A Close One Averted

Tragedy almost struck early in this trip. While driving to Ocean City, Debbie came to the horrific realization that our camera had gone to the great pixel screen in the sky. The LCD on our Canon had been acting up, but we were always able to take pictures. This time, though, we couldn't even take pictures. Debbie was inconsolable. This great family time would not have any photos to remember. Plans were made to run to Walmart to get a new one when my mom made an astounding announcement. My parents, the people who recently developed a roll of film that took it's first picture at Christmas 1997, recently bought a new digital camera. Not only that, but they actually remembered to bring it with them! Our trip was saved. And thanks to that good news, Debbie was able to take a video of Lauren's very first wipe out in the ocean. [Quicktime needed to see video]

A Day of Firsts

A ton of milestones were reached today:

• Lauren's first round of miniature golf.
• Lauren getting knocked down by a wave for the first time.
• Eric walking into the ocean for the first time (immediately followed by his first retreat from said ocean).
• Lauren's first trek into the ocean with daddy.

Ocean City is a ton of fun, as usual. We got hit with some thunderstorms yesterday, but tons of sun today made for a good beach day.

One more thing I lose.

Vacation days just aren't the same when you have kids. Today, I took a vacation day so I could stay home with Lauren. She was sick last night and we felt it best to keep her at home today. Why couldn't today have been like Monday. I had a holiday and the rest of the family didn't. So, I stayed home and played Call of Duty 4 all day. Today, I couldn't even get downstairs to play the Xbox even 1 little bit.

Holiday Wrap-up

Tons of things have been happening, so let me sum up.

1. Went to Baltimore for Christmas for a week. Had a fantastic time; kids had a fantastic time; grandparents had a great time too. Airline misplaced some luggage, but we made due without them until they arrived the morning of Christmas Eve. Fortunately, no luggage was lost on the return trip. We did have to ship a bunch of presents (3 boxes of presents to be precise). To say the kids did well at Honeybear and Pop Pop's would be a bit of an understatement.
2. While in Baltimore, we picked a nice day to head to the Inner Harbor and spent some time at the National Aquarium. It was a great day and Lauren loved looking at all the fish, especially the Finding Nemo tank (it wasn't called that but it had a Blue Tang, anemone, and some clown fish, so you get the idea). One issue we did have was the ban on strollers in the aquarium. They don't allow them because there are a few escalators and revolving doors that do make it hard to use strollers. Fortunately, they do offer backpacks for free. So I spent the whole day trudging around the aquarium with Eric on my back. I especially enjoyed it when Lauren would feel neglected and wanted me to pick her up too. Carrying her did balance the weight a little, but my legs were shot by the end of the day. Yours would be too if you suddenly added 50 lbs.
3. Got home and had Grandma and Grandpa Jameyfield stop by for a visit the following day. They too are having a wonderful time with the grandkids. Grandma's days are spent mostly trapped in the playroom where drill instructor Lauren refuses to grant any kind of reprieve. It's Candyland, memory, Cariboo, dolls, and Littlest Pet Shop all day. They'd probably be playing right now, but Grandma has come down with a nasty cold that has really taken the wind out of her sails.
4. I have a new job. I'm still at OtorolaMay, but have switched to the Government and Public Safety sector. It's exciting and, quite frankly, a welcome change. My previous position was rather precarious. My current position is still a little precarious, but not nearly the to the extent it was prior to the switch.
5. Had a great new year's. Got to bed sometime around 12:01 or so. We did go to a friend's house for dinner where Lauren had a great time playing with the other kids there. The snow storm did make it a little difficult, but everyone got there and back home safe and sound.

I hope your holidays were equally as pleasant, filled with family and friends.

Hot Water Stank

Whenever we go on vacation, arriving home is usually a relief with one exception. Even for weekend jaunts, the hot water always has a rotten egg smell for a few days. It's been a problem since we moved in, but my natural procrastinaty self decided to wait until now to figure out what to do about it. The source of the odor is pretty much agreed upon (bacteria) and all agree it's harmless, but annoying. There are a lot of opinions and advice on what to do to fix this, all involving work which I try to avoid. Some suggest removing the anode rod from the hot water heater. That sounded dangerous, so ... no! Another suggestion was to completely drain the hot water heater. Nice, but Debbie doesn't like taking cold baths, so again ... no! I did manage to find a solution that required what I consider to be in my sweet spot for work required: Raise the temperature to hot temporarily. My initial test with this method was wildly successful, so, naturally, I had to share my discovery. I feel a little like Galileo but without the excommunication. The night we got back from Baltimore, I raised the thermostat on the hot water heater and left it there over night. With the raised temperature, the smell was gone by the time I took my morning bath! How awesome is that? A simple turn of the wrist (two since I have to lower it the next morning) and Voila! Un-stinky hot water!
Feel free to share my brilliance with others.

