them have gotten sick. I was really worried when we received notice that Zoe's class had hand, foot, and mouth on two separate occasions, and Rose's class had a confirmed case of croup. Zoe's teachers do a great job of washing all the children's hands the minute they are dropped off at school. In Rose's class, we drop the kids off outside and when they come in at 9am, it's snack time and they have to wash their hands. I hope our good fortune continues because healthy girls make for a happy family!
A typical reaction from Zoe when Rose plays with her.
She has a 50/50 chance of being hurt by Rose each time.
We continue to introduce new foods to Zoe in the hopes she will be able to eat what we eat. Now that the weather is hot and fruits are in season and appetizing, we've been giving her more variety. She still loves bananas and now has a love for grapes too. She's also content to receive strawberries, blueberries, and watermelon. She's a fan of meats like chicken, beef, or pork. We tried salmon this month and her face got a little red and blotchy, but it wasn't bad at all. We also finally tried a little egg yolk and so far she seems to not have any reaction. We'll likely do the egg white soon. Zoe's 9-month doctor's appointment actually took place around 9.5 months. Since we were going to the doctor, we decided to let Zoe try a piece of cheese. Within a few minutes, her face seemed to be itchy and got red and blotchy. And several minutes later, she actually threw up. So far that has been the only reaction. We will likely not do block cheese again soon. She seems to do okay with cheese that is cooked in foods (like meatballs or pizza). It might also be the type of cheese, or type of processing.
While we are likely in okay shape with Zoe's milk intake, I have really stressed out this month with pumping breast milk. Zoe's school has not been as receptive to me bringing less milk to school like Rose's school was. So, I've spent more days "power-pumping" at work and adding in an extra bed-time pumping session. Going back to my first paragraph on this blog, this is one milestone that I can't wait to get here. I have about 5 bags of pumped milk for Zoe left and she still has 6 weeks before she turns 1. Part of the problem at school is the teachers and the other part is that Zoe likes her milk. Rose liked food and milk and could take either with no problem. If given the choice, Zoe would choose mommy's milk 100% of the time. On the days I am home with her, she still wants to nurse 5-6 times a day. Unfortunately breast pumps are so inefficient at pumping breast milk. And, I would guess that Zoe stops nursing when the milk doesn't flow so easy when she is with me, but when she gets it from a bottle, she wants more.
Zoe continues to be a great sleeper, going to bed between 7:45-8:30pm and getting up between 6-7am. She is starting to transition from 3 naps a day to 2. At home, she usually wants a 1 hour morning nap around 9:30, a two-hour nap mid-day, and a 30-45 minute nap around 4 or 5. At school it seems like she takes a two hour nap late morning and she's often sleeping when I pick her up at 5:30. The pacifier is a source of comfort for her, and she looks for it when she wakes up in the morning. Sometimes sucking on it puts her back to sleep. We've been trying to put her down to sleep without it and only giving it to her when she needs to relax.
Sleeping in daddy's Ergo backpack
Going for a ride on Grandpa's boat is tiring
While the lifejacket pillow was nice, the jacket constricted too many movements
We continue to use cloth diapers at all times except overnight. At this age and with giving her so much milk or water, Zoe pees a lot and her diapers are often saturated. She frequently pees through the diapers and needs several clothes changes per day. After 2.5 years, I think my Bum Genius diapers are done. I had about 12-13 and there are only a few that actually have an in tact PUL. I've switched back to using my Charlie Banana diapers and the newer Fuzzibunz from Costco. I'm hoping these will get us through another year and that we can get Zoe potty trained early like Rose did.
Zoe is excited about seeing Niagara Falls from the Ferris Wheel
Rocking some shades on Centre Island (Toronto) beach on Lake Ontario
As you can probably see in the pictures, Zoe's hair is really coming in. It's fairly straight, somewhat thick, and light-colored. In the sun she looks blonde. Her eyes remain blue and I don't see any hints of other colors. Thankfully, we haven't had any problems with her skin, with rashes or sunburns. She is fair-skinned and I worried she would burn easily, but she seems to tan with the sun's rays.
