The lost months...

Easter Sunday, 2015

A happy belated Easter to anyone who still happens to stop by this utterly abandoned blog.  I think of it often.  And that's usually as far as it goes, because when I have to choose between giving my time to my child or giving it to my blog, the child wins every time.  Were my blog capable of screaming, throwing food around my kitchen, giving adorable, germ-spreading, open-mouthed kisses, or giggling angelically, choosing between the two might not be so easy.  But as things stand right now, there really is no contest.

So it seems another quick update is in order.

January - It was cold.  There was snow.  There's really nothing to say for it.  January is awful.

February - It was cold.  There was snow.  After one particular storm, we brought Sammy out into the snow in the new snowsuit he'd received from my parents for Christmas.  He sat in his car seat and was delighted with the falling snowflakes as Hansen and I shoveled the drive way and cleared snow off of Hansen's car.  When his little nose had turned red and we were just about ready to take him inside, we plopped him in a pile of snow and got his first "playing in the snow" photo. 

First time playing in the snow.

From my Valentine.

Other than that cute little photo op, and the Red Velvet Oreos and roses that Hansen got me for Valentine's day, February was useless until the very last week, when we left Illinois and went to Florida to visit my grandpa.  If you must be alive during February, I recommend doing it in Southwest Florida.  We had some great weather, and lots of fun visiting with my parents (who came with us) and my grandpa.  Sammy got to go in a swimming pool and a hot tub for the first time.  He preferred the hot tub! We also visited the Naples, FL botanical gardens, Corkscrew Swamps Animal Sanctuary (where we saw lots of wildlife...including a couple of alligators!), and, of course, the beach.  Sammy LOVED the beach, but did not care for the cold ocean water, so we mostly just played on a blanket in the sand.

Living the good life on the beach!

Sammy and Poupon fishing from the pier.

Sammy and Daddy in the pool.

Sammy and Daddy in the hot tub.

Sammy prefers the hot tub at night...when it's warm.

Picking an orange off of my grandpa's tree!

Unfortunately, the unfamiliar surroundings messed Sammy's sleep schedule up, so Hansen and I did not get quite as much rest as we had hoped for.  But we made the best of it, and the fact that my parents were there to help out was definitely a huge blessing.

I only read one book on vacation.  In years past I used to read 7 or more.  I'd average about a book a day.  But I think those days might be gone...if not forever, then for many, many years.

The only really crummy thing about the whole visit was the return flight.  We got to the airport around 8 PM for what was supposed to be a 9:56 PM departure.  However, as soon as we got there we were told that the flight had been delayed until something like 3 AM.  Then, after waiting around the airport for over an hour, we found out the flight was outright canceled.  So then we were scrambling to find hotel accommodations near the airport.  That was a nightmare.  We ended up at a Days Inn in the seediest part of Ft. Myers, surrounded by all night massage parlors, in a room with two double beds, which we shared with my parents.  Hansen crowds me to the very edge of our queen size bed pretty frequently, so you can imagine how it was with the three of us (Sammy included) sharing that nice little double.  I kept a foot braced against the wall for part of the night to keep from falling off into the narrow gap between the bed and the wall.  Also, Sammy woke in the middle of the night crying, so I paced him back and forth in the dark for about an hour, trying to keep him quiet enough for everyone else to sleep.  Not my best night on record.

The next day our flight was again delayed, so we spend most of the day waiting around, first in our hotel room and then at the airport.  Waiting around all day at an airport with an 11 month old baby is not as fun as it sounds.  Eventually, though, we did make it home.  And supposedly we're getting free round trip tickets out of the whole ordeal.  I haven't called the airline about that yet, but it's on my never ending to do list.

March - Things got a little warmer in Illinois.  The snow melted and we went on a few walks. 

On the H.U.M. Trail

The most notable piece of news about March was that Hansen installed a dishwasher!  I've never had a dishwasher.  It has changed my entire life!  I don't think I can go without one ever again, and Hansen is my hero.

Hansen and I also got new cell phones.  Kind of expensive (gulp), but so far we really like them.  And Sammy is thrilled that he gets to play with our old phones once in a while.  I'm trying not to let him have them too often, though.  I want them to remain somewhat of a novelty so that I can use them to distract him when things get a little hairy...like when we're stuck in an airport all day or something.

Just delighted with his new toy...Daddy's old cell phone.