All's good

On the morning of Christmas Eve, we got a great gift: our remaining luggage. Everything arrived safe and sound, just in time too.
Our Christmas has been great. My brother and his family drove up from the eastern shore and spent a few nights up here. It was great spending some time with them. We also spent Christmas Eve at my cousins house, a party of 26! It was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time.
Tomorrow, we head to the National Aquarium in the Inner Harbor. Lauren is already psyched about seeing fishies and dolphins. On Friday, we head up to see my dad and Fina's new house in Pennsylvania. Why does rest never seem to be a part of our vacations?

Good and Bad

A little over 24 hours into our trip and already there has been plenty of good and bad about it.

Good: Everyone arrived in Baltimore safely
Bad: Some of our luggage has yet to arrive
Good: We have most of our clothes and no presents went missing.
Bad: The suitcase with all the kids' clothes is one of the ones missing
Good: Their Christmas clothes were in one of the pieces we do have
Bad: The car seat and the pack n play were the other 2 missing pieces
Good: American gave us a loaner car seat (seeing as leaving the airport would have been difficult)
Bad: Lauren's favorite blanket, hand made by a friend of ours, was in the bag with the car seat.
Good: The airline called to say they had 1 piece and were dropping it off.
Bad: It wasn't actually one of ours.
Good: The luggage is ready to leave O'Hare on the next flight
Bad: Almost all the flights from ORD to BWI have been canceled due to bad weather
Good: Given that, it's a miracle we got here in the first place.

We are having loads of fun with Honeybear and Pop Pop. I am thrilled that I decided to shop this year at Amazon and ship our presents. It wouldn't have been a big deal had some presents gone missing, but it still would have been annoying. Pretty soon though, we're going to run into some issues. Of all the kids' clothes, we only have Lauren's dressy outfits for Christmas Eve and Day. Eric only has 1 outfit that my mom bought last night. We're going to try to get 2 days out of it since it survived today fairly intact. I also have no T-shirts. Not really a problem except I tend to wear sweatshirts this time of year and those T-shirts are worn underneath. Looks like our Christmas shopping may not be done yet *shudder*
The most surprising thing is how well we're getting along without the Pack N Play. Eric is mobile, but at night he still tends to be immobile. We've used some suitcases and boxes to pen him in a little area with a sheet on the floor and he seems okay with that. Certainly it's not ideal, but we're not about to spent $70 or more just to make a few days more convenient.
I hope everyone's holiday is safe and happy. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Christmas Rhyme

Twas the morn before leaving for Christmas
And what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a toddler with an ear infection
Just a simple test of our Christmas cheer

Gallery Update

It's Friday afternoon. You don't want to work, do you? Well, here's a nice time waster. PICTURES!!!

Watch the installation of our new windows.
March pictures.
April pictures .
May pictures
Some renovations to Eric's and Lauren's room.
June pictures.
July pictures.
August pictures .
September pictures.
Eric's Baptism.
Pictures from our trip to Greenville, SC, Charlotte, NC, Baltimore, and Ocean City.

Okay, so you may need more than the afternoon.

End of the Journey Approaches

We are quickly approaching the end of our journey and I think the word that best describes our travels is: Survived. Actually, the past 2 weeks have gone surprisingly well, even with a few hiccups along the way. Lauren just loves the ocean and has gone in every day this week. Eric even managed to make a few trips to Camp Potter-Brown-McGuire on the beach. You laugh, but I think camp may be a bit of an understatement. There was the tent, 4 umbrellas, and 6 beach chairs. I've seen entire offices move with less crap than we carried to the beach each day. But, my folks need the shade less they be mistaken for lobsters. We've even decided to add a new item to our beach arsenal: a Sherpa. I think I can find one, but if not, a cart will do just as well. That's right, we carried all that stuff plus towels, snacks, and Lauren's sand toys (soon to be Lauren and Eric's sand toys). My favorite part was when we would just reach the beach, I carrying 30 pounds of equipment, and Lauren would plead with me to carry her because the sand was too hot. Yup ... always loved that part. Of course I carried her because I'm a sucker, but still.
As always, you can expect a lot of pictures to be forthcoming. Our 1 gig card is starting to buckle under the strain, so it may be good that we're leaving tomorrow. Then, it's back to our regular schedule come Monday. I don't know if Lauren is ready for that yet, but we'll see. I think her friends are going to be a little shocked at how tan she is. Great ... my daughter is blond haired, blue eyed, and tans well. Eric better be linebacker sized to keep all the would-be suiters at bay. Even with Lauren wearing the 1930s swimsuit that covers the ankles and wrists.

One Week Down, One to Go

We are now 1 week into our 2 week long vacation. I could also have put that as 4 cities into our 4 city tour of the east coast. There were 3 days in Greenville, SC; then 3 days in Sherrill's Ford, NC; 2 days in Baltimore; then today we drove to Ocean City. Fortunately, we'll be here for a week before heading back to Chicago. It's nice to finally be in a place where we can unpack. Living out of a suit case can be quite frustrating. There are have been some developments and almost developments in this time though. First, at the ripe old age of 4 months, Eric went to his first bar last night. Man, if I ever need to get a date, this guy is a gold mine. The women would stop dead in their tracks to ooh and ahh at his gummy smile. The almost development is he is this -><- close to rolling over. He can get almost his entire body from his back to his stomach. All that's left is that pesky arm. Once he figures that out, we've got a rolling roly poly of a boy. Oh ... yeah ... he's topped 18 pounds too. Not exactly a dainty thing like his sister, but I guess that's a good thing.

