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There's no place like home.

This photo is awful. But it is truly significant and meaningful -- and not just because our trips home to DC are numbered. Seeing the Welcome to Washington DC sign last night after more than five hours in the car was magical...

We are driving a 14 year old car with 125,000 miles on it. And, well, our little car is on her last leg. The trip to and from Pennsylvania required four quarts of oil -- yes, four quarts. The car is burning oil fast and hard. We are also having transmission problems. The combination of these two issues results in huge plumbs of white smoke coming out of our tailpipe as we go up large hills. We also have a loss in power and cannot get the car's speed to increase.

Things were bad on our trip to Pennsylvania. And worse on the way home.

We will not be taking this car on another road trip. We're praying she lives long enough for me to get through the semester. We're also praying that we can get at least $1,000 at trade in.

Obviously we are shopping for a new car. More on that to come...

WE DID IT!!

We did it; we finished the Philadelphia Marathon.

It was a good race. We went out hard and held on for a strong finish.

It was beautiful, but I missed the crowds of NYC and DC.

There was plenty of water and food, but when I needed a port-a-potty there were none to be found.

When all was said and done, it was a great race. I finished 8 minutes faster than my previous best time.

Here's a shot of me and my running partner/husband the day before the race.

It was a great weekend in Philadelphia. More details to come...

HOME

After...

1 high speed rail trip (1.5 hours);
1 taxi ride to a hotel;
1 night in a Taipei hotel (more on our swanky digs to come);
1 shuttle bus ride to the airport;
3 airplanes (Taipei to Tokyo to Detroit to DC);
2 metro trains; and
1 leisurely walk with two suitcases, a backpack, two carry-ons, a computer bag, and a stroller

we are HOME.

More than 25 hours of travel (thankfully broken up by a glorious night in a swanky hotel).

All of this with a toddler, who did NOT have her own seat on the airplane.

We had a wonderful time in Taiwan visiting family and enjoying everything there is to enjoy about Taiwan (highlight: all the yummy food). Many stories and pictures to come.

But for now... bed. I haven't slept in 25 hours and more than likely K will be up around 3am.

Here's to getting over jetlag quickly....

GIRL-CATION

Many years ago, my friend Becky left Washington DC.

She went off to Atlanta and then to Tampa.

I hate that she lives so far away. I hate that I couldn't tell her I was pregnant in person (I emailed her a picture of my positive pregnancy tests instead). I hate that she wasn't here the day K was born. I hate that she lives so far away and I cannot see her when I want to.

I last saw Becky in January. In March, my other friend, Andrea, and I started talking about going to Florida for a girl-cation sometime in the spring. Coordinating Andrea's work schedule, my school schedule, and Becky's CRAZY work/coaching schedule was not an easy task.

But we did it!

On Saturday morning, K and I left DC on an airplane (zoom, zoom - that's K's noise for an airplane) and flew to Florida. We were met at the airport by three of my good friends.

Girl-cation 2010 had officially started.

We started the weekend by grabbing lunch at the Taco Bus in Tampa. It was awesome. I had the butternut squash burrito and it was heavenly. K enjoyed it, too. Our first order of business after lunch was getting to the pool. Getting a toddler packed up, dressed, sunscreened, and to the pool is no easy task.

We lathered up.

We all got our flip-flops on.

And we went to the pool. YEAH!

On Sunday we drove out to DeSoto Beach. After one look at the beach and a quick dip in the water, I realized why this is one of the nicest beaches in the country: large sandy beaches, warm water, clear blue water, and no commercialization. It was delightful.

Here is out little water-baby running from the parking lot to the beach. She could not wait to get into the water and grab the waves.

K was a HUGE fan of the water; the sand not so much. I carried her the entire time we were at the beach. She wouldn't even stand on our beach blanket because it was "messy".

Yes, she is a little princess at times.

On Monday, we went for a morning walk at Lettuce Lake. I had high hopes that we'd see an alligator while out walking along the river.

