Naturally Optimistic

Okay  - so it wasn't "vacation," but it might as well have been. My kids got to hang out with cousins & grandparents, eat popcorn every day, go have fun "Sassy Strawberry" frozen yogurt treats, make craft projects, play with video games (Dahlia is seriously ridiculously good at Wii bowling - what the heck?!?0, get spoiled by grandparents, see Great Grandma (what an excellent 'title'); there were train tracks, board games, super-yummy meals, sleeping over (in Mommy's bed - SHOCKING!), ETC. We love going to Grandma & Grandpa's house. We played, created, enjoyed, indulged, etc. And then I had to drive home. Bahhhhhhh. I absolutely LOVE my parents. And my sister. And her kids (duh, of course my family/kids). We have so much fun. I feel a TAD BIT like I'm a lazy loser as my Mom & Dad prepare food, activities, etc while I 'zone out' and knit or run errands or whatever....but seriously - we all love it. If my kids constit...

I'm a big failure! UGH! One 12-hour period slips into one day slips into two days slips into practically a week. No blogging. I am lame. I have been doodling more, does that count? Also....just booked 4 plane tickets to AZ for a winter family vacation - yay!!! Can't wait! The end. I'll try to be less lame tomorrow.

Two weeks ago, Steve & I went away. It was heaven. We originally were going to drive to Minneapolis on Sunday to drop off our kids with my parents...but since the big storm was coming we all decided that traveling on Saturday was a better option. So we packed up & drove down on Saturday. We met my sister & her family & did the swap-a-roo with the kids. I tried really hard not to cry after leaving them, but it didn't work. I'd never been away from August before & all the usual irrational Mama-feelings started coming out: "what if he doesn't remember me when we get back?" "What if he's mad at me & won't come to me?" "What if something happens to him?" Dahlia? She can hold her own, I know this, but my little baby August? You get the idea....Luckily I started to feel better as we pulled into IKEA. Because what makes me feel better than child-free browsing at IKEA? Again, our original plan was to go up to Bluefin Bay ...

Fishing with Grandpa - Paddling on the lake in the canoe - Hanging around & Smiling - Decorating cupcakes for the 'birthday party' - playing with cousins - Just chillin' We went to a lake home my folks rented in Frederic, WI. We were there the first part of the week, my sister & her tribe the 2nd part. We overlapped on Wednesday to have a "Teddy Bear Picnic" & celebrate mine & Kathy's birthdays. It was fun. But DAMN steamy!!

I'm finally mostly caught up on emails, messages, paying bills etc...so time for a little vacation recap: Saturday - we flew from Duluth to Mpls then to Tampa. We were nervous about Dahlia...but she did great! Peek-a-boo with the passengers behind us, fell asleep on the runway on the 'long' flight...woke up in a great mood & enjoyed the Sky Mall catalog. Got to the island around dinner time...so didn't do much. Picked up a few supplies, ate dinner, marveled at how warm it was (& humid!) and that was it. Sunday - Rained all night - thunderstorms. It rained on Sunday too - but not too much. We went for a walk with Grandpa H. We went to the beach. We swam in the pool. Dahlia LOVED the pool. A lot. Monday - I'm sure we went for a walk & we went swimming (amazing how fast it becomes hazy!). Oh yes, Steve & I walked with Dahlia on the beach. We saw lots of beautiful birds. We went swimming in the ocean - Dahlia had no fear, would've crawled right in ha...

vacation is exhausting...particularly with a toddler...one that gets sick. Ay yi yi! I feel like I need a vacation from vacation! Dahlia's fine. She just had a little bug, no biggie. But it made her very hot, whiny & clingy. Oh well, we got through it. She traveled *fairly well* except for our Tampa-Detroit flight but again, we made it through. I'm in the process of getting photos & video uploaded and will have more soon. In the meantime...one of my favorites from the trip:

* My legs are so frickin' sore I can barely walk down the stairs or sit down on a chair. Ay yi yi. Apparently I NEVER ever use those muscles. Awesome. *We bought a SWEET new hi-def camcorder last night. It's been on our "list" since Dahlia was born and since we leave for vacation tomorrow & got a nice tax refund...it was time. It is TINY. I love it. I can't wait to take some video. *I'm on the last chapter of the last TWILIGHT book. I think I'm reading it really slowly because I don't want it to end. Argh! *We leave for Florida tomorrow! We're staying at my in-laws condo (where we honeymooned) with them. They are driving down and picking us up at the airport. It's a cheap vacay for us - we used frequent flyer miles for the flight, we aren't renting a car, we aren't paying for a place to stay...sweet! We plan on sitting at the beach, kayaking, sitting at the beach and more sitting at the beach. I hope Dahlia is a good flyer!!!!! I...

