Halloween and a getaway

For all the build-up in Emery's little mind about Halloween, I think it lived up to its fame. For weeks, even months, she was certain she would be her "blue ballerina," which is her favorite dress-up costume that she wears nearly everyday. I wasn't about to tell her that most kids get new costumes or have their moms make them something!

Handing out candy was almost as much fun, if not more, than peddling for some herself, though encounters with scary masks forced Emery to cover her eyes while still graciously offering a Kit Kat.

Then, over the weekend, Matt and I were able to get away for a night while Grammie tended to the girls. We did quite a bit of hiking and I felt quite a bit pregnant catching my breath up the hills. I also felt quite a bit pregnant when my chicken salad sandwich at lunch just wasn't good enough (I'm sure it was fine!) and I sent it back to the kitchen with no appetite for a re-do and then pouted at my lunch of french fries.

The fall colors were glorious, as was the peace and quiet and what seemed like a decadent number of extra hours to sleep, considering that we turned the clocks back on Saturday night AND traveled to the Central Time Zone! Now that's a 24-hour vacation worth repeating.

To Michigan and back

As usual, we headed up to Michigan for the 4th of July week. This year we drove and leaned heavily on digital entertainment for keeping the girls quiet and happy during the 10-plus hour drive. I decided that portable DVD players and iPads are like epidurals - though generations previous never had them and got along fine without, if they could do it over again, they'd take the DVD player ... and the epidural.

I'm happy to say the girls did wonderfully in the car. In fact, I think they even have been whining more at home this week than they did in the car. What's that all about? Isn't there some kind of "everything is new again and I'm going to be happy and easily entertained at home for a least a week" thing that's supposed to happen when you get home from vacation?

I guess not. Anyway, here are a few snapshots of our week:

This was taken almost as soon as we arrived - we simply moved Anna Kimball from the prison that was her carseat into an almost equally torturous lifejacket ... and she didn't mind one bit! So happy to be outside and on the water I think.

Chairs are a BIG obsession these days ...

Stopping for a sweet treat ...

On this cool, rainy afternoon I went down to the little beach Matt's parents have set up by the lake and found Emery in nothing but her underwear singing "Jesus Loves Me" to a pile of sand. Totally normal, right?

Our bottomless pit adored our favorite restaurant in Fenton, demolishing her french toast faster than you can say "We love Michigan in the summertime!"

The water table provided plenty of entertainment and also helped Anna Kimball with standing and sitting on her own.

All of us!

Other highlights of the trip included Anna Kimball learning to climb up and down the stairs, and then realizing she would rather be carried since all that climbing is too much work, finishing strong in the Fenton Firecracker 5K only to be bested by a high school freshman who sprinted past me at the end, getting an overnight with Matt at the Detroit Athletic Club, enjoying my first cronut and eating way too much ice cream. Or wait, maybe that's not possible?

To Virginia and back

The girls and I just returned from a week in Charlottesville at Henny and Papa's new house. I still marvel at the fact that we flew there and back without any notable incidents other than the stroller falling over with Anna Kimball in it as we exited the family restroom at the Charlotte airport.

Before the trip I prayed for many helping hands and a grateful heart and the prayer was answered over and over again. I felt particularly humbled when I inwardly (and hopefully not audibly) grunted at the lovey-dovey young married couple snuggling in front of us on the plane because I was sure I had seen the wife give us a dirty look for disturbing their romantic ride ... and then of course she was the first to ask me if I needed help getting off the plane.

Our time with Henny and Papa was wonderfully full of repetition, in that we went to the pool constantly, rested frequently, ate gelato nightly, and delighted in the girls' antics hourly.

Enjoying a layover in Charlotte, during which a fellow traveler offered to buy me a cup of coffee. Oh how I wanted that cup, but the risk of juggling a hot beverage with a wriggly infant and trying to avoid too many trips to the restroom demanded that I politely decline.

Emery's first time in a baby pool!

Synchronized kickers!

Anna Kimball's perch for much of the week.

Emery's first real tea party.

