There are always so many fun, exciting things that happen throughout the summer and fall. It's hard to keep it all documented.
In our usual fashion, we made a trip up to the Albany, NY area for July 4th week to spend some time with family. Instead of going up for the whole week however, we visited with some of our family vacationing in Virginia Beach for the weekend, came back home for two days of work/school, and then did the 12 hour drive to upstate NY on the 4th itself. Our trip up was relatively quick and the girls did great in the car. I'm always so grateful that Colin can drive starting at 2am. The past few trips we have made just a quick stop around 8am for bathrooms and to change out of pajamas, and have actually gotten to our destination by 12 or 1pm! The girls usually sleep until 7a, so we have only about 4-5 hours of lively entertainment. Food usually takes up a solid hour. Music, storytelling, and chatting takes up about 2 hours, and we sometimes resort to a downloaded episode or two of a TV show on the iPad for the final hour stretch. During non-TV time, the girls often sing, take care of their babies, or engage in conversation with us. Colin tries to get us all to do some storytelling, and we have had some trips where the girls engage. Zoe is still a little young for it, but Rose is able to keep the story going and add new plots.
Happy Zoe singing in the car
Rose singing with her baby
Because the girls' cousins were in Virginia Beach for the week of the 4th, I stayed in NY with the girls for an extra week, working part of the time and taking a lot of time off. During the first few days without the cousins, the girls enjoyed time with their aunts and grandparents. During the second week, I did quite a few day trips with them. One day, we drove the 2 hours each way to just outside Burlington, VT to visit with a college friend who has kids almost the same ages. We found out Zoe is a great chicken catcher. In addition to loving the chickens, the girls also enjoyed playing in a kiddie pool (it was so hot all week!), listening to music, getting ice cream, and just generally playing with friends. We took the ferry across Lake Champlain, which they loved. But, since I didn't have much service during the drive, we listened to Bohemian Rhapsody on repeat about 10 times. Do you know the full song is about 6 minutes?? Both girls love belting out "Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia Let me Go!." It was the only song that downloaded in an area of service in northern NY. Thankfully, I left Vermont around 9p, so the trip home was very quiet.
Hanging out in Aunt Karen's neighborhood and showing some sisterly love.
I had been trying to coordinate a day/time to meet my brother, and we ended up making last minute plans to meet on the day after we went to Vermont. Thankfully, we meet between Albany and Worcester, Massachusetts, in Springfield (well, Holyoke technically). There is a cute and inexpensive Merry-Go-Round and a Children's Museum within the same park. We hadn't been to the museum before and were skeptical, but it proved to exceed our expectations. It was perfect for my girls and the relief we needed from the heat. Did I mention we happened to be in NY for a heat wave. And, yes, we are southerners and have to deal with 80-90+ degrees regularly, but we also have a neighborhood pool and everything has central air in the south! And, we go to NY to try and escape the heat! Both girls enjoyed the carousel and the museum, and even got their face painted (Rose's was a little over the top). The best part of course, was getting to hang out with Tio Mark!
Zoe the firefighter
Passed out on the ride home from Holyoke
By Wednesday, our cousins were back and settled from their beach vacation, so we all had a fairly relaxing day at home. The girls' six-year-old cousin is great at entertaining, and Rose in particular really looks up to her. They played all day so I could do some work.k
Our day of relaxation was short and sweet, and we had big plans on Thursday. My sister-in-law drove us up to the Granby Zoo outside of Montreal, Canada! The zoo is much bigger and better than I could have imagined. In the eight-passenger Honda Pilot, we packed the three girls across the middle row and brought my 12-year-old nephew and his friend in the third row. We always take our passports when we visit as we have been known to go up to Canada on many of our trips. The drive was about 4 hours and the kids all did great. They started getting a little hangry approaching the zoo, and I was worried how Zoe would do around nap time. Once everyone was out of the car, given some snacks, and in the zoo, we were all smiles again. I was so excited that our Durham Museum membership gave us half off the zoo, and only regretted I hadn't looked into beforehand to get my niece and nephew in at that price too.
