Our Normal

We have a new tradition in our house.

It's not necessarily about family in the broader sense like so many other people this time of year, but our family.  We live 800 miles away from the rest of our family and refuse to trek to Chicago for the week. It is ours, it is our girls.

It is a little bit maddening.

We've come to the realization that we need to do something, ANYTHING, to get us out house when the rest of America tucks away into itself. And so, we started a Christmas Eve trip tradition, and went to Hershey Park.  Bet you didn't know they were open in the middle of winter, huh? Let me tell you, they are and it is awesome.

Hershey's Christmas Candylane is a must on our holiday agenda now. At least until the girls out grow the type of ride that can function in the middle of winter.

But really, does anybody really outgrow Peanut Butter Cups?

Salted Air

I am on vacation. Right now. But have had such a fantastic day I need to capture it.

I am going to start with the end though, with the ME. I  am sitting on the deck of our hotel room, listening to the ocean sounds and drinking Pedroncelli Mother Clone. (If you don't know Mama Clone as we like to call her, you are missing out.) Anyway, I am blissful.

This is my view.

This is my sea salt.

I love it.
It is crusted onto the balcony which is hosting my glass of Zinfandel.

Anyway, this isn't what I was supposed to be be writing about. I wanted to talk about this:

HOLY GUACAMOLE Y'ALL.

Grace is standing in a real pool all by herself. Sure, it is the shallow end, but that officially makes her 3ft and 1 entire head. Which is official BIG GIRL territory.

And while I blurred out her pretty little face so you can't really see it, you should have seen her smile. The realization that she has met some sort of metric milestone. That she could be in the water and still be in control.

The realization that she was BIG.

After that moment, she asked me to carry her to the fountain in the deep end.
As we swam, I told her that she would always be my Baby.....
And then brought her back to the shallow to tell her she would always be my Love, my Baby, even when when she was BIG.

Milestones

I've been gone for awhile. I just feel.... burn out again. But a fun new tool at work has provided me an opporunity to blog there, so I though when they will work why not cross post? So here you go. It is the best of both worlds.

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I seem to live my life a little like a project plan.
In the early months of the year I map out my milestones. The things to write on my calendar in a Sharpie to emphasize their significance. The things that keep me going, fueling me to count down the days and save my leave to spend it in big, glorious chunks:  the beach,  with friends in NYC,  celebrating my brother's marriage.

I anticipate these with almost a child-like enthusiasm amidst countdown calendars and ticking clocks and drumming finger tips. The outside world, my world, that does often times make this place feel like just a job. A means to an extraordinary end.

As I blocked off those days in my Groupwise calendar this morning, those blackened spaces have helped to motivate me. A few more sips of coffee and onto the next challenge. I have so much to get done, and only 38 days to the first milestone.

The Start of Summer

Some people celebrate Memorial Day as the start of summer.

We dace to a slightly different beat, patterned after arm splashes, spinning wheels and pounding feet. Our summer season starts with Matt’s first triathlon. This was Pocomoke weekend.

It was Matt’s 5th year running the race, and while he claims that the field was too slim, his endurance and ambition paid off. He placed 16th overall and 2nd in his age group, resulting in his first real metal.

While I was proud of him, my joy came from watching my girls soak up the sun and sand on the Ocean City beaches.

And our mass consumption of taffy and doughnuts of course.

To the OBX

We are back from vacation, as is apparent by this Tuesday workday timestamp.

The house was lovely.

The weather was not. OK, this picture below is lovely, but 75% of the trip didn't even have an inclination to give us such beautiful sunrises or sets. Matt and I did have the pleasure of seeing the fabled 'morning flash' if the sun breaking over the ocean at dawn. It was beautiful.

The same crazy storms that went up the East Coast and flooded New Jersey also sat on us. For 4 out of 7 days. The wind blew so hard that the three story house shook. SHOOK. Constantly. Particularly the little sun room that shoots off the side of the house.

This did make plenty of time for books (I read over 1,000 pages just myself) and snuggles, and games, and puzzles.

You can only sit so long in a strange house with a two year old before starting to go stir crazy though. Mixed in with the celebrations and laughter there was a lot of tension. So we took a trip to the Wright Brothers museum and a few mini tours around the neighborhood looking for horses.

Yes, I said horses.

While it rained they were smart enough to stay further inland, but when the winds broke and the sun shone we had horses. Down the street, in front of the house, on our patio.

