It's been so long since I wrote an update that I had to go back and look at our pictures to remember what we've done since October! This may get long so feel free to skim!
We got back from Hawaii at the end of October and definitely felt like we needed a vacation from our vacation, especially with all of the drama from the fires out here! Although we don't really celebrate Halloween in our house, we did dress up the kids in safari outfits and go over to a small gathering at our neighbor's house where we ate tortilla soup and raided some of their candy stash.
In the beginning of November Paul and I participated in the Muddy Buddy race in Los Angeles and I learned just how out of shape I was after having Jacey! The race consisted of running, biking, and obstacles, along with a big mud pit you have to crawl through at the end. There were so many hills in the course that I was walking my bike probably half of the time on the verge of losing my breakfast! I definitely was not the only one though, so apparently the course was a lot harder than a lot of people had anticipated. The mud pit at the end made all the effort worthwhile though. What a blast! I held on to Paul's feet and he towed me through the muck...what a wonderful husband I have! We also had a chance to do some sightseeing in LA the day before the race. We went to the La Brea tar pits where there is literally oil/tar randomly bubbling out of the ground in different places. Who would've guessed right in the heart of LA? We also went to Griffith Park (where the Hollywood sign is) and drove up to the newly renovated observatory. Lots of neat exhibits and a beautiful view of the city.
In mid-November we treated ourselves to a Gondola ride out on the bayside of Coronado Island. It was so romantic and we definitely enjoyed one of our first nights away from the kids since Jacey was born. If any of you ever get a chance to come to San Diego I would highly recommend it! We also went to Knott's Berry Farm in Los Angeles with some friends of ours who also have two kids. The guys watched the kids most of the day and my girlfriend and I got to go on most of the rides. I'm an amusement park junkie and have ridden a lot of rides, but one ride in particular at Knott's Berry Farm is now officially my favorite. We went on it twice in a row because I just couldn't get enough!
Over Thanksgiving we went to the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Sedona with various stops in between. What a great trip. We got a mild taste of winter up in the mountains, but it was still warm enough to be out hiking. Besides the Grand Canyon, we also saw a lot of smaller canyons, Native American ruins, and even went spelunking for the first time ever in a lava tube just outside of Flagstaff. It was cold, pitch black except for our head lamps, and tricky walking over jagged boulders, but still a very fun time. The kids didn't quite know what to think about it though. Afterwards we ate our Thanksgiving feast of pancakes and eggs at Village Inn (like a Denny's). The next morning I got up at 4:30am and experienced true Black Friday shopping for the first (and probably last) time ever. I wanted to get a portable dvd player for Kade at a good price so I decided to brave the crowds and head to Walmart and Target. It was freezing outside and I have never seen so many people waiting in line at one time before. It was CRAZY!!! That afternoon we headed to Phoenix to visit our friends that live there for the rest of the holiday weekend. Kade turned two just before Thanksgiving and ended up spending most of his birthday riding in the car, but we made up for it by having a little celebration for him once we got to our friends house.
We spent my birthday in December going to Paul's Christmas party for work. It was another nice date night away from the kids with dinner and dancing, and we even scored big time on the raffle prizes! On Paul's birthday two days later we had a Christmas party for our small group where we surprised everyone with marshmallow blow-guns that we had made out of PVC pipe. The gals got a whole round of shots off at the guys before handing them over for the guys to shoot each other over and over like little boys. What fun!
Just before Christmas we took a day trip to Palomar Mountain where we got to play in the snow, and also went to the town of Julian which is known for its fresh apple pies and cider. I'm not that big of a pie fan, but the caramel apple pie with cinnamon ice cream and fresh squeezed apple cider was amazing! It shocks me how we can get a real feel for winter and the holiday season while living in Southern California...I never would've thought it was possible. If only our families were closer, I really could see living here long term!