April - Sammy turned 1 year old on April 1st!  It was a beautiful day.  I took a half day off of work and we went for a walk with his Granny in the afternoon.  Later that evening we had Granny and Poupon (my parents) and Grandma (Hansen's mom) over for dinner.  Sammy had a great day...opened some presents, ate destroyed some cake, and took some unsupported steps!!!  I just can't believe that a year has passed.  It some ways it seems like Sammy has always been with us.  And at other times I look at him and think, "We have a kid!  How did that happen?  When did that happen?  And when did that little 8 lb. 7oz. baby I remember get big enough to start walking?"

Filled with birthday joy...and chocolate cake.

And then came last weekend...Easter.  This was Sammy's second Easter and he spent much more of it conscious than he did last year.  After church in the morning, he got to go on an Easter egg hunt at his great grandparent's house.  Mostly he just picked up the eggs that I and others found, but he seemed to enjoy it.  He also got a few birthday gifts.  We postponed his birthday party until early May, when his uncle will be in town from San Diego, but a few people were too eager to wait until then.  Sam's great uncle Steve made him a beautiful, Sammy-sized picnic table out of repurposed cedar wood, and his Aunt Barbara and Uncle Tim got him a stuffed puppy that lights up and plays music.  Sammy was thrilled with both.

Sammy with his picnic table and puppy toy!

So...that's all the news that's worth sharing.  Or all that I can think of right now, anyway.  My mind is not at its sharpest these days.  I'm fighting off some kind of illness and I'm super tired.  Hopefully it won't last long.  Spring is here and I want to have enough energy to get out and enjoy it when I can!  It was long in coming.

Guest Post: Galena by almostfarmgirl...AKA...my friend Cherity

Well folks, you may or may not have noticed that I have, yet again, failed to post every week.  My excuse this time is that I've been busy.  Well, really that's my excuse every time, but I'm serious.  The last couple of weekends (which seem to be my only time to write) have been jam-packed with activities, chores, etc.  On one of those busy weekends, I had the pleasure of taking a trip to Galena with some friends from college.  Cherity, the talented and amusing writer of the blog www.almostfarmgirl.com, is one of those friends.  I've always enjoyed her writing...and her sense of humor.  It was as I was reading some of her blog posts that I became inspired to start my own blog.  She's very good.  She even has followers...like...people she's never actually met that consistently read what she writes.  I'm sort of in awe of that.  So, when she approached me with the idea of doing guest posts on each other's blogs about our weekend trip, I was honored and excited.  Below is Cherity's take on our trip.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope you do, too.  And lest you think that I've been lazy and haven't written anything lately, check out my take on the weekend by visiting Cherity's blog.  And while you're there read some more of Cherity's stuff...it's fantastic!

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I think we all have that one group of friends, or I hope we all do: the group with strong ties to your past that somehow manages to be relevant in your present.  These are the people who you can go without seeing for a year and still chat with like you saw each other yesterday. 

The girls in this photo?  They are those people for me.

Left to Right:  Kristen, Katie, Myself, Amy (Apologies to Kristen as she doesn't like this photo.  It's the only one I can find of ALL of us at the same time...)

Once upon a time, we travelled Europe together with two other girls (Joni and Karen), mutually bonding over our collective roles as outcasts in the larger group.  Turns out, being an outcast isn’t so bad if you get to be outcast together. 

During the Fall/Winter of 2005, the four (actually six) of us were together almost constantly.  And, at the end of three months, we still liked each other!  Flash forward to today, and these three girls are still among my closest friends.  We live farther apart than we would like (not as far as Joni and Karen who are probably 1000 miles away…) and only manage to see each other on occasion.  I see each of these ladies individually several times a year…and Katie pretty much literally lives in my backyard, so sometimes I see her several times a day…but, once college ended and real life commenced, we almost never all got together at the same time. 

So we decided to do something about it. 

Last year, we got together in July for our first annual “girls’ weekend” (I use quotes because it’s such a novel idea…and trademarked…we were the first ones to think of this…).  Meeting up in Galena, IL, a town just far enough away to be equally inconvenient for all of us, we began what I hope will be a tradition for a very long time. 

Last year, Amy was pregnant.  Katie and I had food poisoning.  Kristen was transitioning to a vegan diet…I’m just saying we had our challenges.  Yet, somehow, we all had a blast. 

This year, fewer challenges for everyone except Amy…but you can read about that on www.almostfarmgirl.com …  Regardless of challenges, in whatever form they might take, I always have a ton of fun when I’m with these ladies.

So, this trip…

Have you ever been to Switzerland?  If so, well, that’s actually a lot more exciting than Galena, but Galena puts me a bit in the mind of Switzerland…without the Alps…or the chocolate…there is some really good cheese though.   I know that when most of you think of Illinois, you probably think of flat farmland and Chicago (or as one merchant in Greece once said to me,  “Ah, Chicago.  Bang. Bang.  Dead”), but there’s a lot more to it than that.  Galena sits in one of the unglaciated regions of the state.  (Unglaciated is a word.  I checked. )  The landscape, rolling hills dotted with dairy farms and small towns with church steeples, looks more fitted for Europe than upstate Illinois.   