Friday I finally emerged into the sunlight to grill. The horses had been in front of our house for awhile, but had disappeared. I trudged down from the third floor with 1.5 lbs of steak and a big pan of mushrooms to saute and squealed as I rounded the corner to the grill. HORSES!

Originally, there was four of them, all packed in like little sardines in the breeze way containing the grill.

Despite the weather, the ocean was still breathtakingly beautiful, Gracie loved the horses and I am all the more convinced that Matt is absolutely the one person that I could spend everyday with for the rest of my life.

Home

We're home. Exhausted, but HOME.
Please give me some time to recuperate and choose my words.

Going, Going, Almost Gone

The moment is almost here. Vacation.

We've been waiting all summer for this. Yes, there have been plenty of distractions between then and now, but the now has always been the shining beacon of home. And now is upon us.

We are packed. Only the food in our refrigerator and tomorrow mornings toothbrushes remain unpacked. The Outer Banks of North Carolina are beckoning our names. We've been trying to instill excitement in Gracie, Guess what? We are going someplace with the ocean and sand and HORSES and DOLPHINS!!

Yeah, that's right. I said horses and dolphins. We've rented a home right on the roadless 4x4 area of the Outer Banks were visits from wild horses are frequent and dolphin siting in the ocean before us is not uncommon. Other than that, there is little to do in this area, and that is exactly what we are hoping for.

Sand, surf, chlorinated pool and lots of rum based drinks. I will back next week with plenty of stories- preferably in that order.

Freedom

My mom called with fabulous news yesterday.

She wants to come out here. (Nice news, but not fabulous.)

To watch Gracie. (Good news, but not fabulous.)

So Matt and I can escape for a weekend without her! (Yes, that is the fabulous part.)

Ahh. Vacation....

But then we started to flip through calender. The soonest this can happen, between her weekends off and Matt's triathlons is the end of June. The weekend after we were already had already made tentative plans to take a quick weekend trip as a family.

Now the conundrum - and what a wonderful one it is to have-

Do we still go on the family trip? (If so, it greatly reduces our ability to spend money the week after.)

Do Matt and I just go on a trip by ourselves? (And will we feel guilty?)

Do we say screw it all and just spend money we don't have like wildfire?? (Tempting, but not practical.)

Hmm. Like I said - what a wonderful problem to have.

Can You Smell the Coconut?

Vacation.

It has come and gone and I haven't posted anything for a week and a half now. Recouping in hard work

Surprisingly, the 180 hours I was lamenting being away from the computer went very quickly. In fact, there was free internet access. I just choose not to use it. I was on vacation. I was with my family. I wondered what the Internets were doing, but had enough strength to abstain. I was quite proud of that fact.

We had a fantastic time in the Bahamas. Warm, humid, sunny, breezy 80 degree days. Sheer perfection. I made it a point to keep notes while I was away so I wouldn't forget the best moments of our first family vacation together.

In an effort to get the entries out, I am going to back date them to the actual days so I can post when I have time. So scroll back to November 2-8.....

VaCa - Day 8

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9

Home again, home again, jiggity, jig.

The trip is over. Despite having an hour delay at the airport and then a fully booked flight so we had to hold Gracie for the 2.5 hours home, everything went very well. Grace decided to break tradition and only slept for a half hour, but was still well behaved and happy.

Which made us very happy.

And in true Matt fashion, within one week of our return home, he is planning our next family adventure…..

VaCa - Day 7

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8

Clouds rolled in on Saturday which made water activity a little bit chilly.

Matt and I had decided that we would go to the lazy river with Grace and take turns doing loops around. I went first, then Matt. In an attempt to warm Gracie up while Matt was away I laid in a deck chair with her on my chest and towels over us for heat. She promptly fell asleep.

Matt went around the river a few times and then brought me a Pina Colada for my motherly efforts. Just for the records, they are quite difficult to drink while lying prone with an infant on your chest, but I was determined and persevered.

Throw in some souvenir shopping and a quick trip to buy some beautiful steaks for our last meal and that was Saturday.

So let me back track and tell the story of …. THE FLAMING COFFEE!

Matt does obscene amounts of research before we go on trips. He is more than a little bit neurotic, but it works out well in the end for me, so I try not to complain too much.

One of the places he read about was the Columbus Tavern.

