Back to Home Sweet "Home"
Ahhhhh, it's back to life as we know it at the luxurious Navy Lodge, Newport, RI.
I haven't written since Thanksgiving, so I'll do a quick recap: we had a marvelous time in Minnesota. It couldn't have been much better, honestly. We got to do enough sufficiently Christmasy things to make me really feel the holiday spirit. Maybe all this renewal of the warm joys of this time of year stems from having children old enough to truly delight in the festivities and get excited by Santa. I feel like it's allowable to have childish delight in the same way that it's now allowable for me to play with them on the monkey bars and go down the slide.
And of course, I wanted to do a quick recap and I go off on a tangent.
We had room service for breakfast every day. Thanksgiving was great--Gen cooked a great meal and Grandma T. played bowling on the Wii (that's a newsworthy event!). After dinner, we shot over to visit family in Rochester, then on down to Austin to spend some time with Hans' extended family, some of whom we haven't seen since our wedding five years ago. How in the world does that happen? I didn't shop on Black Friday because I hate crowds and I hate crazed, cheap shoppers. It's soooo not worth it in my estimation. Besides, I was having $12 room service waffles while watching the flat-screen TV in our room.
My whole family came to Minneapolis on Friday. Well, except for Scuba, who is now disowned. How could ducks possibly be more important than Sister Rachie? Sniff. It was a lot of work trying to coordinate everyone, so I think next time I'll make an itinerary and hire a tour guide! Grandma and Grandpa K. watched all four babies on Friday night while we "kids" went out for greasy cheeseburgers, cherry phosphates and carrot cake. The big news of Friday is that Eli and Lindsey are expecting Baby K #2. I'm hoping it's a boy...gotta carry on the family name! No pressure there, Lindsey!! Congratulations!
Saturday, more rushing around. We all went down to eat at the breakfast buffet, which was divine. Believe it or not...people, you may not EVER see this again...I went down to the buffet without showering, wearing a bra or putting on make-up. Seriously. I just hope my family realizes that this means that I love them very, very, very much to be seen in a swanky hotel restaurant like that.
We tried to do some shopping in the afternoon, just Gen and me, but it didn't work out very well. We were all tired and depressed. It seems like such a waste, because Gen is my very favorite person and favorite person to shop with...but we couldn't get up the energy. I think all of the energy was spent trying to ignore the fact that at some point, we were going to have to part ways. And I'm leaving for Germany next Monday. As Gen said in her blog, we have perfected the quick, see-you-later hug. Anything more than the briefest of clutches and we would have been laying on the floor at Macy's in front of the Croc display bawling.
Now if I could just perfect the quickie goodbye with Jan. Dad's got it down pretty good. But Mom and I need to work on it...
Yesterday, Donna and I took the kids to the Minnesota Children's Museum. It was fun. You can read about it on her blog. I'm too lazy to link.
Today, we got bumped off our flight. Oh no, it wasn't a bad bump, it was a good bump. Instead of making a connecting flight in Newark, we got a straight-through flight on NWA to Boston. Only it left 40 minutes before our original flight. By the time we got up to security, it was about 10:00 and the flight left at 10:10. AND we got "chosen" for a special screening. Was I irritated? Just a little bit. Hans and I had to get patted down and the full nine-yards. So annoying. We made our flight, but we were the last people on board. The flight was just over two hours, Annika was OK, not great, just OK. I decided not to screw around and just gave her a Benedryl. So stone me, that's right, I drug my baby. It didn't work very well. She is super-resistant to Benedryl. We need some horse tranquilizers...
After waiting for the hotel shuttle for 40 MINUTES and getting stuck in traffic, we are finally back in our home sweet "home" at the Navy Lodge...
Sigh. Hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was great.
I haven't written since Thanksgiving, so I'll do a quick recap: we had a marvelous time in Minnesota. It couldn't have been much better, honestly. We got to do enough sufficiently Christmasy things to make me really feel the holiday spirit. Maybe all this renewal of the warm joys of this time of year stems from having children old enough to truly delight in the festivities and get excited by Santa. I feel like it's allowable to have childish delight in the same way that it's now allowable for me to play with them on the monkey bars and go down the slide.
