The Curtis Clan - Winter 2006
Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox
Christmas
Having 2 toddlers makes Christmas time a real joy.
At 3 ˝, Jane was definitely into the whole thing: Santa Claus, decorations, cookies, candies and of course presents.
Originally, we were against following the culturally prescribed threat of using Santa’s Naughty and Nice list to solicit good behavior (actually more like minimally acceptable behavior).
That didn’t last long and we were soon singing the opening verse to Santa Claus is Coming to Town several times a day to Jane.
Cate didn’t know what was going on but was quite pleased with the omnipresence of treats and was happy to go along with all the rest of the festivities.
The pair of them in their matching red jammies on Christmas morning playing with the toys that Santa brought them is the kind of moment that parents treasure (and need to have to get through all the naughty list moments.).
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Bethany playing with Cate and Jane
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The most precocious act of the season was on Christmas evening at the first Sage gathering.
After dinner and annual patriarchal reading of the applicable New Testament passages, we sing carols.
Someone asked Jane if she knew any, to which she happily proceeded to lead the Sage Clan through the 5-6 songs she knew including the “Charlie Brown” song (i.e. Hark the Herald Angels Sings, the last song in the special and on her CD used at nap time).
She than wanted to sing “Bippity-Boppity-Boo”. The fact that it wasn’t a carol and no one present knew the words, would not dissuade her.
When everyone else moved on to other carols, she angrily got up and left the room, returning several minutes later after realizing no one was paying any attention to her little tirade.
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Randy reading to Cate and Jane
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During the holidays Randy was off for 2 weeks burning up his vacation time that was set to expire.
The first week was filled with daily gatherings with friends and family, primarily Bethany’s (lovingly referred to as “Sagemis” by Randy).
While lots of fun, after 8 days it was kind of nice to spend New Year’s at home alone with just the girls, watching a Gilmore Girls marathon (a fitting end to the last 6 months where watched season 1-5 on our DVDs).
Although we discussed going somewhere or knocking out a few more of the major home improvement items, for the most part we took things one day at a time.
The biggest thing was installing Wi-Fi DSL, which has greatly improved our computer quality of life not to mention drastically reducing the amount of time out phone line is busy.
Another Episode of the World According to Jane
Toy Barbie cell phone: Hi! It’s Barbie. Let’s go to the mall after school with Ken.
Bye-bye.
Jane: I’m not going to school because I’m going shopping with Barbie at the mall.
The “batteries died” on that gift shortly there after.
Caribbean Cruise 2006
Or SSS/FFF (Sage Sibling Sojourn / Forced Family Fun)
As a Christmas gift, Bethany’s folks bought her sibling and their spouses a 7 day Caribbean Cruise. While we were very excited, the preparations for the trip had some anxieties.
Bethany reflected that the week before leaving was very stressful for her as she prepared to leave Jane and Cate with friends (the Hammonds) and Randy’s mother for 8 days.
While she’s left them before, the length of time (roughly twice the previous trips) and lack of ready phone contact was bothersome.
Once beyond cell service, though she relaxed quite a bit, since there was nothing more she could do (besides with the 24 page guide covering most contingencies, the care givers were covered).
Our trip started on Friday with a flight from St. .Louis (including some wintry mix weather to inspire us to be heading to the tropics) and overnight stay in Fort Lauderdale (highlights:
SWA drink coupons, Bass Pro Shop Bubba Keg and Doughboys pizza). We departed from the cruise ship terminal on Saturday morning boarding the Caribbean Princess (part of the Love Boat line).
Although our room was economy class, we were quite pleased. It exceeded our expectations in all ways with the exception that the shower wouldn’t meet any housing code standards for size (it took several upgrades to warrant a larger one).
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Randy and Bethany on the Lido Deck as we leave the US behind
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Food, Dinning and Drink:
The only stipulation that the parents placed on the cruise gift was that we all eat together every night for dinner in one of the nice dinning rooms.
The food there was excellent and we had no problems adapting to nightly 5 course gourmet dinners including fabulous deserts.
Randy loved everything including some of the more “exotic” items that Bethany ordered and was less smitten with.
The grouped dinning also saved us from meeting new people every night at dinner and having to make small talk with strangers, which didn’t interest us in the least.
The time or two we did share tables with others for breakfast etc. really made us appreciate this.
The other food on the cruise was omnipresent and included in our fare.
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Group picture of us dinning to appear later
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While always good, there are limits to quality you can expect in a buffet line or room service at 2 am.
