Late Posting (Part 2)

Back from Massanutten, and just a few days to start planning for the move and new job before we’re off to Chicago to look at homes. We spent 3 days “neighborhood hunting”; because the Chicagoland area is so huge, we didn’t even know where to being looking for a home. City, close in, or far out suburbs? So we used our first trip out there to look at a few houses, but primarily at neighborhoods. Going around with a few different realtors, we settled on the downtown areas of Oak Park, Evanston, and Glen Ellyn. We’ll be off to Hawaii in a few days on vacation, and then moving to Chicago a few days after we get back. Once we get there, we’ll start our search for a house in one of those areas.

Late Posting (Part 1)

Before I left AOL I was sure that I’d blog every day until I started my new job. Ha ha! Instead, I’ve been busier since I left than I was all last year. As such, I’m now going to back log the last month of chaos in several parts. Here goes.

We spent New Years in Massanutten, VA, visiting with our friends Karin and Eric, and Karin’s family. For the uninitiated, Virginia, even in the higher elevations, really doesn’t get much snow. So it’s surprising that some businessman would bother to build a ski resort there. We didn’t ski (I’m not terribly good at it, and with a 1 year old who can’t stand, skiing was pretty much out of the question), though Karin’s father skied (or mudded) the slopes.

What we did do was hike and otherwise relax – making the weekend far more enjoyable for us than I think skiing could have.

Celebrations

This evening we celebrated our daughter;s first birthday with Thai food at 4912 in Sterling. Okay, so it’s not quite cake and ice cream, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a one year old eat so much steamed broccoli, rice, chicken, and potstickers before (and besides, she’d already stuffed herself with ducky cake at her birthday party two weeks prior. When we got home, she opened her birthday and Hanukkah presents. All in all not a bad day for a one year old.

As it so happens, today is also my parents 30th anniversary. It’s easy to remember how long they’ve been married, since I’ll be 30 in May. We’ll be taking them to Hawaii in January to celebrate (by the way, if you ever visit there, be sure to pick up a copy of The Big Island Revealed, which is the best travel guide ever).

After Christi said the word “presents” this evening and the little one looked to the bedroom and pointed at where they are stacked, she jokingly wondered last night what eight nights of presents will do to a one year old on Saturday when Hanukkah is over. I think she’ll forget rather quickly about her new nightly ritual of opening them. I think.