best january ever

So January has traditionally been my worst month. 

There was Janaury 2006 where were the naive parents of a pre-mature baby who wasn't getting enough to eat and we took off caffeine cold turkey. He cried for the entire month. (That was also the year WVU won the Sugar Bowl and that seems to be all that Ben remembers about January 2006.) 

There was January 2011 where were still adjusting to life in Morgantown and we circulated every gross pre-k germ Ted picked up at school. The 4 of us were sick all month long. That month also included a dentist pulling one of Ben's teeth that ended up being the wrong tooth and the one next to it ended in a root canal. We've never been sicker than that month.

Then there was January 2014. That was one for the record books. There were 11 days of school that month. 10 snow days. And a few regularly scheduled holidays. There too many days below 0 degrees to remember.  And at least one storm that left us under at least a foot of snow and a wet basement when it all melted. Things were bad that January.

Then came January 2015. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. We had two trips planned. We knew we would be on the home stretch of our sabbatical. I didn't know what sort of shape Ben would be in by that time, and neither did he to be honest. But it turned out to be the best. We did Seven Springs. Puerto Rico. St. Lucia. And had a great month with the kids.  

They had one snow day that was a perfect amount of snow and just around 30 degrees. We headed out to the Kozels and did some sledding on the huge hill behind their house. It was a super fun day and we all played outside. (No pics from that day. Too much fun in the snow.)

We took the kids to see Annie. I really liked it. I read lots of reviews by people who have adopted or fostered that were kind of mixed. But we really liked it. The best part was that we went to the 4pm Super Matinee (super cheap tickets all around), got the refillable bucket AND had the entire theater to ourselves. Jackpot.

We celebrated my birthday.  Ben got on Pinterest recently for some new recipes and found this cake.

Death by Chocolate Cake:

made from scratch chocolate cake and icing

chocolate chips on the sides

snickers, twix, kit kat and something else on top

drizzle with melted chocolate

The thing weighed 20 pounds and it was a 3:1 ratio on the glasses of milk to the slice of cake.

We took some to the Kozels and Lily really enjoyed it. 

The girls had a pj date night while the boys had practice.

Naps on the couch.

Ben got me Brad Paisley tickets for my birthday. He kicked off his new tour in Morgantown. Great concert. We went to see him in 2002 or 2003 (our best guess) after his first album. Bethany went that year way back when and was there the night we went too.

We (well Ben) painted the kitchen. It was a JOB. The walls were terrible and required a lot of work to get them looking anywhere near good. I had painted lots of different sample colors friends had given me. Which always helps speed along the process. He finished about 6 hours before we caught our plane to St. Lucia.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the kids got to spend some time with sweet baby Reed while they were in New Martinsville. I think this is one of the cutest pictures ever - the boys looking at each other.

Evidently he was a little cranky that day so they have yet to hold him. They still like him though.

Ted is learning new things around the house, including filling up the windshield washer fluid in the van. He also learned about jumping a car battery when our van battery was dead as a doornail. I think it was actually right after this that they got in the van and it wouldn't start. Next up, putting air in the tires.

 

So there you have it. Back to reality and work tomorrow as we head to Oglebay for one of our favorite weekends of the year.

st lucia 2015

So after Puerto Rico, we came home for a week, celebrated my 35th birthday, went to see Brad Paisley kick off his new tour, painted the kitchen, played with the kids and got on a plane to go to St. Lucia for a week. We really don't ever travel like this and it was almost hard to tell people that we were leaving our kids again. But this was a trip that we planned strategically to celebrate our 15th anniversary (a few months early) and the end of our sabbatical. Some very generous friends helped make this trip possible.

We traveled on a plane full of newlyweds.  It was pretty impressive how many there were actually. It was fun hearing them talk about colors and flowers and wedding planners and such. Listening to all the conversations around me, I thought about the song "Then" by Brad Paisley. We both love that song: "We've come so far since that day. And I thought I loved you then." True.

We had the BEST week. I think partly because we didn't need to spend the whole time resting. We've rested and I wasn't about to lay on a beach chair the whole time to get a tan that would be gone in a week when I got home and put on my sweaters and boots. So we played. We did some lounging and reading (I read the best book!), but we also ziplined, swam, snorkeled, sailed, kayaked,  got massages, ate, drank lots of boat drinks, and had the best time together. We laughed, we cried, we talked about the most significant things in these years - good and bad. It was truly the trip of a lifetime for us. 

I uploaded a bunch of pictures in no particular order:

Every morning I opened my eyes to this view from my BED. (Add in some waves crashing in the background and that equals perfection!)

 

The view from our breakfast table. The the ocean behind the pool.

You have to take a feet picture at the beach. 

Continuing with my country music theme, many times during the week I thought of the Zac Brown Band song "Toes" that says:

"Toes in the water,

Ass is the sand,

Not a worry in the world,

Cold beer (or boat drink) in my hand.

Life is good today."

Sorry, but not really, if that offends you.

The resort where we were was like a little village - kind of spread out and super cute. It was fun to walk around to get to restaurants, pools and different views of the sunset.

Mimosas for breakfast. Five years ago I went to Clearwater with Adrienne and Stacy for a girls weekend and we had "Mimosa Monday." Thought of them every day.

The most gorgeous sunsets every single night.

Ben bought himself a new hat. I'm still looking for a beach hat. The search continues.

We stayed in one of these blue buildings. We had a room on the top with a great porch. Loved it. It was perfect.

There was a lot of outdoor eating which meant birds. Ben survived . . . barely!

We did the Zipline Tour. Super fun! We had the best guide who took videos and pictures for us and even went tandom with me a couple of times. He just held on to Ben's cell phone and did all the work so we didn't have to. Loved it.

Marvin - our guide extraordinaire!

Lots of cruise ships in and out of the bay.

Ben playing Bill Hybels as the sailboat guru.

We bought a life proof case for Ben's phone which is super fun!

We were able to go to the two other resorts on the same island. The beach at our resort was red flagged a lot with bog waves. It made for great noise at night but not so much play during the day. So several days we spent at the other resort with crystal clear water and the best beach. That's where we sailed, kayaked and swam.

The view was much prettier through Ben's polarized sunglasses so we tried to take some pictures through them. Didn't work so well.

We came home to this nonsense. But the only good thing about leaving the beach - no humidity. My hair still has several more months to look decent before humidity season hits again. So I'll take what I can get in the way of feeling better about cold weather.

A big huge thank you to our parents who split the week keeping the kids. And Joanna who helped out on the snow day for the Puerto Rico trip. We realize that not everyone has parents close enough or willing to keep their kids so they can go on fantastic adventures. Thank you to all of you for being so gracious and for making memories with your grandkids.

We've lived out of our suitcases since Christmas and we've still got more to go. But we're sticking to the continental US from here on out. Best January ever.