Catching-Up

Let's play catch-up....We had a super fun time in San Francisco over Thanksgiving. Thanks to technology the cross-country trips are getting easier - the kids each had some sort of device: iphone, ipad, tablet or computer. I usually feel slightly badly about shoving screens in their face and then I remember how it would be otherwise and I move on:). Once in SF we enjoyed wonderful crisp weather, beautiful hikes, a tourist outing to Alcatraz and visits with old friends. The kids adore tia Veronika, Brian and abuela so much and I'm old news so I enjoyed having all my limbs to myself.
In the three years I lived in SF I never went to Alcatraz so it was fun to finally go. Luckily we caught a beautiful day so the view of the city was amazing and the ferry across the bay couldn't have been nicer. Even with all the little legs in our party, we managed some fun hikes through Muir woods and despite Vero being 8+ months pregnant she led us on a 4+ mile hike up the hills in Marin.
The way back from SF was luckily uneventful but very long for me. We got up at 4am to make a 6am flight and once home, I unpacked and repacked and headed back to the airport to go to Atlanta and once there I had to stay up to talk to a colleague. It was a 20 hour day. I'm way to old for those.

Christmas was also fun, but -like a birth-plan - didn't go according to plan. I had hoped to do all these christmas-y things in DC, but that didn't really happen. The boys did see a play of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Charlie's chorus had a christmas performance, but we missed the national christmas tree, zoo-lights and the nutcracker and no one wanted to join me at for a christmas eve mass. Seth's kids got sick so missed Christmas morning, but made it for Christmas dinner. Nevertheless it was nice to be all together for Christmas dinner and very thankful for our collective health. 

Generally I disapprove of 2017 so far, but hopefully that just means it'll only get better. We walked around Inauguration morning and ran into fellow glum faces on the Hill and then walked down to the mall to survey the crowds. Despite alternative facts it was not nearly as crowded as inaugurations past, but it was still crowded. The Women's March offered a temporary reprieve from the sadness, but the malicious and frenzied actions of the new administration make me so sad for the country. Perhaps the silver lining will be a re-invigorated civil society and a new crop of potential politicians. I know a few people who either announced they are running or are pondering the idea. that's cool.

I usually get depressed in February but today it is 60 degrees so it's hard not to feel hopeful. Sofia is actually now great 90% of the time. Her persistent personality shows up at just the wrong times but it's such an improvement that I can hardly complain. And to be fair she is probably more self-sufficient than the boys - she picks out her school clothes the night before, gets herself dressed in the morning and is usually the first by the door ready to go. Of course that has a lot to do with wanting a gummy vitamin as she walks out the door, but if I can leverage the persistent personality to achieve some semblance of peace in the morning then I'm happy to give her sugar (and then hand her off to her teacher to deal with the repercussions:)).