Emery loves her Papa ... didn't even mind that Henny, Uncle Austin and I were driving away to go out to dinner!

She charmed us with smiles all week long, despite a terribly runny nose that she graciously shared with her hosts.

Emery's second real tea party!

Cruising with cousin Tucker.

The first of many baths together!

Headed home, but we'll be back again soon!

Fun in Michigan

We recently returned from a week in Fenton, MI, where Matt's parents now live fulltime on a lake. I hesitate to call any journey a vacation when it's with an infant who thought she was on a cruise ship and entitled to twice or thrice nightly buffets, and a toddler prone to whining and impeccable at waking for the day at 5:54 on the nose .... BUT there was much about our time that was vacation-like, including a shopping spree for me (thank you, Grammie!), plenty of delicious meals both in and out, too many ice cream cones to count, free babysitting and lots of time in the sun, water and sand.

What? You don't eat waffles with peanut butter at 6:11am with umbrella toothpicks, a sunhat, a giraffe and a monkey? 

You should start, it's really quite fun!

Anna Kimball lasted about seven minutes in her new swimsuit, but in her defense, it really was quite hot. She still managed to look adorable despite the heat - would that I could say the same for myself!

And here she is again, getting in the spirit for the 4th!

Little Miss Anna Kimball isn't quite so little actually, and so we decided to give solids a go a bit before the 6 month mark. She doesn't mind!

And finally, our little swimmer, who is getting so very brave in the water, whether she's in a lake with fishies or a pool with, well, lots of chlorine and rowdy boys.

Thanks for all the fun and memories, Grammie and Grandpa - we will be back!

What a nice weekend

Judging from the photos that follow, you'd think Anna Kimball didn't join us on our Memorial Day weekend in Black Mountain, NC, but I assure you, she was there! See, she's in the first group shot, which was somewhat candid, somewhat posed. I really like the imperfection of it all.

We were with Henny and Papa, Uncle Austin and Aunt Jackie and cousins Tucker and Molly for four nights and three days of fun, attempts and some successes at relaxation and sleep, lots of laughing and much delighting in the kids' antics and bonding.

Always happy to be "up high" with Daddy.

Marching proudly toward the most idyllic park/playground we've ever been to.

Almost never without her shades.

Tickled to be with her Henny!

Thrilled to be having breakfast with Tucker!

He is a miracle child who apparently "presents well" according to his pediatrician. Tucker suffered bouts of vomiting and fevers throughout the entire weekend but you never would have known it. His spirits were as high as could be, he even ate heartily most of the time and declared the car ride up, during which he fell ill, as "just the best!"

We were concerned that Emery and Molly might feel threatened by one another, being so close in age and at rather egocentric ages I might add. Not the case! They weren't inseparable by any means, but they did enjoy one another's company and even shared toys.

And, blessing of all blessings, Emery even fell asleep on the car ride home. 

I'm still embarrassed and astonished I don't have more (any?) pictures of Anna Kimball. Will have to rectify this soon!

Back from Charlottesville

This past week, while Matt went backpacking in CA, Emery and I hightailed it up to Charlottesville to spend some time with Henny and Papa, Uncle Austin and Aunt Jackie, and of course Tucker and Molly (to Emery, Tucker is "Tu-KEH," as well as one of her new idols).

No time to post much now, but here's a snapshot of the cousins picking peaches ... well, really riding along in the wagon enjoying peaches while the rest of us picked them.

More to come later, hopefully!

An Annapolis getaway

As if we hadn't had enough vacation in Michigan, Emery and I pulled out the suitcases (actually, we just left them out between trips - too lazy to unpack and repack in less than one week) again and headed up to Annapolis for a week. A week of me doing almost nothing, and Emery having a ball, soaking up all the attention and new surroundings and toys. I think vacation suits her well - she learned quite a few new words, rarely fussed and now plays peek-a-boo (or, as she would say, "peeta-boo!") like a champ.

Perhaps we have a golf fan on our hands - as soon as the British Open came on, Emery exclaimed, "WOW!"

