Overdue Updates (Part 1)

Overdue Updates (1)


First off, I am so sorry that I have been "away" for the past 5 months...my excuse is that we have not yet created a smooth system of getting pictures from the camera, to the computer, into an album and then uploaded on to the blog...my bad.

Last time I blogged, I had shared that we had taken our second tropical trip of the year to Aruba with Nate's family.  It has been 6 months since that trip and 5 months since I have blogged.  I am 'bouts to drop mad photo bombs to catch everyone up on the happenings of the McClure/Grahek clan within these past several months.  Thanks for being patient and I hope to make it back on to some of your google reader subscriptions again.  I promised more pics from Aruba, so here they are:

Hot and sexy mohawk compliments of sunscreen and pool water

our back patio and pool

Lovin the high life

What we basically did every day...all day

kitchen, dining area, living room with lofted ceilings

she loves her auntie Maddy :)

Mia and her "cocktail"

I loved this outfit, can you tell?

Baby Beach

mmmm, yummy nights out

such a tough day

I promise those were non-alcoholic popsicles

Thank you Aruba for a wonderful time!

The plan in Aruba was for my sister-in-law and I NOT to be pregnant, to live it up and have a blast.  Both of us had planned on getting trying to get pregnant when we got home from Aruba.  My BIL and SIL got a little excited and it turns out, Mads was about 9 weeks pregnant when we were in Aruba, whoops!  AND....she was horribly sick :(  I felt bad for her, but felt great for me who got to indulge on this trip....because things were about to change BIG TIME in the next week.....(cont.)

Aruba in April

I know I'll only get 50% credit for such a late post, but I figure it's better late than never. I also apologize in advance because this post will be only cover a FRACTION of the awesome photos we captured on our recent family trip to Aruba. My hubby has yet to "dump"/upload his pic so that I can share them on this blog. We all the photos are ready, I promise I will share more.

So...yes, we took ANOTHER beach/warm weather vacation this year and this time, it was with Nate's dad, step mom, brother and our sister-in-law. There was much debate on whether we would go on a trip this year, but we all made it happen and here are a FEW shots from the week in Aruba:

This is the view of our kitchen/dining area complete with lofted ceilings...living room area is to the right, rooms to the rear and outside patio and pool behind the view

Our room (Nate and Molly's), connected to a share full bathroom for "the kids"

Mia slept in a bonus "media" room

She LOVES her chap stick! She got in to the grape flavored nasty purple stuff and used it as make-up

Walking with daddy on our last dinner on the beach

one view at the "Last Supper" we had

Nate enjoyed setting up some shots from different views...that's us eating on the beach :)

Before dinner photo shoot in front of our huge tree in our back yard...the boys played bocce ball here many times

Notice Nate's nasty scary man mustache...Mia wasn't sure she wanted to kiss him

She'd kiss mommy though!

Mia with "Coco and G"

As I said, I'll try and follow up with some more Aruba Pics as soon as I can. It was a wonderful trip, we had never been to Aruba before. In general, we typically ate breakfast and lunch at home and ate out most of the nights. We had lots of surf and turf items and of course the crowd pleaser: lobster bisque. The accommodations were wonderful and the housekeepers were amazing. I might have picked a different location of the island to stay at; however, I can't complain because I didn't do any of the work looking for spots and I just got to enjoy the ride. I don't feel compelled to go back there anytime soon, but I must say the airport experience was seamless.

This so-called-spring has been busy with work and I have no time to really slack off anymore and blog. I'll try my best to fit this in when I can :)

Routines, Habits and Traditions: a random rant

Routine: Webster says (God I miss that show) that routine is a regular course of procedure. Becoming a mom, I feel I have gained a whole new appreciation for the routines that I grew up with and ones I have now created. Kids don't like to admit it, but they need routine. I believe it helps them anticipate outcomes, predict a stable environment and understand consequences of thoughts and behaviors. In my experience growing up and now raising a child, I have all the evidence I need to continue to create and implement consistent routines.