We looked and looked.

But no alligators were seen.

K did manage to drop my Pittsburgh 1/2 marathon water bottle into the water. And although we didn't see any alligators, we made the decision that a water bottle rescue mission was not in the cards.

Bye-bye water bottle.

On Monday night we went to one of the county water parks where Becky was coaching her swim team. They were doing time trials; trying to get swimmers qualified for the Paralympic Nationals this summer. I really wanted to watch the swimmers. They are amazing - swimming with such disabilities yet striving to improve and get stronger and faster. They were inspirational to watch - even if it was for just a few short minutes.

K spent most of her time at this pool on the kiddie waterslide. Specifically, she sat at the top of the slide and put her fingers in the running water.

She would have sat in this position for hours if I had let her. And when I turned my head, she would quickly lick the water off her fingers. Little stinker doesn't understand the concept of DIRTY WATER.

Our girl-cation was over SO quickly.

If only the last 15 minutes of our flight home would have gone as fast. K screamed the entire decent. She kept complaining that her ears hurt and I know they did. I tried to get her to eat and drink, but she didn't get it. She just wanted to walkie right off the airplane (zoom, zoom).

It was a fabulous four days. While K slept during the evenings and at naptime, we big girls cooked wonderful meals together, enjoyed a good chick-flick, and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Here's to Girl-cation 2011...

BACK

We're back. K and I spent the past four days in Florida visiting with friends. We enjoyed a lot of quality time in the sun - at the beach and pool. We ate wonderful burritos and excellent fish tacos; not to mention some super brownies made by Andrea!

After spending numerous days doing nothing but what is pictured above, we're getting ready to get back into the swing of things at home. There's a dissertation to be written, laundry to be done, chores to attend to, and a birthday party and wedding to attend this weekend. We are busy, busy, busy.

On the way home, I got interviewed by one of the local news stations in Tampa. K and I, along with my two girlfriends, made the evening news. Email me or leave a comment if you'd like to see our TV debut.

OUR WINTER VACATION

Last Wednesday we took off for Colorado to visit good friends who relocated to Denver just six months ago. D was so excited to snowboard out West, I was looking forward to some time away, and we were both a little anxious to take K on her first airplane ride.

In short, the trip was fantastic.

The plane ride to Denver was a little rough on K, who had to wake up nearly two hours early to get to the airport and could not sleep on the plane (we even had an extra seat for her, but no sleeping).

In Colorado, we took a short trip into the mountains and did a little bit of hiking. I will stress the little bit because with two kids needing to be piggy-backed and an altitude of 8000+ feet we didn't do anything too stressful. But it was beautiful. We even saw a bear print in the snow. Here we are walking along with the kids. K was completely asleep on my back in this picture, which is why her head looks a little out of control. I didn't think she would sleep if I put her on my back. I was wrong.

D snowboarded on Saturday and had a wonderful time. He's still a little sore from the day-long adventure. K and I stayed home. Maybe next year we'll enroll her in ski school. 

We also did a lot of eating in Colorado. Our friends love food and know how to cook. On Thursday night their nine year old son made dinner for us - vegetarian 'beef' super tacos. [A super taco is a taco with ALL of the fixings -- avocodo, tomato, salsa, beef, sour cream, cheese. One word: delicious.] On Friday AND Saturday nights we had homemade pizzas. And they sure were good. Nothing short of extravagant. D learned how to toss a pizza crust in the air just like a professional. I did a lot of eating. My favorite pizza was topped with artichoke hearts and marinated picante peppers, as well as tomato sauce and a sprinkling of cheese. So stinking good. Pictured here is the pizza preparation area.

**Notice the four types of cheeses (not including mozzarella). It was so indulgent.

Our trip was over before we knew it. Traveling home was pretty uneventful. K did sleep on both legs of our trip. We are home and unpacked and so looking forward to our next trip to Colorado...