Though I look forward to Zoe reaching one year for selfish reasons relating to pumping, I do enjoy the 10-month-old stage. I love seeing her personality develop, her start to "talk" and make noises, her persistence in getting what (or where) she wants. While Zoe's talking is still mostly babbling, her favorite sounds are "ah-da." We've been working on "ma-ma" and I sometimes get that sound when I'm around and she wants to be picked up. It will be interesting to see how her language develops since she spends 3 full days a week in a Spanish-language immersion school. In reflecting on Rose's 10-month-blog post, Rose was already making different letter sounds like "fif" "mam" "da" and "ba." We'll just have to wait and see what she says when she's ready and when she decides to walk. Only time will tell!
As wonderful as visiting family is for the holidays, traveling during these times is difficult and stressful. Flights are expensive and so is boarding Darwin, so we frequently find ourselves making the drive from North Carolina to the Albany, NY and Rhode Island circuit. Now that we have Rose, it adds another challenge.
For Thanksgiving this year, we decided to start our trip north after work on Friday. We've done the drive straight before, and have said we would never do it again! I found a reasonable rate at a Westin hotel off I-95 in Delaware, which split the drive almost in half. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the hotel was and it was even better that they allowed dogs for free. It's really difficult to travel with a dog on a budget. We've stayed at a Red Roof Inn before - which I won't do again - and I find myself tirelessly looking for nice, pet-friendly hotels, that are just off the highway. I just can't justify spending a lot of money on a room that we will only be in for 7-9 hours - to sleep. The hotel stay in Delaware was pleasant, but we arrived after midnight and Rose had been sleeping in the car all evening, so she did not want to go to bed. We opted to sleep in Saturday morning and get a late checkout so we could swim in the pool for a bit.
Heading north is a little easier than coming south. Since we can leave after work on the way up, the DC traffic isn't usually too bad. We are almost guaranteed to hit traffic on the way south. In an effort to beat the insanely horrible south-of-DC traffic, we opted for another Westin Hotel just outside of DC in Tysons Corner. I found a AAA rate of $59 for the hotel which is pet friendly (and free for pets), had good reviews, was right off the highway, and had an easy cancellation policy. I knew the pool was going to be out-of-service for repairs, but we didn't plan on using the pool anyway. We spent the whole day Saturday getting from Rhode Island to DC. We made great time to New Haven and then stopped to visit with friends for a few hours. Unfortunately, the afternoon travel was not as smooth as the morning and we hit bad traffic out of New Haven, CT and again in northern Maryland. Instead of arriving at the hotel at my planned 7pm, we didn't get there until closer to 10pm. I was tired, having left RI at 9:30am, and was grateful that the front desk staff was extremely friendly and quick with the check-in process. Because of Rose's poor sleeping on the trip up, and Darwin's occasion barking at sounds in the hallway, I asked if we could be away from high traffic areas and away from other guests (or they would be mad at a crying baby!). I was told we were set up in a suite already and that it was somewhat close to the elevator, but gave us a lot of room. The closest guests were 4 rooms away, so I agreed to the suite. I was not prepared for the room we received!
It had a living area with a dining room table, pull-out couch, treadmill and other exercise equipment - AND - had a separate bedroom/bathroom with another TV, office work station, and lounge area! I've never been placed in such a large room, especially for $60! It's too bad we arrived at 10p and had to depart early to beat the DC traffic. I'm not sure how I got the room, but I was glad we did. It made putting Rose to bed easier (she cries it out a little and settles down to sleep), even if she didn't stay asleep long. And it gave Darwin his own sleeping quarters - which I'm sure he loved! They even supplied us with a doggie bed - which Darwin didn't use because he thinks he's human and wants to be on the couch.
The few winks of sleep we did get were enough to get us through the drive from DC to NC - which only took just over 4 hours with our 8am departure. We were tired, but not nearly as bad as the time we tried driving from NYC straight through the night when Rose was 3 months old.
Every time we do the drive, we say we are going to fly next time. I guess we'll have to wait and see what we do when next time comes.
This holiday season we decided to take a tour of the northeast, stopping to visit friends and family along the way. From North Carolina, we drove up the I-95 corridor, with a stop in Baltimore to sleep, before continuing on to NYC, upstate NY (Albany area), Boston, RI, and back through NYC to NC. We drove about 1800 miles during our 10 day adventure.
The first post from our travels includes details about our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations. We spent Christmas Eve with Colin's family in upstate New York. Being the only family members not living in the area, it's easiest for us to travel to visit the family than for the other 8 members to travel to us!
The Millers beautiful Christmas tree is overwhelmed with presents!
We decided to open presents before dinner, and our 8-year-old nephew Brian distributed the gifts to everyone.