And of course, I wanted to do a quick recap and I go off on a tangent.
We had room service for breakfast every day. Thanksgiving was great--Gen cooked a great meal and Grandma T. played bowling on the Wii (that's a newsworthy event!). After dinner, we shot over to visit family in Rochester, then on down to Austin to spend some time with Hans' extended family, some of whom we haven't seen since our wedding five years ago. How in the world does that happen? I didn't shop on Black Friday because I hate crowds and I hate crazed, cheap shoppers. It's soooo not worth it in my estimation. Besides, I was having $12 room service waffles while watching the flat-screen TV in our room.
My whole family came to Minneapolis on Friday. Well, except for Scuba, who is now disowned. How could ducks possibly be more important than Sister Rachie? Sniff. It was a lot of work trying to coordinate everyone, so I think next time I'll make an itinerary and hire a tour guide! Grandma and Grandpa K. watched all four babies on Friday night while we "kids" went out for greasy cheeseburgers, cherry phosphates and carrot cake. The big news of Friday is that Eli and Lindsey are expecting Baby K #2. I'm hoping it's a boy...gotta carry on the family name! No pressure there, Lindsey!! Congratulations!
Saturday, more rushing around. We all went down to eat at the breakfast buffet, which was divine. Believe it or not...people, you may not EVER see this again...I went down to the buffet without showering, wearing a bra or putting on make-up. Seriously. I just hope my family realizes that this means that I love them very, very, very much to be seen in a swanky hotel restaurant like that.
We tried to do some shopping in the afternoon, just Gen and me, but it didn't work out very well. We were all tired and depressed. It seems like such a waste, because Gen is my very favorite person and favorite person to shop with...but we couldn't get up the energy. I think all of the energy was spent trying to ignore the fact that at some point, we were going to have to part ways. And I'm leaving for Germany next Monday. As Gen said in her blog, we have perfected the quick, see-you-later hug. Anything more than the briefest of clutches and we would have been laying on the floor at Macy's in front of the Croc display bawling.
Now if I could just perfect the quickie goodbye with Jan. Dad's got it down pretty good. But Mom and I need to work on it...
Yesterday, Donna and I took the kids to the Minnesota Children's Museum. It was fun. You can read about it on her blog. I'm too lazy to link.
Today, we got bumped off our flight. Oh no, it wasn't a bad bump, it was a good bump. Instead of making a connecting flight in Newark, we got a straight-through flight on NWA to Boston. Only it left 40 minutes before our original flight. By the time we got up to security, it was about 10:00 and the flight left at 10:10. AND we got "chosen" for a special screening. Was I irritated? Just a little bit. Hans and I had to get patted down and the full nine-yards. So annoying. We made our flight, but we were the last people on board. The flight was just over two hours, Annika was OK, not great, just OK. I decided not to screw around and just gave her a Benedryl. So stone me, that's right, I drug my baby. It didn't work very well. She is super-resistant to Benedryl. We need some horse tranquilizers...
After waiting for the hotel shuttle for 40 MINUTES and getting stuck in traffic, we are finally back in our home sweet "home" at the Navy Lodge...
Sigh. Hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was great.
Comments
I assume that it was you that picked the Depot in the first place? I have to admit it was a good choice, kind of like the Grand for your wedding. Very classy(for us anyhow). We had a really good time with you kids and your kids, what a handsome bunch. I don't think that you will ever break your Mom over shedding tears at goodbyes. She is especially attached to her children as you will find out in the future I think. Women have a mystical bond with their children that most men don't quite understand. I'm gonna miss you guys, but expect to see you in the future. Take care and stay in touch
And I agree with Dad about the Mom and tears thing. Although I am quite skilled at the art of Denial...Mom is not so much. Maybe I can try to teach her to repeat "This isn't happening, this isn't happening..." like I do. Heavy drinking also seems to help. Hehe.