Papa quickly became one of Emery's favorite people, probably because he never tires of playing with her. She would call for him all throughout the house and was especially grateful when he brought her a banana breakfast in bed.

Henny really wants Emery to love dolls, and I think Emery gave it her best effort, but this photo can't conceal her lack of interest I'm afraid.

Even though I recently cancelled Emery's morning nap, she did manage to work in an a.m. snooze almost everyday in Annapolis!

I've never taken Emery to the mall to play before, but since the Annapolis Mall has a new, very clean play zone, we gave it a try, much to Emery's delight. And if the dog days of August are as hot as I think they'll be, well, we just might be giving it a try at our mall, too.

Emery always eats well at Henny and Papa's, with a yogurt mustache to prove it!

20-some hours in Detroit ... and a little news!

As promised, here's a rundown (in the style of the New York Times' "36 Hours in 'fill-in-the-city-of-your-choice") of how Matt and I spent 20-some hours in downtown Detroit, sans Emery.

Thursday
12:12pm - Lunch at Slow's BBQ. It's become a real Detroit fixture, the restaurant that always appears in newspaper/magazine articles heralding the comeback of Motor City. I'm no BBQ conessiuer, but I think they're doing something right at Slow's. Usually there's a 2 hour wait. Fortunately the Thursday lunch crowd isn't so crazy, and we were able to get a table outside without any wait.

1:42pm - After leaving Slow's, we noticed a new coffee bar right next door, and by new, I mean really new - like not opening until two days after our visit.  Sad. But I had this memory of there being good coffee at Good Girls Go to Paris Crepes, so we hopped on over there after lunch at Slow's ... sadly, my memory deceived me. The coffee was just OK, and though this crepe looks delicious, it actually was not so great. My word of advice for anyone wanting to try one of their dessert crepes is don't get one with their watery chocolate sauce - make sure it's got something more substantial, like melted chocolate chips or Nutella.

2:02pm - After subpar crepes and coffee, we headed over to Belle Isle to check out its arboreteum. I know about as much about arboreteums as I do about BBQ, so I can't really make a fair assessment of this one. It was a nice diversion, though, and I really liked the lily pad pond. As well as the fact that it was then that I realized that if this was a "normal" date for us, it would probably be ending right about now - but we actually had 18 or so hours left!

Here's a picture of me in front of the lily pond.  Notice anything?

How about in this pic?

I have a belly!  And it's not from BBQ and crepes - it's a baby! Due January 17. Does this getaway count as our babymoon? I hope not!!

3:00pm - Checked in at the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit, a historic hotel recently renovated by Westin. At this point our adventures in Detroit came to a finish for the day. We would have been crazy to waste time outside when we could be taking advantage of rare peace and quiet, a toy-free bedroom and the chance to read and nap uninterrupted for a long as we chose!  We also had dinner at the the Spa 1924 Grille, and of course the most enticing items on the menu were off-limits for me - a Caesar salad with raw egg dressing, loads of shellfish offerings, wines, etc. But my wild mushroom ravioli turned out to be pretty amazing:

Friday

6:46am - You call this sleeping in?!  Ugh. But we were awake, since we're normally up even earlier than this, so we accepted it for what it was and took a run along the Detroit Riverwalk, which is in great condition and not crowded at all, which I guess speaks to the downtown population right now, but hopefully things are making a turn for the better, what with the Whole Foods opening downtown! That's major good news.

10:00am - Breakfast at the Russell Street Deli, a favorite spot of ours. At this point we're both feeling so rested and rejuvenated that thoughts of Emery begin creeping back into our head (who am I kidding?  I was thinking about her all the time!!)

We spent the rest of the day outside the city of Detroit, so my travel-log ends here. Though here's a shot of Emery on the boat with Grammie and Grandpa, on her way to see us upon our return. I can't get enough of her in her sunhat and lifejacket!!

So happy to be back in Daddy's arms!

Thank you Grammie and Grandpa Doescher for treating us to such a fabulous getaway, and for taking such great care of Emery!  Want to do it again sometime? (soon?? :) )