Two-year-old Isabella was one of the main attractions at Christmas!
She loved her tea set, stuffed animals and books.
The living room is filled with people and presents
Brian couldn't wait to put together his legos
Our Italian Christmas Eve dinner (and oyster soup for the fish eaters)
On Christmas Day, we woke to 2" of snow on the ground and stockings filled with gifts from Santa.
The snow is a beautiful backdrop to the Christmas decor
The Millers must have been good this year because Santa filled the stockings!
Colin and I had wanted to do something for others for the holiday, and since most community volunteer opportunities were filled, we opted to cook brunch for the family instead. On Christmas Eve, we prepared The Food Network's Sourdough Strata and Sausage, Apple, and Walnut Stuffing, so it was ready to be cooked on Christmas morning. I had made the stuffing at Thanksgiving and found it to be a delicious breakfast item. The second time I made it, at Christmas, it was not as good as the first time because I used Sourdough bread and non-spicy sausage. The Sourdough Strata was the highlight for me and most of the family.
The Sourdough Strata (left) and Sausage, Apple, Walnut Stuffing (right)
Before setting out for our 3-hour drive to Rhode Island, we managed to get a few holiday photos of the family. The toughest, by far, is to get 2 kids and a dog to sit still, look, and smile at the camera at the same time!
The Miller crew, minus one, on Christmas Day
Darwin, Isabella, and Brian almost all looking at the camera
Thankfully, it had snowed the 1-2" overnight and the skies remained mostly clear during the afternoon drive from Albany to RI. We arrived to dinner in the oven, more presents under another beautiful tree, and the Clemente family ready to welcome us with open arms.
The Clemente tree is also filled with presents
An amazing dinner consisting of lots of vegetables, pork and ham
The Clemente's on Christmas Day
After pictures and dinner, we opened our gifts. It was funny that my brother, Colin and I all got sneakers! I guess we all want to help each other stay fit in 2013. Even my parents received exercise gear (just not sneakers). I love that my family is motivated to stay as healthy as possible and supports each other to exercise!
Showing off our exercise gear
To continue with our tradition, we ended the night jamming out to Rock Band! Colin tested his abilities on hard and I managed to save us during a few songs by doing the vocals and the guitar at the same time!
It was wonderful to see all of our family and to spend some time with each other during the holidays.
Stay tuned for more on our holiday week adventures! I'll warn you that there will be lots of pictures of very adorable children!
What is your favorite holiday memory?
With the Miller family, I love that the family, presents, and wrapping paper fills the living room when we open gifts.
With the Clemente's, I love that we jam to Rock Band.
The stars were in perfect alignment to allow Colin and I the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful 4-day weekend in Ft. Lauderdale this past weekend. Colin's conference was scheduled to end at the same time my flight was scheduled to arrive, which came a day after I submitted a substantial grant application for the state of North Carolina.
As we always do when we travel without Darwin, we bid for a hotel on Priceline a few weeks leading up to our trip. I knew that my chances of getting a low price were better as we got closer to the day of arrival, so I didn't stress when we hadn't won a bid a week before my scheduled arrival. Sure enough, 4-5 days before our trip, my $72 bid was accepted by the four star Hyatt Pier 66. While I did select "beach front" properties, the Hyatt is located about a mile from the beach, so I was slightly disappointed that it was not right on the beach. I also got very nervous when I read some of the most recent negative hotel reviews, even though the hotel was listed as 4 stars. The only review that came back consistent was that the pool was really nice.
With low expectations, we checked in. The woman at the front desk was very nice and changed our room reservation from 2 double beds to 1 king (Priceline only asks for the number of people and you can't control the room assignment unless you work with the front desk staff). She also asked of our preference for proximity to the pool. When we asked for nice, quiet room, she said we would enjoy our room on the intercoastal waterway, which was also very close to the pool.
Our room was not at all disappointing and the hotel far exceeded my expectations (which, as I said, were pretty low). I didn't take any pictures of the room, because it was pretty standard for most hotels (king size bed with lots of pillows, tv, dresser, refrigerator, closet, large bathroom). There wasn't any extraordinary furniture worth blogging about. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the hotel was the balcony. The boats on the intercoastal were so large, we both dreamed of a day when we could own and use one ourselves!