Habits: Again, that little cute Webster says that a habit is a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior. I guess then, the ultimate goal would be to have your routines just turn themselves in to habits right? Habits are typically referred to as either good or bad. Good habits can be making your bed, brushing your teeth, etc. Bad habits are chewing your nails, popping your gum or chewing ice in a movie theater. I am trying to figure out the distinction between habits and routine. It seems like it is more about consciousness: you may be less aware of your habits in the moment and they have simply "settled" into a common or typical behavior; whereas routine takes thought and preparation to first get it going. Feelin'me?

Traditions: George Papadapolis' midget adopted son, Webster, claims that traditions are inherited, established or customary patterns of thought, action or behavior. That seems too boring. I tend to place much more value in the word tradition. Too me, traditions take the most amount of consciousness, thought, effort and follow through. Like routines, traditions can ultimately be predicted and anticipated and I believe the hope is that they eventually become habits as well. BUT...I believe there is an additional element for the creation of traditions: a sense of higher purpose or meaning. Yeah, routines have purpose too...but it seems to be more about meeting basic needs and logistics. Traditions are more about making and encouraging conscious connections and shared meaningful experiences....which is maybe why they are so hard for me to make and stick to.

I write this blog because I am trying to figure out why the hell it has been so easy for me to establish routines for my family, why it's hard for me to break habits and most importantly, why on earth can I/we not create meaningful, predictable, consistent fun traditions? Is it because the added element of connection, consciousness, and meaning comes along with pressure, fear of failure and vulnerability? Yes, yes and yes. Excuses get in the way of us creating meaningful traditions: weather, motivation, hangovers, kids, family, friends, money, work, feared perceptions of others, resentments, tasks, etc. We've allowed it to happen, I've contributed to it and I want to get better. So now what, where do we start and how do we forgive ourselves for slacking up until now?

Let it go. Celebrate the successes we HAVE had. Identify and build on the good.

Done and done! Now I want some fun examples of your family traditions that have meaning to you....maybe we'll adopt them as well :)

Just Sayin'

Hands are not for hitting

Well, we certainly have been spoiled and blessed by having a basically perfect child....up until now :)  Mia is now 19 months old and has most certainly hit her toddler-hood PMS emotional whiney tantrum stage.  Within the past few weeks, Mia's vocabulary and attempts at taking have really increased...which I guess also includes an increase in frustration in trying to get her point across and be understood (and get what she wants).  During times of stress, we now have noticed that Mia gets louder in her jumbled up words, stomps her feet, opens her mouth up and screams, cries, takes toys from others and one only a few occasions...yes, she has even hit others.  I'm pretty sure we are doing "the right thing" in being very direct and clear with our statements, looking her in the eye, ignoring the tantrums, redirecting, praising the good, etc....am I missing something?  By no means would I consider Mia mean, vicious or even defiant at this point. I guess I have just been sitting pretty 'til now and am a bit shocked when I see my perceived perfect little peanut all of a sudden get an attitude...kind of like her mother :)

My one main concern is her possessiveness of toys and things she has typically thought were hers.  She seems to share well and give things to others that are older than her but somehow finds it difficult sharing or allowing younger or same-aged kiddos to play with her things.  She responds well to gentle requests like she's helping out, but of course does not do well with demands...duh.  Any tricks of the trade from seasoned parents out there that we can add to our tool box?  Again, I'm not wanting to come across as complaining about Mia.  What she is doing now and the boundaries she is testing are absolutely appropriate for her age....I guess I just needed a slap in the face to wake me up from my fantasy that everything would continue to be full of candy, unicorns and sunshine.

Preview...

I gave up blogging for Lent...not really, but I need an excuse at this point for my blatant absence of posts....sorry.  Nate, Mia and I  just got back from an 8 day vacation in Aruba with Nate's family.  Here is a little preview and I will do my best to get some pics, stories and additional blogs posted as soon as I find the time, energy, motivation and topics to do so.

Popsicle

Pool party

Mexico PHOTO DUMP!....Part Dos

Better late than never!  Here are some more pictures from our Mexico trip with our lovely friends.