This year we decided to stay here in CA for Christmas rather than going back to MN. It was our first time ever not being with our families for the holidays, but we still really enjoyed ourselves. We thought about what we really wanted Christmas to be about for our little family and then tried to make those ideas a reality. Did a lot of research about the meaning behind all our Christmas traditions and decided which ones to keep and which ones to skip. I got rid of all our Santa decorations that we've accumulated over the years, and we did not buy any gifts. We did manage to put up our first Christmas tree ever though...a real Douglas fir from Home Depot. I didn't even know you could get real trees down here! We spent Christmas Eve day bringing homemade chocolate chip cookies, candy, and Starbucks coffee to homeless people in downtown San Diego with some friends of ours. We just loaded up our strollers and wandered the streets for a couple of hours until we ran out of supplies. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time. So much so that we will probably do it again next year. That night Paul read Kade the Christmas story from the bible (just like his dad always does), and we went to the Christmas Eve service at our church (complete with rock music and all!). Then on Christmas Day we got together with everyone from our church small group that hadn't gone home for the holidays (which was just about everyone). We ate too much and played games...just like Christmas back home, only without the cold and snow! Usually the holiday season is so exhausting, but this year it was nice and relaxed. I'm already looking forward to next Christmas!
We spent New Year's back in Phoenix with our friends. Lots of laying around, eating, and playing games...no resolutions! We did manage to leave the house one day to go hiking up Camelback Mountain. We left the kids with our friend's parents and it was so nice to be able to hike without either being pregnant or having a baby strapped to me! Looking forward to being able to do that more once our kids get old enough to hike on their own.
Just after New Year's we found out that our landlords are having to foreclose on the house we are currently renting so that means yet another move for the Nystrom family. We're sad because we really like this house, but there are so many houses available out here that we shouldn't have much of a problem finding another place. It's also really frustrating to even think about having to pull out all our moving boxes again. We didn't think we'd be needing those for another year and a half. We're going to stay here as long as we can (until the owner's get an eviction notice), which could be anywhere from another 3-9 months depending upon how long the mortgage company takes to complete the foreclosure process. We will definitely let you all know when we have a new address and home phone number.
Paul spent most of January in Los Angeles doing an elective trauma rotation to stay current in his emergency skills. Rather than sitting home alone with the kids, I decided to take them down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to stay with my parents for a few weeks in their oceanside condo. The weather was unseasonably cold the first week, the kids weren't sleeping well, and Kade had a pretty severe allergic reaction to something down there so we ended up coming home after only a week and a half. Definitely not the "vacation" I had thought it would be, but it was still nice to see my parents. I was definitely proud of myself for surviving an international trip alone with two kids!
Paul's parents came down the first week of February. They spent one cold (relatively speaking, of course), windy, and rainy weekend with us, did some traveling around the area during the week, and then came back for one warm, sunny weekend. They got to experience a San Diego winter and summer all in one trip! It was so nice for the kids to be able to see both sets of "papa and dama" within a couple of weeks!
Over President's Day weekend we took a trip to Las Vegas with our friends. I had been there several times for seminars, but Paul had never been. Unfortunately he didn't end up seeing all that much of Vegas. He got sick with the flu the morning we left so I had to drive the entire way while trying my best to keep the kids happy in the car so that he could sleep. Once we got there I took the kids to go see a couple of things while he stayed in the car and slept. He felt good enough the next day to go hiking with us, but still wasn't feeling great and definitely wasn't enjoying himself all that much. Same thing the next day, only by the afternoon he had had enough of Vegas and went to the car again and slept while we checked out various casino attractions. Fortunately he was feeling better by Monday so we went and saw Hoover Dam before heading home. We got stuck in horrible traffic between Vegas and LA though...no accidents, no bad weather, just too many cars and not enough road. NEVER again will we attempt that drive on a holiday weekend! Once home Paul's flu spread to Kade last week, then back to Paul again on Sunday, and to Jacey yesterday. It will be a miracle if I don't get it, but so far so good (knock on wood).