A relaxing breakfast our first morning
The best part of the hotel was, in fact, the pool. There were technically 3 pools - a small jacuzzi that could easily fit 8-10 people, a large "S" shaped pool ranging from 3-6' deep, and a smaller "t" shaped pool. We spent most of our time at the largest pool, which had a waterfall near the deeper end. The hotel was clearly not crowded, so we did relax at the pool more than we usually do on a beach vacation. I couldn't help but be relaxed while laying in the shade and took a rather long snooze after a filling lunch one afternoon. We didn't use the jacuzzi because the water was too warm for June in Florida. But, we did enjoy some night swimming to cool ourselves down before bed one evening.
Relaxing by the pool
There's the waterfall!
Ending the day with a dip in the nicely lit pool
I would say our hotel was a bargain! Although it wasn't on the beach, they did provide a complimentary shuttle to and from the beach every hour. There was no complimentary breakfast, be we prefer our healthier options to most continental breakfasts anyway. Parking was the major hotel expense, since they charged $21/day. Our first reaction was to find a place to park near the hotel overnight, but that proved too challenging. Thankfully, we got a great deal on our rental car (also on Priceline) for $26 for 2 days. Adding $21 for 1 night that we parked in the hotel wasn't too bad.
To break down our expenses, we paid $255 for my flight (Colin's was paid for by work, and I missed an opportunity to get a sub $200 fare), $251 for the hotel (using a Priceline bid of $72/nt + taxes), $26 for a rental car for 2 days, and $21 to park 1 night. The grand total (minus food and adventures - which will be detailed in another post) came out to $553 for a 4 day/3 night vacation. We are pretty good at keeping food costs low by mixing up buying food in a grocery store and going out too eat. This is when it's helpful to have a car or be within walking distance of a grocery store. The estimate of our food costs is $150 for the 10 total meals, which included four meals and a dessert in a restaurant and 4 grocery store meals. Two of our meals included leftovers we kept in the refrigerator and these were the only meals that were duplicated. The most outrageous food cost we incurred was the $12 for 1 small and 1 large ice cream from Marble Slab and I will be the first to admit it was not even good!!
Other than the ice cream, I'd say we were able to enjoy a wonderful vacation at minimal cost. Stay tuned for the next post about exploring the area!
It's going to be in the upper 80's this weekend so Colin and I are headed to the outer banks this evening!! The plan is to stay with our friend's parents tonight and then head down the coast to find a campground with room for Saturday and Sunday night reservations. I know that I always look forward to camping, but never sleep well in a tent. But, I am just so happy to have a long weekend ahead of me and we haven't really spent a lot of time of the beach since....gosh I can't even remember. I'm guessing some time last summer, or maybe even before that. No wonder I can't wait!
We've also been planning other fun summer adventures the past few weeks. Colin's got a work trip to Fort Lauderdale in early June (yes, right around the corner!) and his conference finishes up on a Friday. I'm very excited to go and spend a long weekend at the beach (3 full days). And that trip will be even better than the outer banks because 1.) we will be more comfortable in a hotel and 2.) it will come at the end of a very busy time at work (which I am in the middle of now!!).
At the end of June and into early July, my dear friend from college is getting married in Burlington, Vermont. So, we've got a whirlwind of a trip planned to fly into and out of Boston, visit friends in the area, spend some time in RI and be in Burlington for the weekend. All of that is planned in just 5 days!! I wish I could go longer to visit with more friends in the area, especially since there are so many babies I haven't met (and some are already 2). But alas, we're trying to save up some vacation time for a big trip in the fall (I won't disclose until we are sure we are going). Thankfully, many of my college gal pals will be with me at the wedding (though none are bringing their babies) and they all live fairly close to each other in Boston. To make things easier, I'm trying to plan a day (or night) with each set of friends along the route between RI and VT. New York friends will have to wait until a visit in that direction.
And if these three trips were not exciting enough, I had a meeting today at work regarding a conference in Asheville in September. I love that town because the vibe brings me back to Burlington and always get excited to spend some time there. The best part about the conference is not that it is in Asheville, but that we are all staying in The Grove Park Inn! My friends in the area will need no explanation, but for those of you unfamiliar with the resort, it is a large antique resort spa that boasts a "bed and breakfast" feel and is located in the middle of the mountains with amazing views all around. The spa is supposedly a-m-a-z-i-n-g and September is usually a fantastic time of year in the mountains of North Carolina. Though I do have to present at this conference on Sunday, I'm getting excited at the prospect of going up early to enjoy the area, especially since all rooms are discounted for conference attendees. I hope I can convince Colin that it is an opportunity he does not want to miss.
