The Accidental Boilermaker

We took two days to get home, staying Friday night in Dayton.  Evelyn's cold and cough started to bother her more on Friday too so she didn't sleep very well that night. Evelyn did pretty good in the car on day one, but by day two she was very ready to be home and done with the car.  We thought maybe if she had a chance to drive she'd be happier. We took a big break at the mall in Charleston and let Evelyn crawl around the play area before eating lunch and getting back on the road.

Christmas Eve we left for Decatur to visit with my Mimi and Grandpa.  That night we went to the Christmas Eve service at my grandma's church.   Evelyn got to play with Elmo again. "Are these my presents?" Meredith and her new pair of running shoes. Evelyn gave Grandpa a new coffee mug. It matches the one I gave him back when I was little. Meredith and I styling in our Christmas present from Katherine - pants from India. Meredith and Evelyn Mimi, Grandpa, and Evelyn

Tuesday morning we left Holland for Kenosha to visit my grandma and Clarence.  We met up with my parents and Meredith first and then headed over to my grandma's for lunch and pictures.  My grandma was very excited to meet Evelyn for the first time. Four generation picture.  Evelyn really liked the singing Christmas tree. After lunch we visited my Aunt Ginger at her work.  Evelyn got a Bears teddy bear.  But of course the bag is more fun than the present. We stayed in a hotel Tuesday night and checked out the pool before dinner. Selfie with Grandpa during dinner.

Holland, first stop on our Christmas vacation (subsequent stops in future posts).  We drove through the night and arrived early on Saturday morning.  Evelyn quickly found lots of fun magnets to play with and I must have been pretty tired because this is the only picture I have from that day. Sunday morning, Isaac and Evelyn were breakfast twins in matching bibs, eating their oatmeal. Then Nate and Isaac made chex mix. Aunt Celia came over for lunch And we decorated cookies. Evelyn also got to play with Pat's organ later in the day. Monday morning meant presents! Joshua and Grandma Isaac and Grandpa Everybody : )  Isaac and Evelyn playing with new toys.

After church today we went to the Hotel Roanoke to check out all the Christmas trees and take some pictures. Gingerbread House There were lots of other people taking pictures too.  A nice hotel employee offered to take a picture of the three of us.

We left our shoes out last night for Sinterklaas to fill them with treats or as it turned out $5 bills.  (I learned that the Dutch celebrate St. Nick's Day on December 5th instead of the 6th).  Maybe a new tradition for our family? We also got pies today because I a) worked in rehab in Roanoke instead of Radford and was so close to the pie shop I could not say no and b) I have a cold (so does Evelyn, but she didn't get any pie). Pie makes everything better.  Evelyn tried to get me to stay in bed today.  It almost worked.

Evelyn is 10 months old as of yesterday.  We did our photo shoot first thing this morning because honestly I have started to dread taking these pictures.  The child can't/wont stay still and is usually too interested in some other something to bother looking at the camera.  Oh well - I think I managed to get a couple good ones. Evelyn has gotten very good at pulling up and has started cruising along the furniture. Favorite foods include puffs, cheerios, yogurt, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and pears.  Maybe carrots too but I think that is just because she has a hard time telling them apart from sweet potatoes.  Green vegetables are the worst, but we keep trying. Sleeping is still just one day at a time.  Naps in her crib (when at home) are practically nonexistent.  But she does go to bed between 6:30 and 7:00 so that gives me a few hours before I go to bed to get stuff done. Sleeping through the night is still the exception rather than...

Evelyn and I went to Target to get started on some Christmas shopping.  We even got a few people finished which is good.  It is nice now that Evelyn is big enough to sit up front in the cart, but she doesn't always like to face forward. Earlier today we facetimed with Nate over lunch.  Nate got his iphone back in September but this is the first time we have done facetime while he is at work.

I ran my half marathon this morning!  My time was 2:07:06 (9:45 average pace) which is a personal record.  That really surprised me, but I felt great the whole race.  It was awfully cold, cold enough that Nate and Evelyn stayed home until the very end.  And despite the fact that they weren't there to see me run, I could not have trained and finished the race without them. My parents and sister are here for an early Thanksgiving so my dad and Meredith decided it would be fun to run the 10K race.  They both had good times too. Almost at the finish.  

32 degrees.  That was the temperature when we started our last hike this morning.  But the sun was shinning and there was little to no breeze so we said bundle up and let's go!  We got off to a little bit of a rocky start however when Nate was getting Evelyn in the carrier and said "wait, is she wet?"  Sure enough in the three minutes it takes to drive to the trailhead from our house, Evelyn has soaked through her diaper.  And changing her was no small task due to the many layers she had on, but better to change her in the car rather than on the trail. Peak #7 - McAfee Knob McAfee Knob is the most photographed part of the Appalachian Trail and is the highest peak in the Catawba Valley. McAfee Knob Catawba Valley Tinker Cliffs in the distance Nate and Evelyn taking a little break.  Nate carried her in front on the way up in an effort to make sure she stayed warm.  But it wasn't real comfortable so he switched to her to hi...