Surprisingly, Bethany became a fan of the wasabi spiked veggie sushi rolls and was requested we go out for some 2 weeks after coming home.
While we got the $33 unlimited soda cards, the booze prices limited our alcohol intact to just a few on board and at port.
We did bring on a bottle of wine and smuggled on board 1.25 L of Bailey’s, both of which we consumed over a couple hours on Van and Lisa’s balcony.
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After hours, Lisa and Randy demonstrate their weight loss regime
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Activities at Sea:
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Map of our cruise in the Eastern Caribbean
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We spent the first 2 days on the boat at sea. The first evening Randy struggled with a touch of the Mal de Mar (as did others) while the ship was in some rough waters.
The captain charted a different course and by morning things were fine. During the day, Bethany spent the day besides the pools top side reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Randy stayed on the shady side of the ship on the Promenade deck knocking out 1776 and The Great Influenza and attending the occasional art auction (no he didn’t buy anything).
At night, the entertainment was pretty good. We figured before hand that we watch a number of movies but only ended up watching only the last 2/3s of Jaws.
There were just too many other choices that we couldn’t readily get at home.
We enjoyed a couple of funny comedy and musical acts; Bethany did Karaoke and line danced (Randy’s dancing was very limited due to the unsteady footing thing).
We also experienced the musically styling of Bert with an E, a piano lounge singer that was a favorite with some.
Activities on Land:
Our first day at port was on the US Virgin Island of St. Thomas. The planned shore excursions either didn’t interest us or seemed overpriced and making other plans seemed like too much effort, so we winged it.
Just off the cruise ship dock we and most of the rest of our group took the tramway to Point Pleasant for a nice view of the bay and town, though at $18 per person was overpriced.
We than all walked the mile and a half into the town of Charlotte Amalie and perused the shops.
If you’re interested in duty free jewelry, watches, perfume and rum, this is the place.
Otherwise it just typical tourist stuff. Nonetheless, the creamed rum was a pleasant surprise and we brought a couple bottles unmolested onto the ship despite all sorts of warnings that the ship would sieze and hold it for the duration of the trip.
On Thursday, we stopped at St. Marten/St. Martin a former Dutch and French colony.
Our group rented a bunch of jeeps for the day and after a few Amazing Race like moments to begin with, the groups dispersed for a day of sight seeing around the islands.
We paired up with Uncle Barry and Aunt Clarice and had a very pleasant day.
The highlights included: election banners for 12 candidates on the Dutch side of the island (they were all the same style: big candidate picture and number with a smaller name and campaign slogan; no. 4 looked like a winner!); drinking beers on the beach below the airport approach way (did Bethany drink for free??); 3 short rainstorms requiring a stop to put up the top; the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, immediately adjacent to a Casino (we may need to return when looking at schools for the girls); the local Guava berry rum (not a pleasant taste) and the playing in the surf at the beach.
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Randy and Bethany on the airport approach way beach on St. Maartin
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Bethany drinking for free on the airport approach way beach on St. Maartin?
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For days Randy jokingly suggested that perhaps the men should get together one day and go “shelling”, offering the Orient Beach location on the French side of St. Martin as plan A (pretending to be blithely ignorant that it was noted for topless and nude sunbathing).
No one really chimed in, in support of the idea and there were a number of beaches on the island.
At the halfway point of our circumnavigation of the island, we met up with Van and Lisa.
They were heading to Orient Beach and without any input from Randy, the rest of the group decided that was a fine idea.
When we finally arrived at beach, Randy was chagrined that the rest of the clan beat us there and was already on the beach.
Reportedly, others noted some sunbathers enjoying a true European experience but Randy didn’t see anything beyond a couple of old pot bellied men in Speedos.
Lisa has a waterproof case for her digital and we literally took hundreds of pictures playing in the surf, with some actually turning out pretty good.
Friday we stopped for a day at the Princess Cay private beach on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.
It was a lazy day spent lounging and reading. Before leaving, Randy bought some souvenir conch shells, talking one gal down to 3 for $10 instead of the $4 each price she originally quoted.
Swinging through the gift shop at the airport before returning home, similar shells were 4 for $10.
You know you got took when the airport gift shops offers better prices. Nonetheless the girls were quite pleased with their shells and Jane took one in for show and tell.
At the end of the trip, the group came up with a number of superlatives to recall the high and low lights including the following, which will appear later with pictures:
We returned home from our cruise to the great delight of the girls who tended to be a little clingy for a while. We happily obliged them.