Under more fruitful economic times, they used to offer a full buffet of free appetizers during happy hour, which is defiantly a draw. Well, those times have passed my friend. At 5pm we were the only folks anywhere near the place. It was ok though because the elevated outdoor restaurant offered a beautiful sunset and still made their Flaming Coffee (a specialty that isn't even on the menu).

What is a flaming coffee you might ask?

Well, picture a daiquiri glass with 1/3 light rum, 1/3 dark rum, 1/3 banana rum & a dash of coffee. Potent stuff.

Where does the flame come in?

Once the rums (and by 1/3, I meant 1/3 of the glass!) are in, the glass is held over a flame until the liquor light on fire. Then it is poured between two glasses in a dare-devil of a show.

None of the workers had ANY arm or knuckle hair.

Matt was quite impressed with the show and the resulting drink.

On the way home, we walked by the One & Only Ocean Club's (you know, where they filmed the James Bond 'Casino Royal' movie) Versailles Garden, which is truly spectacular.

Ah, to be rich and able to afford to actually stay there ….

VaCa - Day 6

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7

Today was a wonderfully lazy day.

Gracie got her first taste of the ocean. Not so much a fan of the water, but the sand is another story all together. Apparently, it is delicious.

Another highlight was her taste for sunscreen too. While I was applying a fresh coat to her pinking cheeks, I put a dab on the tip of my finger. Matt called my name and I turned to look at him.

BLOOP. Gone.

Gracie at the sunscreen right off the tip of my finger like it was a dollop of whipped cream. Then she called for seconds.

The day was spent napping on the beach, listening to the waves crash against the shore and watching para-sailors pass by.

Told you it was lazy. It figures that we are figuring out this whole 'relaxing' portion of the vacation as it is coming to an end.

VaCa - Day 5

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6

The head cold that hand been brewing all week, plus Wednesdays adventures, got the best of me on Thursday.

Matt, Tim, Jen and Grace went on a historical walking tour of Nassau. Even if I wasn't exhausted from the combo of the night before and the cold, I still wouldn't have wanted to go. Except maybe to go to Conch Fritter and to see this sign in person. On the way back to the airport on Sunday though, the Cabbie pointed it out as a Nassau landmark.

When they got back, I tool Grace for a walk to the local dry good grocery store. We needed to restock on the necessities. You know, milk, Diet Coke and cheese. We still had a steady supply of booze. Guess how much the above cost? $18.00. Crazy huh?

That evening, Matt walked across the Paradise Island bridge to gather some fresh seafood at the fish market for dinner.

"The Market" consisted of a bunch of guys sitting on fishing boats drinking beer and trying to sell off what the caught that day. Plus a few stalls of ladies selling produce too. Nothing was purchased from these folks though because everything was tropical (translate to foreign) and therefore unidentifiable to the man who only knolls potatoes, green beans, carrots, peas and corn and veggies. And the 'p' word will not pass his lips.

Matt did however locate the lobster man after trolling the market for awhile and gathering the courage to ask a non-threatening looking produce lady where he could find some lobsters. Then skill took over.

Matt snagged 3 large Caribbean lobsters, straight out of the ocean, for $35, down from an original quote of $50. In a restaurant we would have been lucky to be charged $50 a piece for these things. Heck, I would have been willing to pay the guy $50 just to dispatch them before sale was final. Luckily, that service was included.

And as these things go, one cannot devour food with a face still attached before naming them prior to consumption.

Tim's was Pinchy (despite having no claws). Mine was Yummy. Matt loudly proclaimed his, via much wine, as Future Poo. Made for wonder dinner conversation.

They were indeed scrumptious though.

VaCa - Day 4

WENDESDAY, NOVEMBER 5

OK, so the next few entries are going to focus on food. The wonderful, decedent, extraordinary food we ate. For 3 nights in a row. Mmmmmm…..

Wednesday night was the one time we all went out together.

We had an Atlantis sanctioned babysitter come and watch Grace while we all went to The Bahamian Club.

Over the phone I was insured that they all had through background checks done, knew CPR (I don’t even know CPR), were great people in general, blah, blah, blah. Whatever, I was nervous, but really wanted to go out. The plan was to have Grace asleep when the woman got there and hopefully keep her that way until we returned.