I'm sure that by now you know that I love planning trips and getaways. With the beautiful weather we've been having in Raleigh, we've been enjoying "staycations." Now that the weather is getting a bit too warm, it's time to escape to places that offer more comfortable temperatures (like the mountains) or places to cool off from the heat (like the beach).
I'll keep you posted on how Darwin does with his second attempt at camping. We will definitely be taking the "chew-proof" tie out cable and stake to prevent him from chasing night time critters in case he's still scared of the tent. And we are taking our big tent in case it rains and he needs to sleep with us.
What are you up to this long weekend? Any summer vacation plans being made?
When I was offered an opportunity to go back to NYC for a work training, I was ecstatic. Yes, NYC is cold in February and I'd have to spend most of the work week using my brain. But, I looked forward to having dinner with friends, enjoying the weekends before and after the training, and just walking around the city.
I had one of the most amazing travel experiences getting to the city on a Saturday morning. I literally left my house in North Carolina at 7:10am, arrived at the airport at 7:25am, walked up to the kiosk to get my ticket, walked through the process of security in a matter of minutes, got a coffee, used the bathroom and when I got to the gate, was able to board right away. The 10-15 minutes I waited for us to take off gave me time to stow away my bags and gather the essentials for the trip, which included a pen, the sudoku puzzle in the airline magazine, and headphones. After the smooth takeoff, we had a very smooth 50 minute flight along the eastern coast. Sitting on the left side of the plane allowed me to see the Chesapeake Bay, Philadelphia, the Jersey Turnpike and the Manhattan Skyline. We literally flew in a straight path along the coast, over brooklyn and queens to LaGuardia airport. It was fun to identify Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn; the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro Bridges; McCarren Park, and all the major buildings in Manhattan as we descended. Outside of the airport, a cab was readily available and since it was still before 10am, I reached the upper west side by 10:15am. I was amazed at the 3 hour door-to-door service!
My friend and former teammate, Jenny, served as my hostess on Saturday and we enjoyed preparing a delicious brunch that included banana-nut muffins, a ham and cheese quiche, and a salad. We also walked from her upper east side apartment to the Flatiron District to do some shopping and have dessert and hot chocolate at The City Bakery. I've never had such rich hot chocolate in my life - and I choose hot chocolate that was half milk!!
After enjoying the beautiful day, we climbed the 5 flights of stairs to her 6th floor walk-up and prepared ourselves for an evening out with some of our teammates. Galway Hooker was our destination for dinner and drinks. It was a nice outing and felt great to catch up on the lives of my friends. When the pub got too loud and was no longer conducive to talking in a normal voice, we decided it was time to go.
Earlier there were 7 girls, but one girl left and Steve joined us
I'm sure he enjoyed this scenario
One thing about NYC apartments is that people are good at doing more with less. I wish I had taken some photos of my friend's apartment to show you how creative she, and many others, are in NYC. I slept comfortably on the futon and enjoyed the warmth that radiated from the furnaces. It is going to be difficult to get back to my house in North Carolina, which we keep at 58 degrees at night!
Sunday was another enjoyable day where my parents came to visit me in the city. They took Megabus from Providence to NYC, and used the bus' free wifi to e-mail me the details of their trip as they traveled (yea - my parents are pretty hip!).
We decided to check out the World Trade Center area and were pleasantly surprised that we didn't need advance tickets to get into the Memorial (they were not busy, so we got standby tickets). I was amazed at how much has been done - even though there is still a lot to do. I think the Memorial fountains were tastefully done and walking around brought out mixed feelings. There is always a deep sadness and some anger about what happened on September 11, 2001, but the Memorial offered me an opportunity to value the lives that were lost on the planes, in the buildings, and among the first responders. I look forward to the day all those blocks of lower Manhattan are rebuilt and people can walk freely up to the Memorial lost in their own thoughts.
The Freedom Tower still under construction
The Museum still under construction
One of the completed Memorial fountains
Overall, it was a wonderful start to my 10 days in the city. I didn't have an opportunity to feel like I was in the city alone - not that you can ever really feel alone in this huge city! Having friends around and my family visit allowed me to quickly reconnect to a place that was once my home.
What helps you reconnect to the places you've lived when you come back?