In the zoo, we saw the personalities and ages of the kids shine. The boys went off to do their own thing and the girls packed in the double-seater stroller. Zoe loved the animals in the zoo, and was in element when she got to pet goats, sheep, and pigs. Rose put on her brave face and attitude while hanging out with her older cousin and actually went on the ferris wheel with her cousin by themselves. Zoe went with me and we all really enjoyed getting to see the park from up high. The zoo is actually a zoo, small amusement park, and a water park in one. We didn't spend that much time in the amusement park and I think in another two years the girls would be able to do more things they couldn't yet do (like bumper cars). We ended our day at the waterpark, first in the lazy river and later in some of the pools. Zoe was struggling because she had skipped her nap, and the water was a little too cool/cold for me. The temps weren't quite as high that day, we were farther north, and we got to the water park late in the day. We also watched the "show" they do with the wave pool, which had this skeleton statue chant, eyes light up red, and the chanting builds up to the start of the waves and very forceful fans blowing air straight ahead. The girls were petrified and didn't want to go near it. Zoe was pretty much done with the waterpark after that, and Rose managed to stay with her cousin for another hour while I took Zoe back to ride a couple rides and see a few more animals. After she had another snack, she got a second wind and managed to finish out the day.
Renting a double stroller, which fit all three girls at the Granby Zoo near Montreal
Loving the piggy at the Granby Zoo
Zoe is in her element with the animals
Rose loved how soft the animals were
Riding the carousel in the amusement park
Zoe emerging from a dinosaur egg
The only bummer from the whole day was our adventure trying to get dinner in downtown Granby. They spoke mostly French and told us it might be a bit of a wait, but we decided to stick around anyway. We didn't realize that a bit of a wait would mean a 3-hour dinner process. It didn't take that long to sit down, but it did take a long time to order and even longer to get the food. I must have made about 5 trips to the bathrooms with the girls. Thankfully, they did well considering how long it took. They didn't each that much dinner, and unfortunately, we didn't leave Granby for our 4 hour drive home till well after 9pm!
By Friday, Colin was back from his 4-day work week and the family decided to take a day trip up to Lake George to go out on the boat. We had taken a boat ride on Lake George the first week we were there too, and we joke that Zoe is like her father, who always fell asleep on boat rides! Rose got to try (slow) tubing, and we were able to be on a boat ride while trying to bump our nephew off the tube. Our nephew and my brother-in-law also tried their hand at water skiing. Colin and I opted out, mainly because we both have had on-and-off back issues for a few years now and didn't want to mess anything up before driving back home. The one and only time I tried water skiing I did get up and got to do it a little bit, but waters in upstate NY are a bit cold for my liking. I like the NC beaches in August and September!
Zoe sleeping on the boat ride
On our last day of the trip, we did a small birthday celebration for Colin, whose birthday is July 24. Colin doesn't love celebrating his birthday, but indulges his daughters. And, with our toddlers, every birthday requires cake and balloons.
Happy Birthday to Colin!
Our trip back to North Carolina was uneventful and the girls did more sleeping because of how tired they were from the trip. We made it back in 10-11 hours and managed to get to the pool to cool off and stretch our bodies the afternoon of our arrival.
Once back, the highlight of the week was finishing out the swim team with final practices, a meet that got rained out, and the swim team banquet. I missed the meet because of work travel, but made it back in time for the awards banquet, and to see Rose get her medal that she'll keep throughout her time on the team. In addition to her 2018 pin, she also received the most improved award. While the coach said she could do freestyle in the beginning and all three strokes by the end, she actually couldn't swim without floaties before she started practicing. She was also the only true four-year-old (2014 birthday) to make the team (notice how much smaller she is than the other kids in her age group). We have been so proud of how far she has come, how much she enjoyed being on the team this year, and her constant work to improve week to week. She halved her time from time trials (50 sec freestyle down to 25sec), and demonstrated her ability to perform all three strokes as they were taught in a matter of eight weeks!
To engage Zoe, we decided to hire one of the coaches to do 30 minute lessons for the girls in August. Rose continued to practice her strokes and Zoe received a little instruction on how to swim, but with only 5-6 lessons, didn't get to swim on her own by the end of the summer. I really think the daily practice, and doing the same thing with other kids (watching others and practicing) was so helpful in getting Rose to swim on her own. Since Zoe has a September birthday, she actually has to wait two more years and will be an older four-year-old when she starts.
