2009 trigderby lake trip

this evening we returned from my immediate family's annual lake trip.  we are sunburned, sore, and exhausted after four days of boating, fishing, canoeing, swimming, wakeboarding, campfires, grilling, and chasing kids around.  some of the gang filmed a horror movie; plot: group of kids go to the lake for the weekend and are murdered after making incredibly stupid survival choices.  with any luck it'll eventually make its way onto youtube, and i'll link you.  i'm sure it will go viral instantly, if not sooner.

my sister and kitten

***

i did a terrible job of photographing the goings-on this year, but i blame it on the added distraction of Kitten.  thank you, trigerbys.

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memorial day 2009

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has swine flu impacted your travel plans?

it did mine.

we were scheduled to take a trip to washington, d.c. to visit my best friend from high school, jeremy, and his husband nick, who just bought a fabulous new home in a maryland suburb of d.c.

i'm not usually one to buy into paranoia, but something about taking Kitten on a plane right now just didn't feel right.  i'm 99.9% sure that everything would have been fine, but i'm 0.1% sure that if something ever happened to Kitten i'd never forgive myself.

i polled just about everyone who would listen to me and the results were split.  half the people said, "just go, it'll be fine."  the other half said, "when in doubt, don't."

so i called my pediatrician, ever the voice of reason.  because when you have kids, apparently you completely lose all objectivity and i could NOT decide what to do.

he said to go, but put a face mask on her while in the airport/plane.

yeah, no.  A) trying to keep a face mask on an 8 month old for a two-leg trip is like, well, trying to keep a face mask on an 8 month old.  and B) i'm not taking my child anywhere that she needs to be wearing a face mask per the advice of her ped.  sorry.

but i talked myself into going on the trip anyway, and went ahead and booked our rental car and did those last-minute things.  and then on wednesday (the day before we were to leave), Kitten got sent home from daycare with vomiting.  we got her home and she was fine, but then i started coming down with symptoms of an upper respiratory infection.  (NOT swine flu.  just a head cold.)  i thought to myself, "if you hadn't been SO stressed out about this trip for the last four days, you wouldn't be getting sick right now.  do you really need one more reason?  screw it."

so i cancelled the trip.

i'm 99.9% sure that i overreacted, but i'm 0.1% sure that i'm comfortable with the decision i made.  and that 0.1% is the part that matters when it comes to my peace of mind and my child.

so we booked a bed and breakfast in springfield, missouri and had a truly restful time playing scrabble in the sitting room while Kitten snoozed in her pack and play.  then we drove around and visited a couple of caves and headed to branson, where we are now.  we've got a two-room suite at a resort.  last night we overindulged at a seafood buffet and then came back to the resort and rented movies from the front desk, put Kitten down in the bedroom and enjoyed our evening.

i will say one thing: there is much to be said for staying at a bed and breakfast when you're traveling with a child.  it sounds counterintuitive, but it's actually much better than staying in a traditional hotel room.  for about the same cost, you have (almost) all of the luxuries of home, and you can put the baby down and then go into the next room to finish the evening just a few feet away - but without having to dim the lights and keep the television off beginning at 7:00 p.m.  

yes, Kitten's bedtime is 7:00 p.m.  i know that sounds WAY early but that's just the time her little body is ready.  if i tried to keep her up later i'd have a screaming mess on my hands.  i fully anticipate that as she gets older her evenings will lengthen to 8:00 or 8:30, which is Princess's bedtime.  but i can't complain - she sleeps through the night until 7:00 a.m.  my little alarm clock.  every day of the week.  woo-hoo.  buh-bye weekends. 

actually it's not so bad.  my weekends are wildly productive now.  like right now, for instance!  it's 9:00 a.m. and i'm finishing my second cup of coffee and blogging - while J sleeps in.  we're going to switch tomorrow and he's going to let ME sleep in.  then we're going to go to eureka springs, which is pretty much our favorite place to be.

bliss.

more eureka springs

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what i did on my first vacation by kitten

we're in eureka springs right now for J's 3**th birthday.  we drove up on sunday night with a short detour in branson because J had to teach a class for work yesterday morning and i had all this time to kill while he did that and the coach store was having a huge sale oops didn't mean for that to happen.  we'll head back tomorrow morning.

Kitten's done great - this is easy. we've dragged her all over the place. traveling with kids is more about parents being flexible than it is about kids being difficult.  Kitten doesn't seem to mind.

okay, maybe she minded a little in that last one, but that was more set the camera down mom i'm hungry than travel fatigue.

in a stroke of coincidence J's parents happen to be here, too, so we met them for dinner last night at the bavarian inn, which has a hefeweizen beer that J loves.  Kitten chilled the whole time in her car seat, pausing once to finish a bottle.  J ordered a truly amazing piece of german chocolate cake that we brought back to our room at the basin park hotel.

i've been wearing Kitten in a fabric sling and she just sleeps all curled up on my chest as we walk around everywhere. when she gets hungry the sling works as a breastfeeding cover-up. just throw a couple of diapers in the camera bag and go. 

strangers have been commenting on the baby sling - literally dozens of them today.  but who can blame them when there's such an ADORABLE BABY in the sling?  seriously though it's the most marvelous invention ever, just a simple piece of fabric sewn into a big wide loop. Kitten loves it. 

we switched hotels today from the basin park to the crescent hotel where we usually stay, and in a little while we're going to go eat dinner.  i hate that we have to go back tomorrow, but it's a quick trip this time and i really need to get back to work.  i've been easing back into work and out of maternity leave, but transition time is over and i need to get down to business - especially since our love won't pay the bills.  and my savings account won't attend the arraignment i have on friday morning.

but for right now, if you'll excuse me, i have to go join a nap already in progress.

phoenix

we are back from phoenix. we got back on wednesday evening and it's been crazy since then. the house was a mess and we had tons of laundry to do, we came home to no food in the house and the christmas decorations yet to be taken down.

it's good to be back at work, though. i'm glad it's a new year and totally ready to get back in the routine. the holidays are so chaotic that they drive me crazy.

while we were in arizona we took some time to drive up to the mountains and do a little hiking. we took these pictures at the white tank national monument

state park outside of phoenix.

the weather was a little chilly - but nowhere near as cold as it's been in our midwestern town, and it was wonderfully dry and sunny. it made me crave the springtime - which reminds me, i wonder if it's too late to plant tulip bulbs?

the last few summers i've really meant to get outside and start a garden but i haven't gotten around to it, either due to lack of yard space or abundance of other projects. this year, having recently put up our nice, tall cedar privacy fence and freshly painted the house, hopefully i will be less distracted by projects and able to put up a proper garden with lots of tomatoes and peppers and herbs. mmmmm, salssssaaaaaaa.

nye 2008

we're off to catch our flight to Phoenix (and yeah, that timestamp is accurate!). see you next wednesday!