Home for the Holidays

Once again time is flying by and for the last two months I’ve been intending to write this post and am only now getting around to it. We were back in the US for Christmas and New Year’s with our typical whirlwind of a trip visiting family and friends. And I swore when planning this trip that I would try to keep it more open and less busy but somehow we ended up a with a packed schedule and hardly any downtime. But it was all worth it.

The new factor in our planning is that our nanny is also entitled to vacation and chose to go home to the Philippines for Christmas. This meant that we had to work around her schedule which resulted in Josephine and I taking off for the US December 14. That’s right, it was just me, a 1 year old and a 12 hour flight. Nate would work for one more week and then meet up with us on our way to Medford. That way he could save some of that vacation and use it on the flip side after we got back to Paris to help deal with the jet lag with Josephine that we knew would be challenging.

In any case, I prepped thoroughly and planned for this flight that I was a bit nervous for (ok, a lot nervous for). We were up early in the morning for a 9am flight. I will spare you all the details but the long of the short of it was that I couldn’t have asked for Josephine to do any better than she did. She took an hour and a half nap shortly after take off, was not too restless on the plane and easily entertained, took another 45 minute afternoon nap and became friends with the two ladies sitting behind us. She did really well although I was so happy and relieved to land at SFO and see my parents greeting us both at the airport.

We headed to my parent’s house in San Miguel for the week. After a few days, we were both over jet lag and enjoying some Christmas tree decorating and cookie making. We made our obligatory trip into SLO to have lunch at Firestone and even made a visit to see Santa Claus at the Mission (Josephine is not a fan). Before we knew it though, the week was over and it was time to head out and pick up Nate from SFO and head up to Medford.

We packed up way too much stuff and Josephine and I said goodbye to my parents and headed up to San Francisco where Nate’s plane landed around noon. Our plan was to head just to Redding since it was already going to be a long day. And I’m so glad we did that as it was indeed a long day. With all of the driving, we learned that our little city girl may have a touch of carsickness. She lost her lunch twice during our road trip which of course just made the day even longer. But we made it to Redding, got a good night’s sleep and were to Medford by lunch the next day. Our second stop on our US holiday adventure!

Medford was great. We rented a house on Airbnb and once we got settled we promptly purchased and decorated a Christmas tree. It was starting to feel more and more like Christmas. We had a wonderful time visiting with Nate’s parents and the Bartley’s and Tycer’s who were also home for the holidays (with an obligatory visit to the Trophy Club, but of course). And Josephine had her second official Christmas although was much more aware and active this year. She picked up quickly on the whole fun of opening presents. It was of course cute to watch. We really enjoyed our time there and Josephine had great fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa Ross.

Trophy Club

Merry Christmas!

Lizzie and Josephine

That week went by super fast and it was time for us to head to our third and final stop on our US holiday adventure. We were off to the Bay Area. We spent the first two nights in San Francisco with our friends Stacey and Alex and Lizzie. You may remember them as our Basel traveling friends. They have now moved back and are in SF. Here we had a great opportunity to catch up with our friends, let Josephine and her friend Lizzie play together and be back in a city we love so much. While there we also got together for lunch with a group of our city friends that hadn’t left town for the holidays. It was a good trip catching up with lots of people we hadn’t seen for a while. Oh, and we squeezed in a trip to Papalote for a yummy burrito and some of their specialty salsa. My mouth is watering even as I type this.

An adult night out

After a quick two nights in SF, we headed to the Lamson’s in Alamo. Again, more time with friends and Josephine got to know Ethan and Trevor better (and play with all their fun toys). We celebrated New Year’s Eve in Alamo and while we were all in bed by 1am, we had a great time. We wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else bringing in the new year with close friends.

Ethan, Trevor and Josephine

New Year’s day we saw Grandma and Grandpa Ross for brunch (as they were kind enough to drive up to pick up the 4Runner we were using for the trip) and then headed to Louis and Keelin’s to of course watch the Ducks play in the Rose Bowl game. Josephine was proudly representing and cheering along.

On the 2nd we packed up after 3 weeks of being away and boarded our flight back to Paris. This time Josephine wasn’t quite as easy but thankfully Nate and I were in it together. I guess after 3 weeks of traveling to multiple places, her sleep being screwed up and not following a strict schedule, I can’t be too surprised that Josephine was a bit more fussy. But we made it home and were all very happy to get settled back in again. We wouldn’t be truly settled though for a full week as that’s how long it took for Josephine to get over her jet lag. And we all know that if the baby isn’t sleeping, you’re not sleeping.

It was, as they always are, a whirlwind trip but we loved every second of it. It’s always so fun seeing family, friends and the cities we love.