Holiday Beginnings

TRAVEL WITH YOUNG ONES
For the past couple of years, traveling with the kids was something we did because we had to get to our friends and family. It had LOTS of rough patches but was worth it for the end result of seeing people. Now the kids are at an age where they can go without naps and do OK several days in a row. Plus, for them, the journey is JUST as exciting as the destination. Patrick has really taught me that with travel. When I first went on trips with him how he would remain so positive even in airport delays, etc and really make the most of it. On this mainland trip, we flew to Anchorage, drove to Homer and took the ferry back to Kodiak, so the kids got to experience all types of travel.

On the ferry ride, Nora once again got very sea sick. Poor thing. Stuey was perfectly fine in the 10-15 foot seas. I always got very sea sick on my dads fishing boat, so I can empathize. Sea sickness is the PITS. As we pulled into Kodiak, I asked Nora, "Do you want to ever ride the ferry again?" and she said, "yeah, Momma!" with a big smile. I gave them one dose of dramamine early in the trip but Nora declined a second dose because of how it tasted. I need to find some candy flavored ones....

THE CAR
We got Patrick a car to take over for his Chevy. (His Chevy has been an absolute LEMON. We got it new six years ago and the past several years we've had to put $2-3,000 in it every year. We think it was made on a friday...where the employees were thinking a bit too much about the weekend.) I absolutely love driving the hyundai, but couldn't envision having it as my own because it meant that Patrick would be in my purple Subaru with my bumper sticker collection. The stickers read "Mountain Princess", "Adventure Girl", "Its funny till someone gets hurt, then its HILARIOUS"-among several others. Last night he and I talked about this. I said, "hon, do you want me to have the stickers removed?". He said, "No, Zoya! It gives the subaru character. A sign of true confidence is being able to drive a car with mountain princess sticker!"

Zoya