Rose and Coach Mary
Rose and Coach Liz
In typical Miller fashion, we celebrated Colin's birthday two more times, once with my mom (whose birthday is July 14) and again at the pool on his actual birthday. In our household, most people get 2-4 birthday celebrations!!
Happy Birthday to Colin #2!
During the rest of July and into August, we spent our weekends at the pool and occasionally trying something new. We went up to the Duke Gardens in Durham one day and I brought my nice camera to take some photos. Rose was in prime form, posing for the camera all afternoon.
Girls posing at Duke Gardens
Rose the photographer
One of Rose's many poses of the day
Zoe smelling some flowers
This year we made a second trip north in late August for a wedding. My parents flew up to join us and we rented a house near Narragansett. Unlike our trip to NY in July, the weather was not hot. We had the week between the two heat waves, which was probably a good thing since we stayed in a house that didn't have the best air conditioners. Unfortunately, it meant we didn't have idea beach days. Half the week was rainy/foggy/misty, and we did manage to have a couple sunny nice days towards the end of the week. Since we had to check out by 10a Saturday morning, we decided to drive to Albany Friday evening so there would be less for my parents to do Saturday. Of course, Saturday was a great beach day.
The wedding was the first the girls had been to, and they thoroughly enjoyed it. The did fairly well during the church service (Zoe slept through half of it), and did a lot of dancing early in the evening at the reception. The food was served fairly late and when they finally dimmed the lights and put on the dance music, the girls were pretty ready for bed.
We enjoyed spending the week with family and celebrated Zoe's birthday early with Tio Mark's birthday at the beach. Zoe had her second birthday with the Millers in Albany when we went there Saturday before driving back home. Driving to RI is so much more difficult than Albany, so it was worth it for us to make that extra stop. On the way up to RI, we decided to drive during the day so the girls would be able to play in their first soccer game of the season. Why they start the leagues in mid-late August in NC, I have no idea. It's always so hot! I wish they would start after Labor Day and go through the nice fall weekends in November. Anyhoo...the drive during the day was awful. We caught traffic in DC, which made for a long day. Leaving at noon meant we got to the beach house around 2am. It was good that the first few days were rainy so we could catch up on some sleep, but I would not have minded resting under the umbrella at the beach with warmer temperatures. I shouldn't make it sound so awful. We did get to the beach and enjoy it for 4 of the 5 weekdays. Everyone else went in the water, I'm just the one who is particular. :)
Girls in their wedding attire, ready to go to the reception
All smiles after loading up on appetizers. It was a chilly August day!
Girls Dancing and Running at Beach in RI
Our final day at the beach, and it's sunny and warm!
Birthday cupcakes at the beach, and shutting it down at 5pm!
Driving back from NY was once again uneventful, and our 2am departure made the trip home quick. Our final week in August was a big one for Colin as it was the end of a chapter for him. After 6 years at the State, he started a new job in September. Colin 2.0 has arrived and I'm glad to see the excitement and determination he's brought!
Colin 2.0 poses on his last day working for the State of NC
2018 started off with a bang. If you recall from the previous post, both girls got sick in the first few days of the year when we were in upstate New York. We arrived back in North Carolina on January 3rd with a double ear infection (Rose) and RSV (Zoe) and rushed to get back before we got our first few inches of snow in North Carolina. We had experienced about 10 days of single digit (ie -freezing!) temperatures, and unfortunately brought some of that cold weather back to North Carolina with us. January 2018 was the coldest January I've experienced since moving south, and we had a handful of snow days, one of which included the most snow accumulation I've ever seen at our house. Cold is a relative term and it being "cold" in North Carolina is much more manageable than "cold" in New York. We could actually be outside enjoying the snow for an hour or two, with temperatures near the freezing mark (~30 degrees F).
Most snow we've ever had on our deck in the 6 years we've been here
The day after January 17, 2018 snowstorm
Sledding and building snowmen at the neighbor's house
The entire month wasn't freezing or snowy. We had two "snow storms." The first produced only a few inches that mostly melted the next day. The second big storm mostly melted within two days. That is why I love North Carolina.
