{"id":2431,"date":"2016-01-02T17:09:30","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T22:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themaddlife.com\/?p=2431"},"modified":"2022-01-17T11:31:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T16:31:16","slug":"christmas-break-a-little-bit-of-everything-a-lot-of-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/?p=2431","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Break – A Little Bit of Everything, A LOT of Fun!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day after Christmas we went to Richmond for the annual extended family Christmas celebration at Rita\u2019s.\u00a0 I have been going with Justin to these since 2002!\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 The celebration has dramatically changed over the years.\u00a0 Years ago there were tons of young kids and we all gave presents to everyone.\u00a0 Fast forward to present and most the cousins are grown.\u00a0 The young kids are now Avery, Emerson, and Harper and Heather\u2019s kids. Some people show up, others don\u2019t and the celebration is now centered around the meal and not gift giving and is the celebration seems much shorter than in years past (although I think it\u2019s probably the same).<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyway, the ride to Richmond was miserable\u2026.it took us close to 4 hours to get there and Avery threw up about 2 \u00bd hours into the ride.\u00a0 Thankfully Justin did a load of laundry when we got to Rita\u2019s and cleaned out the car there so we didn\u2019t have to ride the whole way home with the smell of vomit in the car.\u00a0 Thankfully the ride home took us just over 2 hours and passed by so quickly\u2026.probably because along with the kids I was dozing too, something I don\u2019t generally do when Justin is driving.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since we got back home in record time, we didn\u2019t have to stop at a fast food place for dinner, which was great, but also I hadn\u2019t planned anything at home and it was still close to 7:00.\u00a0 I decided it was the perfect night for Popcorn and a movie!\u00a0 The girls went nuts when I told them we would be having popcorn for dinner.\u00a0 Justin went the extra mile and while the girls and I got situated on the couch in the den, Justin put on his apron, came up with an accent that ranged from French to British to Indian and was HILARIOUS, and the next thing we knew Pierre the Popcorn guy was at our service for the next half hour.\u00a0 He brought us popcorn, drinks, and apple slices!\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we heard the first half hour of the movie since Pierre had us in constant laughter. After about a half hour, Pierre\u2019s shift was over and Justin joined us for the rest of family movie night.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ludmila\u2019s parents came to visit her for a few days after Christmas and she took the time off and is staying with them and sightseeing. Wednesday Ludmila and her parents came over for dinner. Ludmila requested my famous \u201cchicken balls\u201d.\u00a0 So I made chicken balls along with penne with a garlic lemon wine sauce topped with roasted heirloom tomatoes and basil accompanied with a mixed greens salad with roasted chickpeas, homemade croutons, and balsamic dressing.\u00a0 I should have taken a picture as the plating looked AMAZING but I didn\u2019t want to come across as cocky (even though I was doing the cocky dance in my head).\u00a0 Anyway, dinner tasted as delicious as it looked and I think her parents really enjoyed it. I know her mom especially was nervous about meeting the girls.\u00a0 She was concerned the girls wouldn\u2019t like her, but all three girls took to Ludmila\u2019s parents and I think her parents really enjoyed getting to experience the bond that Ludmila has with the girls.\u00a0 We ALL played ring around the rosie together and I think it brought out the inner kid in all of us!\u00a0 And Maddy style, we posed for a few pictures!\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

