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A weekend in Michigan with good friends. Good friends who are, sadly, moving abroad. I’m just so glad that we had this chance; a few days to be together, talk together, share good food, and dig around in the sand. Ewan’s first trip to the beach will be memorable, moreso because of the company we kept while we were there.
We went to DC to spend a few days together exploring before Aaron spends a few days on business. There were a couple surprises, traveling at teething-toddler-speed, but overall, it was a great family getaway.
There was a whole lot of walking about. Exploring stairs and looking around at nothing in particular.
Babe’s first protest. A passerby, not participant.
Boat loads of frozen yogurt. Three days in DC. Three different frozen yogurt shops. It was hot.
We discovered that farmers markets were the places to be. It was an easy (and cheap) way to get a delicious, nutritious and baby-friendly meal. We went to two.
We got an obligatory shot with the Capitol. A crappy, do-it-yourself shot. Ewan’s sleepy. We’re all hot and sweaty. And my head’s covering the dome. This is the stuff that family memories are made of.
We took many naps in fancy hotels. Without any chores to be done around the house, it was easy to lie down and have a little nap-along.
Lessons we learned:
-Eating at restaurants takes a long time. Several hours each day. Farmers Markets make getting and eating food fast and fun.
-It is boring in a hotel room when the babe is asleep by 8pm and all the lights are off. Thank goodness for streaming netflix and iphone games.
-Downtown DC doesn’t have any play parks. Next time, we must stay somewhere with a playground nearby.
Can’t wait for our next family adventure. There is a debate around here, midwestern vaca staying on a lake in a cabin and playing in the woods or an international trip, probably Ireland on a canal boat.
What do you all think? What would you do?
of town, that is.
We are exploring DC as a fam which means that we are napping in fancy hotels, seeking out farmers markets for healthy breakfasts, and eating ridiculous quantities of frozen yogurt. (It’s hot here and the froyo is so good.)
Little man and I return tomorrow sans Papa. I’ll have some photos and stories to share.
A trip to Boston which involved . . .
loads of travel – busses, trains, planes, subways, taxis, and cars.
funny faces and loads of laughs.
a most excellent pizza.
an amazing place to stay.
beautiful walks on beautiful days, both winter and spring.
showing Ewan his first horse.
visiting play parks across Boston.
spotting my favorite color green.
and spending time with family, the reason for the visit.
A good weekend, indeed. Hope yours was as well.
This weekend was FULL. Full of everything that the past three weekends lacked. Full of outings. Full of quality family time. Full of life and full of health.
This is what we all truly needed. I am grateful.
It’s official, four-day weekends are awesome. Two four-day weekends in a row, well, we couldn’t ask for much more. This Monday is a bit bittersweet with the holidays behind us, Papa back at work for 5 days, and an awful cold spell hitting the city. We’ll manage, but I’m not sure how.
About two weeks ago, we were taking the train with a very excited little boy who was visiting us. He was glued to the window, taking in the sights of the big city, and with all his excitement we couldn’t help but do the same. We looked out, admired the buildings, awed by the height of the city and the rhythm of the people walking through it. It was a most peaceful and enjoyable ride into the city, that is, until I saw this.
At that moment, the excitement and magic of a train ride through the city stopped and, unfortunately for my companions, the ranting began.
Really?! People think this way?! A company would actually use this as an advertisement?!
I was, and still am, outraged and working on what to do about it. I have thought about many responses and yet I can’t really come up with something suitable, something that will get through to the company, those viewing the sign, and will make me feel better, like I’ve done something.
Anyways, as we were headed out of town for the holidays, we passed by the same ad. They most have gotten some sort of response already because now, right next to the original we saw a few weeks ago, there is this one:
I guess the counterpoint is nice, but it seems so, disingenuous.
After all my early struggles with breastfeeding, and pushing through to make it work, I have found myself becoming quite passionate about a woman’s right to breastfeed and a baby’s right to nurse. I am continually frustrated by the culture in which we live and how it perceives and reacts to breastfeeding. This ad is just a single, poignant example of an unnecessary obstacle that mothers have to overcome when offering their babe the best nourishment available.
How can I, or we, help everyone else see it so clearly?
Keeping with a tradition that started on our first wedding anniversary, we packed our suitcase and got away last weekend to celebrate our 6th. In years past, it has just been the two of us celebrating our wedding anniversary together. This year was the first year that we celebrated together as a family. While it felt a bit strange to have a third person with us on what has historically been a private affair, it was good, really good and truly reflected where we are right now.
This year we made our way to Kanazawa, a good-sized city on the Japan Sea side. We ate good food, we saw some sights and we spent three days of quality time together without interruptions.
Traveling with our babe definitely changed things. We had to slow down a bit and take some time to just sit on the grass and relax together. I must say that I really enjoyed the relaxed pace, the time to sit down and take it all in, together.
While we didn’t get a chance to see everything, sadly we missed the Samurai village, we did get to see a lot of things.
And, most importantly, we got to see a lot of each other, remind ourselves about all that we love in one another and now in our family, and start this next year off on the right foot.