So the nice lady from parts unknown arrived, 15 minutes early, and we thanked her, signed the paperwork absolving the responsible parties for anything bad that might happen and ran out the door.

Matt had been plotting this dinner for weeks.

His order was already predetermined. He and Tim were going to share the Mixed Grill for Two. (Hee, hee, hee, hee) There were many comments about whether they would intertwine their arms while drinking champagne. All (well most) were ignored under the promise of a kings share of food where isn’t practical to order if only one person wanted it, as it probably would have been enough to feed all four of us, much less two.

So what is the Mixed Grill for Two? Well….

House Specialties - For Two Tableside
Mixed Grill $105
Double lamb chops, tenderloin of beef, homemade sausage, lobster tail, pork escalope, bacon,
Served With Roasted red skinned potatoes, carrots, asparagus, mushrooms, glazed shallots, crispy onions, grilled tomatoes and roasted garlic

I totally just tried Googling for a picture of this, but alas, I couldn’t find one. Part of me is disappointed not to be able to full visualize the gluttony, but the other part is glad that no one is tacky enough to bring a camera into this gorgeous restaurant and start snapping pictures to put up.

Anyway, after the two hour carnivorous feast, we went to the casino and then back to the condo. The sitter said everything was fine. Grace did wake up at one point, but she was able to calm her down and put her back to sleep.

What we didn’t realize is that when Grace woke up, the sitter must have been wanting to earn her pay and changed her diaper. (That couldn’t have gone well because she doesn’t even like it when I change her diaper now-a-days.)

The bad part of all this? The woman put a SWIM DIAPER on her. BACKWARDS.

So when Gracie woke up at midnight (and then 1.5 hours after that to make sure we hadn’t abandoned her again) she was SOAKED with pee. Her outfit, her sheets, everything. Drenched.

And I had drank a big-ole martini pre-dinner and then a ½ bottle of wine with dinner, on top of a head cold starting to ravage my brain.

Ugg.

Note to self: If we EVER do that again, point out the difference in diapers before leaving for the night.

VaCa - Day 3

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4

Tuesday was low key. I hardly remember what we did, therefore it was a great day.

It was Election Day, therefore it was a great day. We cast our ballots via absentee vote two weeks early, so our consciouses were clear.

And Nassau kind of is a Miami Jr. It is mainly Americans at the resorts, Miami TV stations and Obama ’08 campaign signs scattered throughout the streets. It was impossible to sit at a restaurant without being quizzed by locals about out thoughts on the election.

Normally, in the US, I would have been irritated about it. In the Bahamas though, it was refreshing. It wasn’t prying. It wasn’t judgmental. It was hopeful. It was optimistic. It was wonderful.

So the four of us sat, just as we would have back home, flipping between CNN and MSNBC. Yeah, I know, I hate MSNBC too, but it was all we had. And quite funny at times.

Oh, but what did we actually do on Tuesday? Like I said a whole lot of nothing. We sat by the pool. We drank $10 frozen drinks with obscene amounts of rum in them. We turned Gracie blue.

You caught that last one, huh?

So under the header of slight neglect again, I’ve come to the grateful realization that Grace doesn’t have any surfaced allergies yet and isn’t sensitive to detergents. So we’ve made the switch back to my Tide with fabric softener built in. I’ve also stopped washing clothes before she wears them the first time. I figure, I don’t do that for myself, and she doesn’t break out in a rash, so why bother?

Not turning the baby blue is why I should bother.

We received a pretty dress that my friend bought us in Africa. I thought would be a perfect swimsuit cover-up for Grace when we were at the pools. It was a long, vibrant teal dress with a black floral print.

That first wearing of the dress didn’t go so well. In preparation for the walk back to our condo, I threw the dress over Grace’s wet suit, handed her to Jen for a few minutes and loaded her into the stroller. On the way back, Jen noticed her hands were blue. Odd. She must have touched something that had just been painted and was still wet.

Then we got back to the condo.

As I stripped Grace’s dress off, mystery solved. The teal was bleeding all over the stoller, her white suit and dying her skin.

I immediately threw the dress and suit in the washing machine, figuring at least it would come out a uniform blue. In the end the suit did turn back to white (thank you cheap Walmart fabrics!) and the dress came out with ½ the color intensity.

Yeah, the baby did stay Smurf-like for a day or two, but it was worth it for the giggle factor. And did I learn a lesson? Hell no. Things would've had to end a lot worse than that to get me to start doing extra loads of laundry. Maybe I will start washing foreign imports before putting them 0n her though.