The next night was New Years Eve and our plans were to go to the Brophy\u2019s and spend the night along with the Niday\u2019s.\u00a0 Well the night prior Harper ended up getting sick\u2026fever of 102 and throwing up mucous\u2026.very unusual for her.\u00a0 She seemed okay the morning of New Year\u2019s Eve but having just had a fever and not really knowing if it would occur the following night we didn\u2019t think it was the smartest thing to spend the night out or expose her to our friends.\u00a0 I was disappointed but since we see the Brophy\u2019s and the Niday\u2019s fairly regularly I wasn\u2019t entirely disappointed.\u00a0 My parents ended up coming over to our house around 6:00 and they brought Chinese food.\u00a0 The food was okay but I didn\u2019t have any dinner plans since we had intended on being out.\u00a0 The girls went down before 9:00 and other than the half of glass of wine I had at dinner, I didn\u2019t have anything more to drink.\u00a0 We did stay up and I watched some of Dick Clark\u2019s New Year\u2019s Eve special from Times Square (a must of mine since I was about age 10 for it to truly feel like New Years Eve).\u00a0 Justin and I kissed at midnight and were in bed by 12:15\u2026well actually I was in bed with Harper by 12:15 as she woke up a few minutes after midnight and refused to go back down in her room.\u00a0 So she slept in my bed and Justin slept on the couch.\u00a0 The girls didn\u2019t wake up until almost 8:30 and as I told Justin I haven\u2019t woken up feeling so good on New Year\u2019s Day in quite some time!\u00a0 It actually felt wonderful to have had basically no alcohol the night before!\u00a0 Normally I get kind of bummed when I don\u2019t do something fun for New Year\u2019s but I felt totally content with staying at home and celebrating in my sweatpants!\u00a0 And by the way, I realized this was the 15 (YES 15th<\/sup>) New Year\u2019s Eve that Justin and I have spent together\u2026CRAZY!!!<\/em><\/p>\n

New Year\u2019s Day we managed to get out of the house by 10:30 and we headed to D.C via the metro!\u00a0 We actually first drove to Arlington and visited Daddy\u2019s office\u2026something the girls have been excited to do since Justin first told them of his intentions to bring them there over a year ago!\u00a0 We explored the totally open space concept and then went to lunch next door at the Green Turtle.\u00a0 Then it was finally time\u2026.we packed up the stroller and then walked to the Ballston metro.\u00a0 The whole car ride to Ballston Avery kept asking questions about the metro being underground and if she would get dirty. She couldn\u2019t quite grasp the concept of something being built underground.\u00a0 Avery was a little scared at first but quickly overcame that fear.\u00a0 Harper on the other hand was clenching Justin\u2019s hand the entire time to the Smithsonian stop. \u00a0Here we are awaiting for the metro. \u00a0\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

(None of the pictures are the best\u00a0quality as we were using our\u00a0iPhones and it was cold outside so not only were Justin and I in a rush to take the pictures, but the girls\u00a0wouldn’t stay still for any picture\u2026so all these pictures are more about documenting the event than they are good pictures). We got off at the Smithsonian exit and made our way to the Smithsonian. \u00a0\"\"\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

We spent some time exploring a few of the exhibits at the Smithsonian museum.\u00a0\"\" \"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Then the girls talked us into getting some popcorn.\u00a0 Emerson kept feeding the pigeons, which was scaring the crap out of Avery.\u00a0\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

This next picture of Harper I took and is such a bad angle that it makes her look like a giant with a pedestrian sign coming out of her head, but it makes me laugh.\"\" <\/em><\/p>\n

We then made our way to the Washington Monument at the girl\u2019s request, where they ran around for a few minutes.\u00a0\"\" \"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

We headed into the Freer muesuem for a few but only stayed in for a few minutes.\u00a0 Harper got a kick out of the Buddha\u2019s.\u00a0 Avery was trying to figure out where the arts and crafts were.\u00a0 The girls started to get a little cranky in there and it was well after 3:00 so we decided to call it a day and head back to the Metro.\u00a0 All the girls loved the metro ride back and even moved seats a few times throughout the ride.\u00a0 Emerson was standing and trying to balance without holding on.\u00a0\"\" <\/em><\/p>\n

The girls did great and it was relatively easy to get down there and it was fun!\u00a0 I\u2019m sure we will be doing it again sometime soon.\u00a0 The girls were exhausted and it wasn\u2019t long before we got out of the parking lot that all three of them were out in the car.\u00a0 At dinner, we all said several things about our D.C. Metro trip that we enjoyed most!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day after Christmas we went to Richmond for the annual extended family Christmas celebration at Rita\u2019s.\u00a0 I have been going with Justin to these since 2002!\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 The celebration has dramatically changed over the years.\u00a0 Years ago there were … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[35,74],"class_list":["post-2431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas","tag-winter-break"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}