  

The town is known for its rich history.  (No joke, 85% of its buildings are registered historic buildings.)  Once upon a time, it was one of the most important cities in our state.  It was home to a lead mine that produced about 80% of the lead in the country.  (I’m not sure why lead was that important, but apparently it was a pretty big deal…)  It was also a steamboat hub between the cities of St. Paul and St. Louis.  The DeSoto House Hotel, first opened in 1855, is the oldest operating hotel in Illinois and is a prominent feature of Galena’s main thoroughfare.  (Also, just FYI, it’s also one of the only places on the main street that has a public restroom.  The lack of places to pee also remind me of Europe…)

For such a small town, Galena has a disproportionate number of things to do.  Day spas, and shopping, and wineries, some of the best restaurants you’ll find about anywhere.  There are historic homes…and I’m not just talking about “hey, look, this house is old” kind of historic.  Rather, Galena boasts the home of General (then President) Ulysses S. Grant.  During the Civil War, Galena sent not only Grant, but eight other Generals, as well as a whole host of soldiers.  The town is positively steeped in Civil War history, probably more than any other Midwestern city that I can think of.  There is also horseback riding, canoeing…  The list goes on and on and on…

With all that there is to do in Galena, I must say that we probably overdid it last year.  Activities were a bit packed in, and the trip was a lot of fun, but not terribly relaxing.  This year, we were all far more chill about it.  (I have my suspicions that it is mostly because we were all a lot poorer than last year.)

So, we all got in on Friday night.  Much to her surprise, Amy was the first to arrive.  Kristen showed up a bit later.  Katie and I drove together….and we were like two hours later than we had planned.  Absolutely no one was on time because that’s how we roll. 

(Side note, Amy said that all of us showing up later than her is why we are all friends.  I told her that I’m pretty sure Katie and I are friends because our fathers once shared a uterus.  I mean, brothers, not twins, but that still seems to bond people.)

We stay at the Farmer’s Guest House, which is probably the most perfect B&B on the planet…or at least in town. 

The innkeepers are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.  They are unbelievably helpful (and accommodating…two of us, ahem *Kristen and I* show up with the most bizarre food restrictions and they go way out of their way to make sure our breakfast is lovely and tasty regardless). 

The rooms are welcoming.  There is a wall of clocks, which appeals to Kristen’s sense of order.../OCD. 

Also, bottomless cookie jar.  And wine time every evening.  (Even without everything else, they pretty much have my heart at wine time.) 

So, with all of Galena at our feet, we stayed inside on the first night, painted our toenails, and watched “Mickey Blue Eyes” on DVD…

And we had a particularly deep and meaningful conversation about the “this little piggy” nursery rhyme after I thought way too hard about Amy’s Piggly Wiggly shopping bag:

Me: “So…guys…this little piggy went to market…Anyone else ever consider how messed up that is?  Because, if you’re a pig, going to market is a really bad thing…”
Kristen: “And what about  this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home?  What is that even about?
Amy: “Urinary incontinence.”

(Contrary to Amy’s earlier statement, I’m pretty sure conversations like these are why all of us are friends.)

The next day, after a breakfast that was basically apple pie (which is totally ok, because vacation!), we ran to the store to purchase a picnic lunch, then headed towards one of Galena’s beautiful bike trails.  Kristen and Amy brought their own bikes.  Katie and I rented mountain bikes….

…Guys, they really weren’t mountain bikes.

…I’m not even sure they were bikes, because, I’ll have you know, it was basically like riding a thong.  I rented a wheeled thong. 

The ride was stunning.  I could have biked all day, but after an hour or so, my butt started protesting.

Also, for the record, our lunch was probably the healthiest thing I’ve ever witnessed.  I was thoroughly impressed with us. 

(Ignore the tootsie pops…they are merely an illusion.  Look!  Celery!)

And our picnic spot was idyllic.

There is nothing quite like a bike ride on an Autumn afternoon…

After returning the bikes, we spent our day exploring the downtown.  We shopped, meandered about a wine cellar, and ate.  (By the way, there wasn’t a bad meal during the entire trip.  I pretty much felt like a cow by the time I got home.)

Mostly though?  I got to spend time in amazing company.  I love every trip I take with these ladies, and I truly cannot wait for next year. 

***Check out  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena,_Illinois for more information on Galena’s history.  I checked multiple sources, but this has the most information available on one page.***