What Was Happening While I Was Gone

Life got more than a little busy around here at the end of the year, between work deadlines, holiday activities, traveling, and the general mess of Christmas preparations, and as a result, I took an accidental break from blogging that went longer than I'd expected. And even though I missed it (and even though my mom and dad missed it enough to ask me when I would be getting back to it...), I'm glad I took the break.

But I still need to document my fun times, because if a family has fun, but it doesn't appear on the internet, did the fun actually happen? I don't want to test that theory.

First, we Fall-ed and Halloween-ed. We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch, (reluctantly, in Brigid's case) carved the pumpkins we picked up there, and trick-or-treated with the other 15 kids in our cul-de-sac on Halloween, dressed as Vampire-Elsa, of course.

Oh. And I had this guy watching me through my office window all fall. So, that was something...

For Thanksgiving, we drove up to Indiana for the week, which I think will become our new annual tradition, so that we can be at our own home with the girls for Christmas morning every year. Plus, this gives us a chance to celebrate Caitlin's birthday with my family during the years when Thanksgiving falls later in November. I would like it noted that I did a MUCH better job on Caitlin's second birthday than I did on her first, and I think I should get points for that. (Even if I did just recycle Brigid's 5th birthday theme from two months earlier...)

And we went ahead and visited Santa Claus, while we were up there, for the annual picture my sisters and I have taken for our parents. It's kind of funny to think about how the number in our group has doubled since the first time we did this together, maybe 10 years ago. And yet, it's still nothing but girls in my family... 

When we returned from Indiana, there was Baby's First Dance Recital (and if you try to tell me that Brigid doesn't still qualify as a baby, I will tell you to shut your mouth right this very moment...) waiting for us. I have never, ever seen Brigid look as cute as she did in that dance recital costume, and considering just how cute she is all of the time, that's really saying something.

Oh, hey. Then we went to Disney for a few days. We hadn't been since we were there last year during the home-sale crisis of 2013, so I was excited to get back, at Christmas time, when I was in a better frame of mind. And I was in a better frame of mind...until Caitlin spiked a fever and had another febrile seizure AS WE WERE WALKING IN TO HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS. That was not the best time.

But, uh, the rest of the trip was good...

Then there was Christmas, involving a trip to see Santa (again) (and apparently Shrek and Donkey live in the North Pole, now? I don't even know.) and more presents than my two little stinkers probably deserved. 

And that was the rest of our 2014. I think maybe I'm caught up now? Here's to staying a little more on top of things in 2015...

The Beach

My family was down in Florida last week, for one last dose of the beach before the summer ended and my mom and sister had to head back to school. Steve didn't have any vacation time to use, but I didn't want to pass up a beach opportunity since I hadn't spent any significant amount of time on one for at least a year and a half at that point (This is...not good for me. I kind of think I need a good dose of sand and water every few months to maintain my sanity, but I haven't really had that option recently. And I wasn't about to say no to this one...), so the girls and I decided to make the trip alone.

Caitlin isn't exactly a great car kid. She gets fussy and bored and wants constant attention to keep her shrieks from reaching the levels of shrillness that only dogs can hear, and when we travel long distances, I have always sat in the backseat with her and Brigid, between the two car seats. It seems that a constant supply of snacks and cell phone videos is the key to a quiet ride. To take my place in the snack department, at least, we moved Caitlin's car seat to the middle of the van, so I could run food and entertainment from the front seat, through my forward-facing 4-year old, to the angry little gremlin stuck facing an empty wall of leather car seat.

It worked much better than I expected.

We stopped once on the way down because I needed a break, and twice on the way home because Brigid needed a break (including one emergency 'MOMMY, I NEED TO POOP!!!!! about an hour and a half away from home, on a not-so-great-for-stopping stretch of highway), and my car was an absolute disgusting mess of discarded (mostly by Caitlin, although Brigid added some to the pile, too, I think) grilled cheese, crackers, popcorn puffs, cereal, and cookies by the end of the trip, but we made it, there AND back.

And now I'm so impressed by my success, I'm ready to start taking us on midweek trips to the beach whenever my parents' condo is sitting empty. I'm sure Steve won't mind at all...