So much to do and yet I do none

As Debbie mentioned, a week from today begins our 2 week jaunt to 4 states. With a 2.5 year old and a 0.25 year old (i just like decimals), we have our work cut out for us. The current division of labor is Debbie sits next to Eric (since she does have the food supply) while I get Lauren and the DVD player. As if I couldn't already recite most of the lines from memory, I get to watch it just a few more times. Huzzah!
Of course, that means a lot of planning and packing. That means, of course, that I'm about to spend my time wisely by going to see The Simpsons Movie all by myself. My company had an employee picnic, so I came home early. I know Debbie has no interest whatsoever in seeing this movie, so I have to find a way to go see it. With Lauren at day care still, this is an ideal opportunity. I will be home earlier than if I had gone to work, so this is a win-win. I should help pack, but there is a movie to see at 4:50, so I need to get going. What a good use of my time!

How many relatives can you fit in one weekend?

The holiday weekend was a lot of fun, even if a bit overwhelming at times. Before I relate the goings on, I just want to remind you dear reader that we were visiting my family only. Also keep in mind that my family tree is .... complicated.
On Thursday, we had dinner at my cousin's condo complex. They rented out the party room, decorated it, and put football on the Big Screen Projector (not High def though). There were about 17 of my relatives there and we split into guys and gals tables. This actually worked pretty well because the guys tended to watch the game and talk sports while the gals chit chatted about something I had no interest on which to eavesdrop. Lauren had a great time playing with cousins Joey, Ivan, and Faith. It did take Faith some time to warm up, but once she did, she was very outgoing. Apparently, some pirates had infiltrated our holiday dinner and she enlisted the help of Lauren in trying to drive them out. I did learn that my 11 year old cousin Ivan is quite gifted at comic book history. We managed to get on this line of chatting when Spiderman 2 came on after football (unfortunately, that also meant all my female teenage cousins going all googly-eyed over Tobey Maguire). Ivan is a bit hyper, but ask him anything about the Marvel or DC Comic book world and he seemed to have it down.
On Friday, it was off to my dad's house (just remember, complicated family tree). There, we had dinner with 21 completely different relatives. That's right folks, we managed to fit in dinner with 38 relatives over 2 days even though we were only visiting my family. To say Debbie was bit overwhelmed would be like saying the Grand Canyon is a bit of hole. My dad's wife, Fina, is an amazing cook and she always has enough to feed an army. I believe the stats for the dinner were 2 turkeys (1 deep fried), a ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, some cholesterol raising side dish whose name escapes me right now, and a ton of other sides. I actually don't get to see dad's 5 sisters very often so I was lucky to have someone there who could discretely clue me in to who was who again. Thanks Drew! It was nice to reconnect with them, I just wish my sister Kayhla could make it. Alas, she was sick and unable to attend, so me missed seeing her this trip.
Saturday was laid back (finally) and we just hung around mom's house. We did venture to a Festival of Trees at the local armory which was nice. They had all these Christmas trees decorated with some theme. Most were beautiful, some ... well ... they can't all be winners. I will say the chocolate chip cookies I bought were quite good.
On Sunday, believe it or not, we managed to have lunch with 2 more relatives we had yet to see (my mom's youngest nephew and his wife). Well, since having a family get together of 6 seems wrong, some more cousins showed up who wanted to see us again before we left. So, we had an intimate family gathering of 11.
I was hoping to see my niece again, but my brother's family got hit with illness. Cindy had a double ear infection, Alexis (my niece) contracted the flu, and Scott got hit with an illness we call "Being Scottitis" :) He was kind enough to give us a call and we talked for a while. I was just hoping to see Alexis again before she turns 1 year old. With our next trip to Baltimore coming in August, I don't think that will happen.

Safe Travels

We are now back home safe and sound. I will write more on the actual events of the holiday later, but I wanted to pass on a little event that happened today.
We were waiting for the elevator at OHare to take us to the lower level with another gentleman. Both elevators show up, one full and one empty. The empty one's doors begin to close. I quickly hit the down button again forcing the doors open. The gentleman looks at me, smiles, and saves "Kick save ... and a beauty!" My first thought was he had a pretty good voice and could probably do some announcing. Once in the elevator, he turns and says "Everybody in?" It's at this point I realize something. I know that voice. I looked up and recognized his face. I was sharing an elevator with BRENT FREAKING MUSBERGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I pulled myself together for a second and asked "Are you ... um ... Brent Musberger?" He politely responded yes and we shook hands. In order to not become a blubbering idiot, I did not say much more and the ride was for 1 floor. *sigh* I was this (---> <----) close to become a screaming little girl, but I held it together. I couldn't help but smile for the rest of the drive home. *another happy sigh*. Stay tuned for scenes from our fascinating trip to Baltimore very very soon.