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Cate and Jane waving
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Randy gets some help finishing his dinner
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Jane's First Haircut
The beginning of February saw Jane get her first haircut.
The bottom ends had gotten too stringy to manage, so Bethany lopped off about 2 inches.
It still hangs below her shoulders and looks a lot more controlled. It’s kind of fun to note that Cate is 20 months younger, and beat her older sister to the haircut world by half a year.
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Jane's first haircut
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Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras
We made Valentine’s Day cards for the family featuring the girls once again this year.
Trying to get two toddlers to pose with fake bows and arrows without whacking each other in the eye and smiling toward the camera was as difficult as it sounds.
I’m glad we don’t do this for a living.
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Jane and Cate Valentine Day Card
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For Mardi Gras we didn’t go to any of the Soulard parades and events or even celebrate with something as pedestrian as having red beans and rice for dinner (a far cry from either of Bethany or Randy’s lives 5-10 years ago).
The girls did dress up for the occasion and enjoyed wearing beads. Well it is a shadow of our former selves.
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Jane and Cate ready to celebrate Mardi Gras (if only their parents would take them)
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Trout Fishing in Webster Groves?
On Friday night of President’s Day weekend the girls got to go to their first concert as Trout Fishing in America (TFIA) came to the Webster Groves Congregational Church.
TFIA is the incongruitous musical duo of the six feet nine inches Ezra Idlet on guitar and the five feet five and one-half inches (on a damp day) Keith Grimwood on bass.
They specialize in an infectious mix of folk/pop and family music tempered by the diverse influences of reggae, Latin, blues, jazz and classical music (I stole that line).
Randy’s been a fan since 1994 and has been brain washing…er…exposing the girls and anyone else he can since then.
So when they came to our own town, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
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Cate Bethany and Jane getting her concert T-shirt autographed from Keith of Trout Fishing in America
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They played all our favorites including the nursery rhyme polka “The Window”, “My Hair Had a Party Last Night” and most of all “What I Want Is A Proper Cup of Coffee”.
During the intermission, Jane got a T-shirt and had it autographed by both of them in true groupie fashion (Cate got the autographed CD and will inherit the shirt in about 2 years).
When their second set ended at 9 pm (it was primarily a kids show), both girls were glad to call it a night.
Somehow I doubt we, the parents, will enjoy the concert going experience nearly as much in about 10 years or so and they’ve coerced us into taking them to see the latest nauseating teen pop star, heart throb.
President’s Day 15 Minutes From Heck
Over the course of 15 minutes, we discovered a burst water line in the garage that shorted out the garage door opener and the driveway light; a puking child (Cate) and another with exploding diarrhea (Jane).
Fortunately we were both there and we’re experienced enough to handle it all with a nonchalant aplomb.
The broken pipe was caused when the garage door got possessed and opened of its own accord on the coldest day of the year after we neglected to redrain the outside faucet line after a car washing episode a month earlier during one of our 70 degree days this winter.
The girl’s sickness was a stomach flu episode that lasted about 5-6 days for each and caused us to cancel a planned family road trip to Fort Worth for one of Randy’s research trips.
The wash machine and dryer were kept very busy that week.
Another Episode of the World According to Jane
Jane’s projection on to what’s happening to Bunny is always interesting, as it tends to mirror what her concerns or thoughts are.
In case we needed to be reminded what kind of winter it was, Jane provided the following observations over the course of a couple weeks, often repeating symptoms:
- Bunny is sick
- Bunny has a bad, bad cough
- Bunny threw up all over the bed and made a big mess
- Bunny needs a bucket.
Spring Road Trip
Winter ended with a family road trip to DC accompanying Randy on a research trip with our now standard stops along the way to visit with family in Indianapolis, WashPA and Pittsburgh.
We left St. Patrick’s Day and descended on the Indy Sages home for what has become a quarterly (?) gathering of the cousins that was enjoyed by all.
Staying with people who have kids roughly the same as yours is a true blessing as their house is already set up to cope with them and they tend to be able to entertain themselves once they’re toddlers.
It certainly the most relaxing for the parents who don’t have to be on guard about poor behavior at a restaurant or if they were going to break something with fewer options in our bag of disciplinary tricks (allowing them to scream about the injustices they’re receiving at the will of their megalomaniacal parents is one thing at home but not generally looked upon positively in public).