During the month of January we also went to our beloved Museum of Life & Sciences in Durham, went to the bounce house, found kid play areas in new places (like Home Depot), and celebrated Rose's 4th birthday a little early with a few friends who had January birthdays. I celebrated Zoe mostly being potty trained (and the end of cloth diapers) by buying a new washer and dryer. I also decided that 2018 was going to be the year to really work on "fixing" my back. I started back up with a physical therapist to work on strengthening the core.
Painting at Home Depot
Rose and Landon's 4th Birthday and Liv's first!
Celebrating the birthday girl with her friends from school
The month of February always goes by so quickly. It's a short month and we celebrate Rose's birthday several times, including the day of her birth. We like to celebrate her birthday with the other February birthdays in the family - Rose's aunt and grandmother (Colin's sister and mother). That means we usually take a trip up to New York. This year we drove up and I spent the week with the girls. Thankfully the weather wasn't nearly as cold as it was in December/January. We actually had a warm spell and went to a snow tubing park where most of the snow had melted. Thankfully, we came back to North Carolina without illnesses the second time around.
Even for her birthday, Rose isn't quick to wake up
Dancing to end her birthday (and use up the cupcake sugar!)
Driving the 12 hours to New York
Lots of bilingual singing in the car on this trip!
Zoe now loves smiling for the camera for selfies (when she's in the mood)
We checked out some programs at the Music School in Albany - both girls had a blast!
Sledding with cousin Isabella
This year, February was even busier because of a grant application I wasn't prepared for. Over the past few years, I've had to write some federal grants that bring in significant funds for the state to offer health programs, but they've been written to the same funder each spring. My agency (and by "my agency" I mean "I") was asked to take the lead on a big, competitive CDC grant. It involved collaborating with a lot of internal and external partners, creating a complex plan for meeting very ambitious outcomes, and figuring out how to detail it all in a narrative and workplan with page restrictions. It also came at a time when I knew we'd be applying for another federal grant soon after (likely to overlap), and while my office was/is short-staffed at leadership and project management levels. It is really difficult to find the work-life balance when work is over-the-top stressful. I tried to engage with the girls and Colin during "family time," and to keep work separate, but the mental and emotional fatigue and stresses are harder to separate. I struggle daily with patience, and really had to work on it the past few months through the writing of two big grants from February through May.
Stay tuned for updates from March and April. There was an unfortunate injury in there for me, but spring and nicer weather mean we had a lot of fun outdoor activities start back up.
Thanksgiving to Christmas is always a whirlwind. Add some traveling in there, and it went by in a blink. As the girls get older, I find it more difficult to take pictures and videos. Bringing out the cell phone means the girls want to play with it, and they now always want to see the pictures after we take them. Since I use my phone much more for work than Colin does, he's been the one taking pictures and videos on his phone so that mine has less chances of being dropped and cracked or broken.
One event in December I always look forward to is the Pullen Park Express. It's a really inexpensive holiday event where the park is only open to ticket holders from 5-9p for about 6-8 days in December. The ticket allows you entry into the park and a train ride around the park. This year, tickets for the event sold out in less than 30 minutes when they went on sale in July. I wasn't getting my hopes up to go, but was checking to see if people were selling theirs on Facebook. I did get lucky to find someone who was selling tickets at face value (instead of the price gouging lots of others were doing), but the unfortunate part was that it was for a day when I was going to be in Asheville for work. Colin ended up taking the girls, and they had a good time despite the freezing cold night (one of the few during the month).
Enjoying bike riding after school
Rose has started practicing riding on her pedal-less Strider (balance bike)
The girls and daddy on the Pullen Park Express train ride
We found lots of holiday events to attend wherever we were. In Cary/Morrisville there was a train ride around the shopping plaza with a light show to Christmas music on the movie theatre. On that trip we enjoyed some hot chocolate. During a trip to Charlotte to meet up with my parents and brother for our Christmas gift exchange, we found another shopping plaza with a train ride, face painting, and reindeer ears.
