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Saturday, December 11, 2010

snow=winter (part 2)

And apparently it also means that I suddenly have the boon of extra time! Because I just posted all the comings and goings for October earlier, and now... onto November!

Oddly it seems that I gave my camera the month off because I took very few pictures. And oddly, I have very little memory of this month... it seems that it went by too quickly. So, I will try to memorialize what I do remember!

  • Ma and Baba (sorry... Didun and Dadu!) came to visit and we went to the Shenandoah one weekend. It was beautiful! Zoë really enjoyed seeing the deer playing. The timeshare location and the lodgings were very relaxing and peaceful.


  • We spent Thanksgiving weekend in New York City... visiting several friends and enjoying our time very much. Zoë was so oddly comfortable and at home there...given the amount of fussing in the car towards the end of our drive, she immediately became hyper-observant and interested as we entered the City-- pointing out "taxi!" and "choo choo" and mesmerized by the lights and tall buildings. Maryam had a beautiful apartment and was so sweet to share it with us and make us so comfortable. Simona made her first Thanksgiving meal, turkey and all, in our honor and it was delicious and lovely and ... TOO MUCH FOOD! Then Jen and Brendan hosted Fakesgiving and we went over in the morning. It was nice to be a part of the cooking-all-day and getting ready. We had a wonderful time... but Zoë was beginning a bad cold. We spend the rest of the visit much more low-key, resting and chatting with old friends. It was nice spending some time in the department (my previous second home!) catching up with Jacqueline (my Professor and a very supportive mentor).


  • After NYC, we all spent a week sick and struggling to stay afloat with our responsibilities... a depressingly common feeling this past year. It was frustrating to have been in NYC surrounded by support and friends, and return home where in our dark hours we feel so alone. It is better now. Partly it was a struggle because Mom had to participate in a Proposal Review panel and evaluating the proposals while sick was a challenge, and then leaving Zoë and Dad to stay in a hotel was hard too. But we all survived, and it was important and a great experience ... and in the end, it didn't kill us, but it did make us stronger!
  • snow = winter (part 1)

    Which means that I better get with the program and summarize the rest of our Fall :) The days are going by so fast that I didn't realize it's December and I blinked and then we are now halfway through this month! The good news is that December means the holidays and that means visiting California-- we are so excited! YAY...

    But hurry hurry... what happened in October and November?

    Well... in October, we played with pumpkins and had Halloween and Nina and Boris came to visit. Zoë was the moon for Halloween and Mama made her costume (with Zoë's help!) We practiced wearing the costume and that was good because she was so happy and comfortable in her costume during the Halloween parade at school. But, on Halloween... somehow we got off schedule and Zoë fell asleep when it was time to trick or treat! Then she awoke ready to go out at 9pm... when only the older kids were out. It was fun to surprise the homes when we rang the doorbell, the people would expect a grown up kid and be mildly shocked that a little toddler (cute as can be, might I brag) was there requesting a "treat"! It was, in fact, a fun little "trick" for us :).

    We also had a nice trip to the pumpkin farm and took a haystack ride on the tractor to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and then of course... carved them into sppooooooky Mr. P. Umkers.

    We had several other fun adventures like saying "au revoir" to Rinka and Rumadida, and wearing cute boots, and watching the leaves change color, and eating Butternut Squash risotto, and ... well, you can check out our pictures here for a summary of October, 2010.

    And though we have no visual record of this (shock!) we went to the Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert rally in D.C. with Nina and Boris and showed our support for sanity. Zoë slept.