There & Back

Headed out on my annual SAD vacation last week. This year my sister attended. I think it's quite funny that at the age of 37 I vacation with my family (mom, dad & sister). 20 years ago I couldn't wait to escape from the house and now I go visit my parents. Wish I could explain that to my 16 yo stepdaughter...

So what did we do? Experienced a Winter Storm Warning in GA. It's fun to be a northerner when the folks south of the Mason Dixon get snow. They are all atwitter with anticipation. The island we stay on didn't get snow, just rain, but we were close enough to hear about the .9 inches that fell in Savannah and the 3-5 that fell in Atlanta. Schools closed for the whole day, warning messages to not leave the house and drive 'unless you have absolutely no choice'. I dared my dad to take his car out and show the folks how to whip shitty's in the parking lot but he declined. (FYI, drove to work this fine morn after 3 inches of snow were scrapped off the driveway and found out that my company is apparently tired of plowing the parking lots as they didn't even show up today. Hmph. Where is my 2 hour delay? Just kidding!!)

Despite the weather (I go there to get some sorely needed vitamin D and this year it was a bit lacking), it was nice to get away. My parents rent a condo on the Atlantic ocean for a month. This year, while walking along the coast in a light drizzle we saw a dolphin. It's pretty cool. Otherwise, we chilled out, did some shopping, ate lots of seafood and read lots of books. It's a quick trip, and by the time we realized it we were back on the plane.

The plane. Oh how much I like flying (insert sarcastic snort here). Relative to last year, it was a breeze, even with all the crazy weather patterns. Last year I didn't get home until nearly 1am. This year, like every other soul flying, my sister and I attempted to not check luggage.

Really. Everyone.

What did the airlines expect folks to do when they began charging? Both there and back we ended up having to check out luggage at the door. And all we had were our roller cases and our purses. We weren't even the overstuffers. But we were flying one ticket with frequent flier miles so we were in the last class to board. We're expecting to get charged for it but we will see what happens.

I was missing Little Ms. C like crazy on the way back. Just enough time apart to make me want to run home and see her. It was super great to hear her say, "I was missing you!" when I got into the car. Makes my heart melt. We cuddled last night while watching the men's singles in luge. She was trying very hard to wrap her head around these men sliding down the hill.

Mini-Vacation

We had a good mini-vacation last week. We went up north with my family and spent 3 days at the town home we rent. A good time was had by all, although sleeping in the same room as your toddler who moves around like a madwoman is not as easy as I thought it would be. And I learned some new entertainment techniques on our last 2 hours of the car ride up. 

Claire tried many new things which you can check out here. We lucked out by swinging into Duluth just in time to join Carrie & Dahlia for a walk along the lake. It was great to have a chance to hook up with Carrie and her adorable, good natured babe. 

In other news, our nanny started today. It seems like things went well. Claire was a bit needy this morning and I feared for the worst. But her dad called me at work and said she went back down for a nap at 8am. She hasn't taken a nap that early since she was a baby :). Apparently the weekend wore her out more than we thought. Our nanny said she was surprised by how well Claire did today and was impressed by her mellow nature. I swear it has all to do with her sleeping pattern. Now, if I can just get her to sleep in until 7am....