Enjoying holiday festivities in Charlotte, with a train ride, face painting, and reindeer ears
At school, the girls had some fun events leading up to their big holiday lunch including holiday pajama day and crazy hat day. The only time we tried meeting and getting a picture with Santa was at the neighborhood holiday party where there were no crowds and after we got to hang out for an hour or so in the same room with Santa. Even then, Zoe didn't want to sit with him so mommy had to be in the picture. Since we were going to be traveling for Christmas, we decided to put up our fake tree instead of getting a real one. The girls were engaged for an hour at most and then Colin took them outside to play while I finished putting the branches on. Our tree is fairly large and looks amazing when it's up, but it does take a long time.
Excited about their Holiday gear
Our picture with the Oxxford Hunt Santa
A holiday tradition we started last year includes creating and decorating gingerbread houses. Last year Colin built them all from graham crackers and a frosting recipe he found online. This year we opted for the kits. The kits made the process so much easier and allowed us to spend more time creating with the girls instead of prepping on our own. Our houses came out great and both girls enjoyed eating treats during the process. Rose is our chocolate girl and Zoe likes any of the sugar-sweetened candies.
Building one of our two gingerbread houses
One of our amazing gingerbread creations
Since the girls' school closes for an extended break at Christmas, I decided to take the two days off from work to spend with them before we traveled to New York. During one of the days, we had a lovely outing at the Museum of Life & Sciences in Durham. It's one of our favorite places to go and we always try to see the zoo animals, the wolves, the bears, the lemurs, and ride the train. Lately, the girls have also been into seeing the butterflies. After we have lunch, we usually make our way to the awesome treehouse area so the girls can climb a bit before we go. Most times we have to play a little music, go down a few more slides, and run around in the soundscape exhibit before we can actually leave. Naptime is always late for Zoe when we go!
Enjoying a beautiful late December day at the Museum
Our trip to New York has become routine and the girls are proving to be good travelers. Now that they can both face forward, I can more easily help pass them food, toys, drinks, etc. We still usually have our morning break to stretch our legs and get the girls out of their PJs, and we try to have a longer play time right before or after lunch before finishing the final few hours.
In New York, we didn't realize it, but we have also started a tradition of going to the NY State Museum on Christmas Eve. The carousel there is free and we just made the last ride of the day on our trip this year. Last year it was just the four of us, but this year we brought Aunt Karen along for the excitement.
The girls are posing for Aunt Karen at the NY State Museum
This year was the first time I can remember waking up to a White Christmas. I don't love snow, but there is something special about the anticipation of snow on Christmas morning. The girls were excited to wear their pretty dresses, and they managed to sit through the Christmas morning church service. We haven't made a big deal about Santa, so there wasn't a rush to open presents Christmas morning, but the girls did enjoy opening their presents mid-late morning.
A white Christmas in New York for 2017
Dressed up at church
Opening Christmas presents
The whole week we were in New York it was freezing. It was literally in the negative and single digits in degrees farenheit! That was the major bummer for us Southerners. We had to find museums and indoor activities for the girls for the whole week. We took a trip to the Boston Children's Museum one day, the Saratoga Children's Museum another day, made a couple trips to the YMCA so the girls could go swimming and so we adults could do some exercise, and had moving night at Aunt Karen's. With all the indoor activities, we were waiting for the illnesses and sure enough Zoe spiked a fever two nights before we left, and Rose was screaming with ear pain the night we were planning to drive back. We called the doctor during the drive home and managed to get one of the latest appointments of the day. Zoe's diagnosis was RSV and Rose had a double ear infection.
Consistent morning temperatures all week in New York
Movie night at Aunt Karen's
Serving food at the Saratoga Children's Museum
Colin and I did enjoy a late night out for New Year's Eve, our first in a very long time. The girls did great going to bed for Grandma and we got to celebrate Colin's friend's wedding with his closest friends in Lake George. It was a bummer that the weather was so cold. They had planned a bonfire, which was canceled. We still had a great time and stayed warm indoors and on the dance floor! I'm pretty sure Colin danced the most I have ever seen in our 16 years together.
Celebrating a New Year's wedding in Lake George
Starting off the New Year with celebrations and dancing is always good. It was too bad our girls started off the year sick. Thankfully, they both quickly recovered and we got back to enjoying the outdoors before long.