We've decided to take a break from traveling for the next month and just hang out here at home. Our next trip will be to Big Sur and Monterrey, CA over Easter weekend. We're also going to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite in June, possibly to Alaska in July or August, back to MN for a week or two sometime this summer, and hopefully to Utah this fall. Gotta take advantage of as much of our free time as possible before starting residency in summer of '09.
Kade continues to grow up so fast. Although he is not even two and a half yet, he seems to be getting past his "terrible twos" already. He's much more laid back and obedient than he was 6 months ago, which means less battles for me on a daily basis. He is pretty much potty trained (except for when he is sleeping), which turned out to be a much easier process than I had anticipated. He's learning his ABCs (see the oh-so-cute video from 2/3/08), and just learned to play some educational computer games last week. I broke down and started letting him watch a little bit of TV while his sister takes her morning nap. He really enjoys watching the Teletubbies "monkeys"!
Jacey is 8 months old now. She is rolling and scooting backwards all over, but still not quite crawling. Should happen any time now because she is so close. She is clapping and starting to wave and is still the happiest baby EVER! Ask anyone who has ever seen her and they will vouch for that. She actually just cut her first tooth this morning without any protest at all.
Paul is just beginning the orientation process to be able to moonlight at some urgent care clinics around town. It will bring in some extra money for us (which will help pay for all our traveling), and will also help him keep up his doctoring skills in the civilian arena. He is also still involved with the Chula Vista SWAT team as a volunteer medical support person, and continues to co-lead and mentor a group of boys from our church on Wednesday nights.
As for me, call me crazy but I'm pretty much ready to get pregnant again. I figure if we're gonna have four kids I might as well get all those pregnancies over with as fast as possible so I can have my body back. I'm definitely not one of those women that likes being pregnant, but from what I've heard it's kinda an essential part of having a baby! :) I finally got all my baby weight off, so I guess now it's time to put it back on. I'll let you know if God's got the same idea and timeline as me...
We got back from Hawaii at the end of October and definitely felt like we needed a vacation from our vacation, especially with all of the drama from the fires out here! Although we don't really celebrate Halloween in our house, we did dress up the kids in safari outfits and go over to a small gathering at our neighbor's house where we ate tortilla soup and raided some of their candy stash.
In the beginning of November Paul and I participated in the Muddy Buddy race in Los Angeles and I learned just how out of shape I was after having Jacey! The race consisted of running, biking, and obstacles, along with a big mud pit you have to crawl through at the end. There were so many hills in the course that I was walking my bike probably half of the time on the verge of losing my breakfast! I definitely was not the only one though, so apparently the course was a lot harder than a lot of people had anticipated. The mud pit at the end made all the effort worthwhile though. What a blast! I held on to Paul's feet and he towed me through the muck...what a wonderful husband I have! We also had a chance to do some sightseeing in LA the day before the race. We went to the La Brea tar pits where there is literally oil/tar randomly bubbling out of the ground in different places. Who would've guessed right in the heart of LA? We also went to Griffith Park (where the Hollywood sign is) and drove up to the newly renovated observatory. Lots of neat exhibits and a beautiful view of the city.
In mid-November we treated ourselves to a Gondola ride out on the bayside of Coronado Island. It was so romantic and we definitely enjoyed one of our first nights away from the kids since Jacey was born. If any of you ever get a chance to come to San Diego I would highly recommend it! We also went to Knott's Berry Farm in Los Angeles with some friends of ours who also have two kids. The guys watched the kids most of the day and my girlfriend and I got to go on most of the rides. I'm an amusement park junkie and have ridden a lot of rides, but one ride in particular at Knott's Berry Farm is now officially my favorite. We went on it twice in a row because I just couldn't get enough!