(Mini golf, calm water to allow for plenty of swimming and sand time for both of the girls, a REALLY long sea kayak trip with my sister, plenty of bubble gum chewing, and baked oysters to round out the whole trip. Vacations are good, you know?)

To Grandmother's House We Go

In trying to distract Brigid during one of her many (I-hope-I-can-blame-it-on-the-fact-that-she's-four) tantrums this past weekend, I made the mistake of joking with her that since we were going to visit Nana and Papa soon, she needed to start packing now, so she wouldn't forget anything.

Not only did she take me up on this suggestion, loading her suitcase with something along the lines of one pair of underwear, one nightgown, and every toy she happened to come across in the process, she proceeded to carry that suitcase around with her all day, while begging to have us all leave for Indiana immediately. When Steve and I explained that we weren't leaving yet, because we still had a few days of work before the trip, she instead suggested we fly her up there that night, then fly home for work right after we dropped her off.

We told her that flying up and back like that wasn't really an option for us, but if she was in such a hurry to get to Indiana, we could ship her and Caitlin up in a box. I...I kind of think she considered taking us up on that option...

(Please note, she wanted to make sure we sent her with snacks. In case her and Caitlin got hungry on the trip. She plans ahead, that one...)

To make things even more crazy, we kind of had to tell Brigid that she was going to be able to ride a fire truck in my hometown's 4th of July parade, to make sure that it wasn't something that would freak her out when the moment came. She asked if I would come with her, and I told her that I wouldn't be on the truck, because I would need to stay with Caitlin, but that Papa and maybe even Aunt Mary would ride with her, so she wouldn't be up there by herself. And that's all it took. She's in.



Yesterday, she randomly sighed, and when I asked her what was wrong, she said, 'I'm just so excited!'

When I asked her what she was excited about, she looked at me like I was an idiot, and exclaimed, with as much condescension as any four-year-old could muster, 'The parADE, mommy,' like I was just supposed to know that's all she had been thinking about for 24 straight hours.

Like I said...she is IN.

Weekend Away

Steve and I took a few days this weekend to head down to Tampa, Florida for Hunahpu Day, Cigar City Brewery's annual release festival for one of their more popular beers. Personally, we had a great time, because we got there a little early, stood in line first thing to buy the beers Steve had driven almost eight hours to buy, then took the next few hours to sample as many of the different beers on tap as we could, in absolutely perfectly gorgeous weather, I might add, before hightailing it out of there in time for a 4pm nap back at the hotel. Apparently, we were some of the lucky ones, though, as the 3,500 people that were supposed to have tickets to the event seemed closer to double, or even triple, that amount, and not everyone who spent $50 on a ticket for the right to buy beer was actually able to buy said beer.

I guess it got out of hand, the brewery (or the police, I'm not sure the specific details) shut the event down early, and Cigar City has decided to cancel the event in the future, moving to a regular distribution release of their super-special beer, instead of the big party it has been in the past.

Again...I was back in the hotel, under the covers at this point, watching Island Hunters on HGTV. To me? The event, and the weekend overall, was a success.

I even got to spend some quality time on the beach...

(Although, might I suggest, if you are looking for a peaceful spring break, maybe stay away from Clearwater Beach? At least on the weekends? It was CRAZY.)

(But fun.)

When we got home early Monday afternoon? Brigid was excited to see me, but she still told us she wanted Steve to put her to bed because even though she'd missed me, she'd actually missed daddy, more. And Caitlin wanted me to pick her up, only so she'd be able to more emphatically reach for Steve, going so far as to start CRYING ON ME when I wouldn't let her go.

So, obviously, if you're looking for me, I'll be back in Florida, since I'm OBVIOUSLY not needed at home anymore...

Disney. Again.

Look, I'm sorry. I know Disney was forever ago, and I know I've already posted approximately one and a half million photos of the trip, but I'm sorry. I can't NOT include a few more from our park photographer photo card.

Because, COME ON.

 

 

Brigid wore her Chipmunk hat to get her picture taken with Belle, and Caitlin tried to kiss Minnie's nose. We SO win at vacation photos...