Christmas on the east coast

December 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

We had a wonderful Christmas.  I’m still trying to get back into the swing of things after being on the east coast for a week and we still have some celebrating to do with family and friends that we haven’t yet seen.  Our holiday has been quite spread out!

We flew to Maryland on the 16th to stay with my sister and her family.  Jack traveled wonderfully, which was a real blessing considering that our flight was moved 2 hours later and we nearly missed our connection.  Our entire day was full of travel!  Even so, we got lucky flying in when we did because the second night we were there, Maryland got a record-breaking 21″ of snow.  (Of course we had packed absolutely no snow gear.)

Before the snow hit, though, we got a fantastic visit in at the Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.  David gets all the credit for this idea and man, did Jack love it!  He was having a horrible day but as soon as we set foot in the museum his face lit up and he was bursting with excitement.  He got to see command modules, satellites, and astronaut gear.  I think David and I both felt so much joy to be able to fulfill that dream for Jack.

We had a nice white Christmas when we opened presents and stockings on Saturday.  The big hit this year for Jack was a combination of a cape, mask, and blaster cuffs from SuperFlyKidz on Etsy with The Incredibles movie.  Jack spent a lot of time as Mr. Incredible over the past week.  My 11 month old niece Sabrina was absolutely delighted with the stacking cups we got for her.  Between the two kids and David’s happiness with the MASH shirt I found for him, I felt like a Master Gifter this year!

On Sunday we drove down to Virginia.  We stopped in Quantico for a quick visit with my longtime friend Daniella and her family.  I briefly got to hold her new baby, who is an absolute DOLL.  (Being around my niece and Daniella’s little guy didn’t help my recently found baby fever at all…)  Thanks to the traffic from drivers struggling to get through the snow-laden highways, we were only able to visit for a brief time.  Daniella fed us and we got to have a nice chat, which was both fun and relaxing after the craziness of the road.

After our visit to Quantico, we made our way down to David’s parents house in Williamsburg.  This was Jack’s and my first time meeting our new in-laws.  We all got along right off the bat and I immediately felt like Jack and I were part of the family.  Spending the holiday together seemed to make our little step-family even more official, as well.  Jack and I are so blessed!

The trip home was long but went fairly smoothly.  There was a marked difference in how Jack traveled this year as compared to last year – there was not a gigantic meltdown at the end of our trip (although there were many little ones throughout the week) and Jack followed directions pretty well while we went through the airport.  I’m counting that as my gift from him this year.  :)

Filed Under: Adventures, Family, Holidays Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Maryland Highlights

May 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I’ll have to post some pictures when I am not bogged down with catch-up work and the intracacies of adjusting to the new daycare drop-off/pick-up routine (since Joe started his new job today), but here are some highlights of our trip to Maryland:

  • The plane rides were decent (considering that we had a 2 year old on our laps) thanks to sitting by the same folks to and from DC.  After the mom who I sat next to loaned Jack her daughter’s Magnedoodle, I promptly bought one when we arrived at our destination.  Jack is obsessed with it and drew constantly on the way home (his drawings actually look like things!).
  • He is now obsessed with airplanes, as well.
  • Jack was sick with a nasty fever the first two days of the trip.  It was pretty sad to watch the little guy stare dull-eyed at animals in the aquarium in Baltimore.  I wish he could have enjoyed it more.  On the plus side, he is a total sweetheart while sick (no tantrums!).
  • Jack learned how to say “Dad’s coffee” and “Jack’s milk” and “Aunt Holly’s computer” and “Cayenne’s toy” - he is quite impressed with pronouns.
  • Every night at bed time, we were treated to several performances of what we think is the Portuguese version of “Ring around the roses” wherein he sang what sounded to me like “ba ti ba,” then switched the verse, then purposely fell on the bed.  (I must remember to ask about this when I pick him up from daycare today.)
  • The boy decided to refer to his uncle as “Miken” – we can only guess that this is a clever contraction of Mike + Cayenne (the dog).
  • We all ate more junk food and watched more tv than we would normally.  Vacation rules are different, though, right??
  • Jack may have a little cousin arriving in 2009!
  • We saw the Washington Monument & the Smithsonian Natural History Museum on Memorial Day.  It was disgustingly hot and Jack was a tyrant but we did manage to have fun.
  • Jack rode his first carousel!  After shrieking with delight when the carousel started moving, he nervously rode the horse for about 5 minutes before deciding he felt safer in my arms.  I spent the rest of the ride precariously hanging on to him and the moving pole.  Upon exiting the carousel, Jack cried for more.  Of course.
Filed Under: Adventures, Babyman, Family, Holidays, Illness, Milestones Tagged With: , , , , ,