In Pittsburgh, we had a very pleasant visit with Aunt Katie and Uncle Don with the expected talking until past mid-night about family and politics.
We celebrated Katie’s 50th birthday a week early with a fake out cake and present to divert suspicion for the surprise party the following week (see below).
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Cate and Jane help Aunt Katie blow out her candles at her fake-out party
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We got to DC on Sunday afternoon and were delighted to see that the pear trees that line many of the streets in the Greenbelt area were just beginning to bloom.
While the architectural surroundings aren’t the same, the blooms were perhaps as stunning as the famous cherry trees on the Mall.
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Cate and Jane with the Pear trees in blossom outside the Greenbelt Marriott.jpg
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The trip also saw us transition from the Pack-N-Play crib to an inflatable sleeping bag for Cate in the hotel rooms. Getting her to stay in her sleeping bag to go to sleep was a bit challenging (especially with the “no screaming” policy hampering things), and by morning the first couple nights she had half fallen out but it was a start.
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Cate sleeping bag snafu
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On Monday night, we made a 40-minute driving tour of Georgetown, Dupont Circle, the Mall etc. with Randy’s college buddy Kent.
When we came down 16th Street and were looking at the White House, the following conversation took place:
Randy: “Jane, look there’s the White House. That’s where the President lives.”
(pause while it occurs to Randy to inspire high ambitions in his off spring, no matter how corny it sounds).
“You know you could be president and live there someday too.”
Jane (crying instantly at the statement): “I don’t want to be president.
I don’t want to be president….”
…wise beyond her years this one.
On Tuesday (the equinox), it got cold and the TV media was hyping the threat of lots of snow (an Indian? winter day), which didn’t happen.
Anyway, Bethany took both girls to the movies to see “Curious George” at a matinee, spending more on the snacks then the tickets.
Still Cate enjoyed her first popcorn eating and cinema going experience (though we will have to work on her talking to the screen).
On Wednesday, the weather improved, so Bethany and the girls rode the Metro downtown and walked past the White House and Washington Monument before spending a couple hours at the Natural History museum.
The girls dutifully visited the dinosaurs to please their absent father.
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Cate and Jane admiring(?) the Triceratops at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum
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However, they were most interested in the amphibian, reptile and insect exhibits.
For some reason, Cate is completely jazzed about turtles the last month or more, taking great delight in pointing them out and holding the couple figurines we had.
The various tortoise and turtle displays were definitely to her liking. That evening, we drove up to Ellicott City outside Baltimore to visit another of Randy’s college buddies (Brad Kline) and his family, whose kids are within 6 months of ours.
The kids all happily hit it off playing energetically (singing “Ring Around the Rosie”, everyone’s favorite song about the plague) and by the end of the evening were hugging.
The kid utopia made for a stress free evening, as the parents got to talk without the concern and eat the home cooked Indian food provided by Angula.
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Cate Asha Jay and Jane
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Thursday was a day of regrouping after the bustle of the previous day.
A couple of Randy’s co-workers joined us for dinner for the second night and were unphased and even enjoyed the girl’s antics at dinner.
It’s easier when they’re not yours I suppose. On Friday, we drove back to Pittsburgh.
On Saturday morning, we went and visited one of Bethany's friends from college Heather and her family.
Since they're expecting, the presence of our 2 toddlers offered a possible preview of how
their 5 year old Madison, only child would handle having a younger sibling.
As we saw with ours, sharing is not a natural trait but a learned one.
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Jane, Bethany, Cate, Heather and Madison enjoy each other's company (OK, well one of them is smiling)
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After that we made the trip down to Wash., PA to see Aunt Sissy and meet up with Amy, Alvan and Rosemary who had just arrived in the area.
Besides visiting their great great aunt, going to WashPA gave us the chance to stock up on our favorite regional beers we cant' get at home (Yuengling and Schaefer Light) and
pickled eggs.
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Cate Jane and their Great-Great Aunt Sissy
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We left in the the afternoon to prepare for Aunt Katie’s surprise 50th Birthday party.
The party was a huge success as she was completely surprised and thoroughly pleased.
We headed home the next day but not before visiting the historic Fort Pitt area downtown (only one of us really enjoyed it) and visiting Katie and Don at their home with the whole gang.)
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Jane, Randy and Cate goofing around on top of the fountain at Point Park in downtown Pittsburgh Sunday morning
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Gramy, Aunt Katie, Bethany, Jane and Rosemary Sunday morning
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