VaCa - Day 2

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3

Monday morning came and Grace woke without any visible damage from the night before.

The highlight of the day though belongs to Jen and her casino adventure. (Tim & Jen are the suckers, I mean dear friends, that went with us to Atlantis.)

Tim & Jen are...... not gamblers. Jen had never played a slot machine in her 27 years of life before, much less been in a casino. (The mere thought of this is unheard of in our families. Hell, we took my bother to Vegas at 16. He totally got busted by security due to his mid-90's teenage haircut and guilty, nervous look on his face, but that is a whole other story.)

So Monday night, Matt, Tim & Jen went to the gorgeous casino at Atlantis. Matt played blackjack and Jen played penny slots. I have no idea what Tim was doing other than hovering and trying to score free drinks. :)

Jen found a promising slot machine and sat down. She loaded her dollar in and started hitting buttons.

*Whirl* *Whirl* *Whirl* *Braloop*

Nothing.

She had apparently played all 100 credits, so she loaded another dollar and hit buttons again.

*Whirl* *Whirl* *Whirl* *Braloop*

*Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding*

This went on for over 15 minutes.

Jen won $1000 playing penny slots on only the 2nd roll she'd ever taken.


Drinks on Jen and dolphin rides for everyone!

VaCa - Day 1

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2

Our 1st day was beautiful. As always, Grace traveled well, falling asleep during take off and waking to the ding of the landing. She was pure sunshine the entire day.

Then came the bath.

The tub in our room wasn't practical for leaning and scrubbing, so we went with the bathroom sink. It wasn't very practical either. A little too small and deeply curved. Not good for sitting a child in while bathing at all, but I figured we would be quick and the bath would be over in minutes.

Everything depended on the precarious relationship between the friction of a dry baby butt on the porcelain curve of the sink.

It gave way midway through the shampoo. I can still see the moment in slow motion.

The stick failed and Gracie rushed down the side of the sink like a fantastic ride. I think she actually was having fun in that split second before - WHACK- the crack of the back of her scull on the edge of the sink.

I grabbed her and held my breath. 1. 2. 3…..

And then she let out the most blood curdling scream. It only lasted a few minutes though. No actual blood, no lumps, no bruising. Just bad judgment and slight neglect on my part.

Shit happens and babies bounce. Thankfully that was the only bounce of the trip.

T Minus a Few Hours

Wow. I'm looking at 7 days / 180 hours of internet free life. I mock Matt for his inability to go 24 hours without playing video games or sudoku. I guess I am just as bad because I think that is part of my nervous twitch right now.

We are packed. We are ready. The only things not in bags is my makeup, which of course I need at 4 am tomorrow morning, and various baby related items. I have been forbidden from adding a single shirt more to my suitcase. Hmm. That one may be hard to follow.

I will miss you. My family, my friends - which frankly, are one in the same.

No worries though. I will keep notes in the pilfered, have-used memo pad I stole from work. I guarantee you, there will be stories.

Until then ....

Marathon. Ugg.

Now that Gracie’s birthday is over, there is only one more event that stands in the way of my Bahamas vacation. My Atlantis vacation.

What is it?

Marathon.

The Marine Corps Marathon. 26.2 miles of running /jogging/ walking. FIVE hours of running/ jogging/ walking. Hopefully weighted to the front of the list, because then it will be over faster.

Hell no, I’m not running a marathon. Matt is.

I’ve told you about his love of triathlon. Well, apparently, this is the next step in his master plan. His end goal is to do an Ironman. Not THE Ironman in Hawaii, but the distance. A 2.4 mile swim, a 112-mile bike and a 26.2 mile marathon run.

Yeah, I know. Crazy.

So in preparation for this, he is running this 1st marathon.

I’m trying to be supportive. I really am. I know blurting out the he’s an asshole for running on a hilly highway, in pouring Hurricane Kyle rain, isn’t exactly supportive.

But what can I say? It just slipped out.

He did seem to be in good company though, as there was about 25 other assholes, I mean runners, out there that day too when I drove the route to check on him.

So we are 1.5 weeks away from the marathon and 2.5 weeks away from vacation.

Ahh… steel drums. Warm salty breezes. Super-boozey Pina Coladas. You will make it all worth while.