A Trip to the Frozen Tundra

Do you know how it feels to go from Florida to snowy Virginia in January? 

Cold. 

When I booked a trip to see Brooke and meet her sweet baby, the part of my brain that was supposed to remind me that it was going to be cold was stubbornly refusing to work. A week before the trip, I checked the weather and realized that oh yeah - it's not just a mild winter - I live in FLORIDA where it is warm and everywhere else is cold. 

That's just a preface to tell you that not only was the week cold, it was COLD. And windy, which to me adds an extra dose of unpleasant to already unpleasant temperatures. We are both from Beaufort, so despite both of us having lived in cold climates before, we spent most of our time indoors, which was fine by me. You get to catch up and cuddle babies more that way anyway. 

Here's my view from the window of the plane. A plane which was so tiny that they wheeled little stairs up and we had to go outside before shivering into the warm airport. Welcome to Washington, DC indeed. 

Brooke and a sleeping baby were waiting in the pickup line for me, and my bag was the first one off the carousel (that's a first). I got to take in baby Clayton's sweet snoozing self for a second before we we were off to their home.

Brooke and I ventured out that evening for supplies for the baby's nursery.

And I got lots of time to snuggle with Clayton. He fell asleep on me very soon after we met, which is basically my favorite thing ever.

The next day was really cold, so we didn't even plan to venture outside. We cuddled with the baby, ate a late breakfast, did a little crafting, and just spent time inside.

We also bathed the baby, which taught us a valuable lesson - do not bathe a sleepy, hungry baby. He looks happy here, but it really wasn't enjoyable for him.

We exchange gifts each year and decided to wait until I visited to do it in person (and save on shipping). Clayton helped.

While Momma got ready the next morning, Clayton and I hung out by the window. I'm pretty sure it's his favorite spot, because whenever he'd fuss, if I brought him to the window, he'd just stop and stare and coo. His little facial expressions are just adorable.

We went to Tyson's Corner, a huge mall not too far from where Brooke lives. Clayton fell asleep in the car on the way there at about 1:45 and when we returned after 7, he was STILL asleep. That's the way to say we shopped for a long time and had no idea he could sleep so long in a public place.

 At the mall, we took our "year" picture, which should probably have been more embarrassing. I heard people whisper "Are they taking a picture?" as they walked past, confused.

The next day, we went to the Reston Town Center, which is right across the street. In the summer, it's an easy walk, but this was winter, and it was windy and the sidewalks were covered with snow and there was a baby involved - and let's be honest, we probably would have driven anyway. No pictures, but I thought it was so cute and would love to explore when it's warm. I'll have to come again.

Once upon a time when we both lived in Beaufort, we made Rice Krispy treats for the fall festival. We think of it as a tradition, but we only did it twice, and then we both moved away and it's been over seven years since the last time. Anyway, because it was tradition and because they just sounded good, we made some. Brooke caught the marshmallows in her mouth easily, and I didn't try because we would have needed to run out for more marshmallows.

We worked on the sailboat mobile for Clayton's room. It didn't get finished before I left, but I have every confidence that Brooke will be able to complete it, despite the protests that she isn't crafty.

Saturday morning, I got some more baby cuddles in and we snuck in some episodes of How I Met Your Mother, which Brooke is trying to finish.

We braved the 16 degree back porch for a picture sans coats.

And I got a Kauffman family Christmas picture, complete with smiling baby.

Brooke dropped me off at the airport and I sailed through security, where they let me keep my jacket and shoes on and just go through a metal detector. It was so easy and strange to me.

I did have to wait outside to get on the tiny plane. I'm so thankful that it was sunny. I checked the weather there and the "feels like" was 5 degrees. Brrrr.

Carson picked me up and we went to a Chilis for dinner. It had a kiosk where you can pay from your table and play games. We played Life.

Happy 2015!

We didn't do anything planned or super fun for New Year's Eve this year. It sort of slipped through the cracks. Since it was on a Wednesday, there wasn't anything we could really think of TO do that we would actually enjoy. I worked until 6pm, then came home and sat on the couch in sweats.

Carson went out for Chinese food at my behest, and I decided to wear my sequinny dress from Deanna just to look festive, even if we weren't going to do anything. I turned on one of the countdown shows on the TV and we watched that and ate our food. Right after I took this picture of us dressed up (I thought the tie on Carson would be funny) I put the sweats back on. We sat on the couch and talked and watched the different countdowns and after the clock struck 12, we said "Happy New Year!" and toasted to silly things for the coming year before going to bed because I had to work early on New Year's Day.

Our one tradition for the first of the year is to go to Taco Bell, which we did. We each got a taco thing and I had cinnamon twists. I wouldn't call us big fans of Taco Bell, but in 2010, we went to Taco Bell on New Year's Eve and resolved not to eat it for all of 2011. And you know what? Saying we weren't going to a place we don't routinely go seemed like a great idea, but all of 2011 we LONGED for Taco Bell. It smelled good, it looked good. We forgot that we don't even like it in real life. So on New Year's Day 2012, we had Taco Bell again and what do you know? It wasn't awesome. But that's our tradition each year - to go to Taco Bell. We haven't bothered to resolve not to go since, but I'm pretty sure we didn't go once in 2014.

After eating that stuff, we settled in for a long winter's nap - or rather, we worked on the puzzle we'd been working on for a few weeks. Carson found this puzzle mat that has an inflatable tube that allows you to roll up your unfinished puzzle to work on it later and it's pretty great. But we finally finished it that weekend AND took down our tree on January 2. So way to rock the new year, Bay family. Way to rock it.

Christmas, Part Two

"No time like the present", we said the day after Christmas as we tried to decide what to do. We didn't actually say that, but we did decide to go to Charleston just because. Dad had to work and Scott had something going on too, so just Mom, Carson and I went. We left the king and queen at home to do their thing. 

We made a few stops to return things and to look for something at a craft store before going downtown. We browsed King Street, ate at a Mediterranean restaurant, and then split up. Carson went to explore the College of Charleston campus, and took these pictures with his phone (generously edited by Mom on the way home). 

And my old boss from Cleveland lives in Charleston now and works at one of the stores downtown, so I had to stop by and say hello to him! Neither of us miss the Cleveland winters.

 Carson turned into a photographer after that, as we meandered back to the car.

Becca spent the night and we all watched Home Alone together. Here's our "life meets art" shot from the evening.

Oscar the next morning. He despises cold. 

Carson and I had other plans which changed and allowed us to explore downtown Beaufort. I have done this a thousand times in high school and very little of it has changed, but it's always fun to see what's different, what's new, and to show things to Carson. 

Here's what downtown Beaufort looks like. I need to find a map like this but more details for Carson... he gets confused because of how the town is set up - directions don't make sense.

We stopped by to see Dad at work (this was my first real job too!) and they let him go early, so we left Carson to find his own way home while Dad and I went joyriding and then eventually made it home. Carson snapped these of the sky from Dad's work.

We went to church the next morning and I was able to catch up with Jillian, who's only a month or so away from giving birth (not that you can even tell she's pregnant in this picture - why do I have friends like this?).

On our way back, we stopped at a rest area that had a welcome to Florida sign! I was pumped because I'd TRIED to get Carson to stop for a picture by one on our move. He wouldn't because we were driving that huge moving truck (which makes sense, but still). If only I'd have known we didn't have to risk dying on the highway to get that picture. Oh well. Now I have it.

Oh, it was 82 degrees at the moment I took that picture. Who even needs a white Christmas when you've got sunshine and green grass?!