So March is going to be full of travel for me.... Fargo Austin, TX and now - FLORIDA! We've decided to join Steve's Mom & her SO at their condo for a week. It is a cheap vacation for us - we used our frequent flyer miles for plane tickets, they're driving so they're going to pick us up at the airport (no need for a rental car) and since we're staying with them at their condo - no hotel costs! We just figured when are we going to get such a cheap vacation? Plus it's a nice two bedroom two bath condo that it'll be *easy* to have Dahlia at. There's a pool, it's a block from the beach....and since they're driving we can *hopefully* load them up with a pack & play, high chair, jogger (?) etc. And we'll have built-in babysitters if we want to do something sans baby. We honeymooned here in 2006 and it was one of the most relaxing vacations I can remember. Of course it'll be different this time but I think it's definitely something we...

Our travels to Southern California were a success! Okay, okay, I admit, I was sort of a crying mess when I finally let my Dad pull away with Dahlia in the backseat on Thursday at the airport, but once I got over that, things got better. (that being said I can't count the number of times during our trip when Steve or I said "Oh Dahlia" in that little voice that we do....) We got to the airport with plenty of time, checked in, relaxed and waited. Our flights were on schedule, no hassles, exit row seating and we landed without incident 4 hours later. It was so WEIRD to be back in LA! I felt like I was in the twilight zone in a way. I remembered how to get where we were going, but it was just sort of surreal. Our hotel was nice - an old 50's "California style" apartment complex which is now a hotel. It was nice to have a lot of space instead of just ONE ROOM. And for the price, it was okay. Nothing is cheap out there so why not spend $20 more and have some brea...

Yup - 5:28am...the babe is fed & dressed, we're mostly packed and shortly on our way. Bye!

So we're leaving for CA tomorrow and quite frankly I have mixed emotions... For one, I'm TOTALLY squishy...and yes, I know, I had a baby 3 months ago so no one will hold it against me - except me. I don't like it. I don't fit into *normal* clothes and all my t-shirts are so shrunk up from years (decades? yes, I found a t-shirt from college in my dresser today...) that with my new large mid-section they DEFINITELY don't fit. So I had to go shopping today for a few casual but in style short sleeved shirts and I was nearly in tears in Old Navy. I found a few things that looked better at Penney's but MAN it's depressing. I'm trying to adhere by the WHAT NOT TO WEAR mantra of who cares what the size is as long as it looks good and makes you feel good but seriously? I'm not happy. The other thing is...I'm going to miss my baby. It's weird. I've been with her nearly ALL of her life and while I know I will enjoy getting away, sleeping in, having ...

The last day of vacation was truly not relaxing. Up at 5am Dusseldorf time (11pm CDT), ate a lovely buffet breakfast - we ate a lot because hey - you never know when you're traveling when you'll be able to eat again! (that's how it feels sometimes anyway). Left for the airport at 7am. Checked in and got WORLD BUSINESS CLASS again - whohoo! We were told we could wait for our flight in the AirFrance club lounge - but it wasn't in our terminal so we skipped it. But oooh la ti dah! We felt very important. ha. Our flight was delayed (!!!) because although they FIXED our plane they neglected to clean it and empty the toilets...what? *sigh* Upon boarding we were given vouchers from Northwest for 2000 bonus miles plus a $10 airport voucher...which was nice because we were going to have 7 or 8 hours to kill in Detroit. The flight was good - filled with a lot of fancy foods (we actually kind of like the coach food better than the fancy-pants business class food but oh well - we d...

We had to get up at 3am on Wednesday to leave their house by 4-4:15am or so so we could make it to the airport by 5-5:15 or so so we could leave at 7am. Ugh. I was so tired. I was also super surprised that all of our stuff fit into our two suitcases. Whew. Bertil & Maud drove us to the airport and waited with us through checking in. Then we said farewell. It was weird and a little sad...it was so nice to visit them and spend some quality time with them, but at the same time I was really looking forward to getting home too. Our flight from Stockholm to Dusseldorf was uneventful. I think I slept for most of it which was nice, although I could've used MORE sleep. Always. We got to Dusseldorf before 9am and we had to go out and then re-check in at the Northwest counter. But the Northwest counter wasn't open yet so we just hung around and waited until it was. We were the first ones in line because really? There was no place else to go. We checked in and proceeded to the gate. We...

Our last day in Sweden was extremely pleasant. It didn't rain (which was nice) and we had an easy going day. Not a lot of running around and not NEARLY as much walking as the day before. We slept in (sort of) and once again Bertil made us some delicious (Swedish) pancakes. Bertil & Maud then asked us what we really wanted to do - and I said - I REALLY want to go to some royal gardens. So off to Drottningholm Palace we went! Drottningholm Palace is where the royal family currently lives (there are 10 or 11 palaces throughout Sweden, I believe. Most of them in the south). This palace is on a (drivable) island not too far from Stockholm's city center. It took us maybe 20-30 minutes to drive to. The palace was built in the 1760s (if memory serves) by a Queen and has been partially "updated" over the years. Some rooms we saw were more of the original style (Baroque) while others had been updated (Roccoco). It was nice to get a glimpse inside although we could take n...