Over Thanksgiving we went to the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Sedona with various stops in between. What a great trip. We got a mild taste of winter up in the mountains, but it was still warm enough to be out hiking. Besides the Grand Canyon, we also saw a lot of smaller canyons, Native American ruins, and even went spelunking for the first time ever in a lava tube just outside of Flagstaff. It was cold, pitch black except for our head lamps, and tricky walking over jagged boulders, but still a very fun time. The kids didn't quite know what to think about it though. Afterwards we ate our Thanksgiving feast of pancakes and eggs at Village Inn (like a Denny's). The next morning I got up at 4:30am and experienced true Black Friday shopping for the first (and probably last) time ever. I wanted to get a portable dvd player for Kade at a good price so I decided to brave the crowds and head to Walmart and Target. It was freezing outside and I have never seen so many people waiting in line at one time before. It was CRAZY!!! That afternoon we headed to Phoenix to visit our friends that live there for the rest of the holiday weekend. Kade turned two just before Thanksgiving and ended up spending most of his birthday riding in the car, but we made up for it by having a little celebration for him once we got to our friends house.
We spent my birthday in December going to Paul's Christmas party for work. It was another nice date night away from the kids with dinner and dancing, and we even scored big time on the raffle prizes! On Paul's birthday two days later we had a Christmas party for our small group where we surprised everyone with marshmallow blow-guns that we had made out of PVC pipe. The gals got a whole round of shots off at the guys before handing them over for the guys to shoot each other over and over like little boys. What fun!
Just before Christmas we took a day trip to Palomar Mountain where we got to play in the snow, and also went to the town of Julian which is known for its fresh apple pies and cider. I'm not that big of a pie fan, but the caramel apple pie with cinnamon ice cream and fresh squeezed apple cider was amazing! It shocks me how we can get a real feel for winter and the holiday season while living in Southern California...I never would've thought it was possible. If only our families were closer, I really could see living here long term!
This year we decided to stay here in CA for Christmas rather than going back to MN. It was our first time ever not being with our families for the holidays, but we still really enjoyed ourselves. We thought about what we really wanted Christmas to be about for our little family and then tried to make those ideas a reality. Did a lot of research about the meaning behind all our Christmas traditions and decided which ones to keep and which ones to skip. I got rid of all our Santa decorations that we've accumulated over the years, and we did not buy any gifts. We did manage to put up our first Christmas tree ever though...a real Douglas fir from Home Depot. I didn't even know you could get real trees down here! We spent Christmas Eve day bringing homemade chocolate chip cookies, candy, and Starbucks coffee to homeless people in downtown San Diego with some friends of ours. We just loaded up our strollers and wandered the streets for a couple of hours until we ran out of supplies. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time. So much so that we will probably do it again next year. That night Paul read Kade the Christmas story from the bible (just like his dad always does), and we went to the Christmas Eve service at our church (complete with rock music and all!). Then on Christmas Day we got together with everyone from our church small group that hadn't gone home for the holidays (which was just about everyone). We ate too much and played games...just like Christmas back home, only without the cold and snow! Usually the holiday season is so exhausting, but this year it was nice and relaxed. I'm already looking forward to next Christmas!
We spent New Year's back in Phoenix with our friends. Lots of laying around, eating, and playing games...no resolutions! We did manage to leave the house one day to go hiking up Camelback Mountain. We left the kids with our friend's parents and it was so nice to be able to hike without either being pregnant or having a baby strapped to me! Looking forward to being able to do that more once our kids get old enough to hike on their own.
Just after New Year's we found out that our landlords are having to foreclose on the house we are currently renting so that means yet another move for the Nystrom family. We're sad because we really like this house, but there are so many houses available out here that we shouldn't have much of a problem finding another place. It's also really frustrating to even think about having to pull out all our moving boxes again. We didn't think we'd be needing those for another year and a half. We're going to stay here as long as we can (until the owner's get an eviction notice), which could be anywhere from another 3-9 months depending upon how long the mortgage company takes to complete the foreclosure process. We will definitely let you all know when we have a new address and home phone number.