On the beach near our house

Nate, posing for GQ

Mia and Mommy watching the waves

Monkey Mia swinging in our arms

Family pic, awwww

She knows she is cute...that might be a problem in the future :)

Yet again, she knows she's cute and uses it as much as she can

Mia/Daddy time

Awwww!

These weird ass rodent things were everywhere.  We all spent some time trying to figure out what they were and I don't think we ever found out.  Regardless, they are ugly, have no tails and don't seem to have a purpose...very similar to squirrels in MN :)

I swear, I should have stolen one of the wooden tiger statue things. Mia played with these everyday and made a "rrrawwwwrrrr" sound for the tigers.  She would feed them, make sure they had water and taunt Annie with the tigers each day.

So cute!

Jack asses ruined our photo

What good looking neighbors.  We should allow Edina Realty to use this pic to help them sell houses on our street. :)

Try outs for the circus

Oh, nothing special...just our Mexican villa for the week...no big deal :)

Love her!

Oh Mia, I love you so much!

Lovin me some kisses

High five for the hottest family on the beach!

This trip was so wonderful and a great get away for a while.  Thank you Erin and Ben for inviting s on this trip, we had a blast!  Nate and I have always placed a lot of value on traveling and we have done a great job of making it a point to travel almost every year...I hope we can continue to do this as long as we are able.  We have so much to be thankful for...

Just Sayin'

We survived our first B&B

I have always been cautious of B&B's.  Why on earth would you want to get away on a seemingly romantic trip just to be forced to share a bathroom or even eat breakfast next to people in their 60's?  Yeah, yeah, I know that it is not at all what B&B's are like...but that had always been my assumption.  Even WORSE....I have some close friends that cashed in on a one night stay at a B&B following their wedding.  Nice, right?  NOPE.  They had an option of renting a room with a CAT.  They are (were) cat lovers and reviewed several options of cats they could choose from and settled on one who was said to be friendly and liked to cuddle.  Said cat turned out to get into garbage, eat some nasty shit and ended up puking all over their room.  FUN!  They contemplated leaving and driving an hour to get home in the middle of the night but I think they settled on swooshing the cat into the hallway and getting the hell outta there as soon as the sun came up.  Needless to say, I have been weary of B&B's.

Alas, we found a B&B we absolutely loved and would recommend to anyone as it was recommended to us.  This past weekend, Nate and I decided to dump Mia for the day and night and head into Osceola, WI to stay at http://www.stcroixriverinn.com/.  It was lovely.  We stayed in the Osceola room which featured an amazing view of the river, lush bathrobes, an en suite fireplace and massive hydromassage tub with bath salts.  Moreover, there was a complementary glass of wine and snacks at 5:30pm which I could not pass up since it was "free".  Beverages and scones were severed to your private room 30 min before breakfast and then breakfast was served, also in your own room.  We DID meet one couple, but they were young and acceptable to talk to :)  They were from the cities and have traveled a lot so we certainly had lots to talk about.  Here are a couple phone pics we captured:

Here is the glorious tub

Here is the glorious bed...post "turn down service"

The main goal of this one day getaway was for Nate and I to simply relax and enjoy time together as a couple without Mia.  Don't get us wrong, we absolutely are in love with Mia...but we hadn't had a date night/overnight in a while where it was just us.  We started the journey driving to Osceola listening to NPR "Wait wait don't tell me" program.  I never realized how little I knew about current events other than what is streaming on the yahoo page or referenced during commercial breaks.  We then decided to stop at an absolutely cute little coffee shop in town and started reading the book The Five Languages of Love. Don't laugh, it's a good book so far :)  I actually recommend this book and some of it's concepts to many of my clients and although "self help books" should be taken with a grain a salt, there are some valuable tools to consider.  If nothing else, taking time to read a book together can absolutely spark some interesting conversations and allow an opportunity to just connect and enjoy our limited time together.  Without reading the whole book just yet, we believe Nate's primary language of love to be through Words of Affirmation.  With that: Nate, thank you so much for the wonderful get away and for taking care of the reservations, along with the babysitter for Mia. I appreciate all you do for our family and am so proud of the man you have become.

Ewww...enough with that sappiness :)  

Just Sayin'