Paul spent most of January in Los Angeles doing an elective trauma rotation to stay current in his emergency skills. Rather than sitting home alone with the kids, I decided to take them down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to stay with my parents for a few weeks in their oceanside condo. The weather was unseasonably cold the first week, the kids weren't sleeping well, and Kade had a pretty severe allergic reaction to something down there so we ended up coming home after only a week and a half. Definitely not the "vacation" I had thought it would be, but it was still nice to see my parents. I was definitely proud of myself for surviving an international trip alone with two kids!
Paul's parents came down the first week of February. They spent one cold (relatively speaking, of course), windy, and rainy weekend with us, did some traveling around the area during the week, and then came back for one warm, sunny weekend. They got to experience a San Diego winter and summer all in one trip! It was so nice for the kids to be able to see both sets of "papa and dama" within a couple of weeks!
Over President's Day weekend we took a trip to Las Vegas with our friends. I had been there several times for seminars, but Paul had never been. Unfortunately he didn't end up seeing all that much of Vegas. He got sick with the flu the morning we left so I had to drive the entire way while trying my best to keep the kids happy in the car so that he could sleep. Once we got there I took the kids to go see a couple of things while he stayed in the car and slept. He felt good enough the next day to go hiking with us, but still wasn't feeling great and definitely wasn't enjoying himself all that much. Same thing the next day, only by the afternoon he had had enough of Vegas and went to the car again and slept while we checked out various casino attractions. Fortunately he was feeling better by Monday so we went and saw Hoover Dam before heading home. We got stuck in horrible traffic between Vegas and LA though...no accidents, no bad weather, just too many cars and not enough road. NEVER again will we attempt that drive on a holiday weekend! Once home Paul's flu spread to Kade last week, then back to Paul again on Sunday, and to Jacey yesterday. It will be a miracle if I don't get it, but so far so good (knock on wood).
We've decided to take a break from traveling for the next month and just hang out here at home. Our next trip will be to Big Sur and Monterrey, CA over Easter weekend. We're also going to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite in June, possibly to Alaska in July or August, back to MN for a week or two sometime this summer, and hopefully to Utah this fall. Gotta take advantage of as much of our free time as possible before starting residency in summer of '09.
Kade continues to grow up so fast. Although he is not even two and a half yet, he seems to be getting past his "terrible twos" already. He's much more laid back and obedient than he was 6 months ago, which means less battles for me on a daily basis. He is pretty much potty trained (except for when he is sleeping), which turned out to be a much easier process than I had anticipated. He's learning his ABCs (see the oh-so-cute video from 2/3/08), and just learned to play some educational computer games last week. I broke down and started letting him watch a little bit of TV while his sister takes her morning nap. He really enjoys watching the Teletubbies "monkeys"!
Jacey is 8 months old now. She is rolling and scooting backwards all over, but still not quite crawling. Should happen any time now because she is so close. She is clapping and starting to wave and is still the happiest baby EVER! Ask anyone who has ever seen her and they will vouch for that. She actually just cut her first tooth this morning without any protest at all.
Paul is just beginning the orientation process to be able to moonlight at some urgent care clinics around town. It will bring in some extra money for us (which will help pay for all our traveling), and will also help him keep up his doctoring skills in the civilian arena. He is also still involved with the Chula Vista SWAT team as a volunteer medical support person, and continues to co-lead and mentor a group of boys from our church on Wednesday nights.
As for me, call me crazy but I'm pretty much ready to get pregnant again. I figure if we're gonna have four kids I might as well get all those pregnancies over with as fast as possible so I can have my body back. I'm definitely not one of those women that likes being pregnant, but from what I've heard it's kinda an essential part of having a baby! :) I finally got all my baby weight off, so I guess now it's time to put it back on. I'll let you know if God's got the same idea and timeline as me...
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