In which one niece loves me and one niece doesn't

 About 2 months ago I was finishing up my clinical hours for my nurse practitioner program and I had to take a practice test for my comprehensive exam to graduate from school.  I studied and felt ready and so I took the test....I barely passed.  It was by such a slim percent that I passed that it scared the crap out of me to think about the real comprehensive exam and my board certification test.

I panicked and decided RIGHT THEN that I needed to take a review course for my boards.  I figured it would help on both exams.  The comps exam is supposed to test my knowledge of all (3 years) of my masters education and my masters education is what is supposedly preparing my to be a NP.  So, it made sense, taking a review course was just the ticket.

So I searched and searched and there were no review courses in San Diego for the next 6 months or so.  I contemplated heading over to Phoenix for a course, which would have added the cost of driving, hotel rental, and food, but it seemed like a good option considering that it was the closest review to SD.   Then, I had a brilliant idea...maybe there is a review course in St. Louis sometime soon?  Yep, turns out it was timed perfectly for my studying and test schedule and also was a course that a fellow classmate had recommended. Perfect! I signed up for the course and booked a flight.  Of course with some extra time to hang with the family.

Even luckier for me was the fact that my brother and sister-in-law had recently sold their condo and were in the process of looking for a new house so they were staying with mom and dad too.  When I travel to St. Louis I usually get to see my nieces and nephew in little spurts, but this time it was non-stop.  I loved it.  My sister also drove home and spent some time with me which was great.  She used to blog too and I think she should re-up this space and entertain us with her tales of teaching.

To introduce the cast of nieces and nephew.....Benjamin (Ben, Benny, Buddy, Benji, etc.) is 3, and the girls, Elisabeth (Biffy) and Alaythea (Laythie bear), are 18 months old.  Ben and Alaythea were open and excited to have a new person around to play with, read with, and cuddle with.

But that Elisabeth.  She wanted nothing to do with me. At all. For the entire week.  At first my mere presence in the same room with her would cause an outbreak of tears. By the second day, it moved to standing in the same room was ok, as long as I didn't make eye contact.  By day 3-4 a little eye contact was tolerated but careful...not for too long!  Finally by day 5-6, I could make eye contact and even play silly games and make faces across the room.  Even got a few smiles out of her.  I thought I was doing great and I should definitely be able to play next to her or even hold her--NOPE!  She was not having any of that!  It was actually quite comical.  I will admit that on the last day, literally as I was saying goodbye to them, she tolerated me holding her and there was a photo snapped of it for proof.  Here are some pics of these cuties:

Alaythea

Laythie bear bed head

Big brother Ben

The girls in their seats

A small smile from the elusive Biff

Benny helping papa fix the umbrella

Smiley Lathie

Benjamin and I having s'mores by the fire

And I did do some other things while I was in the Lou.  My parents took my sister and I to  a Cardinals game.  It was a good game, and we won!  Great seats too! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Can you see the arch cit into the grass?

See you on the flip side St. Louie.

Island time...

Noell and I have birthdays that are close together (me 11/27 and her 12/10; go ahead and start planning what to get us next year).  For our birthdays this year, we decided to go on a little trip to celebrate together and we planned it for the first weekend in December.  Thanks to it being the off-season for Catallina, we decided we would take advantage and head to the island.  Noell found a screaming deal on Groupon and we  booked the weekend.

The week leading up to the trip we were both really stressed and busy.  It really didn't seem like we had time to go away for one of the few precious weekends left before Christmas.  I was thinking of all that needed to be done to prepare for Christmas, to finish for school, and prepare for Noell's parents to come for the holidays.  Noell was busy with her new business space and her clientele was increasing by the day.  We didn't really talk about these feelings beforehand but we both felt it.  The tension in the house was obvious to both of us.

During the drive up to Dana Point, we already started to decompress.  We actually had time to chat and catch up on things that we were so busy we had glossed over lately.  We got on the ferry to head to Catalina and about one hour later, this is what we saw...

It was beautiful.  The fog was just lifting, the cute little town of Avalon built into the side of the island was so cool to see as we pulled up.  We got picked up by the hotel shuttle and settled into our room.  We checked out the happy hour at the restaurant bar in the hotel and then headed into town to check it out.  We got some Chinese food the first night, and walked around enjoying the Christmas lights and decorations.

Hot and sour soup.

Avalon at night.

The next day we got up and went for a hike.  We walked over to the Conservancy on the island and got a map of hiking and camping spots for future use.  We walked up to the botanical garden and the Wrigley Memorial.

Fuzzy cactus.

From the top of the memorial monument.

Us at the top.

We had a nice dinner that night, and then headed over to a different restaurant for a nightcap.  We played cards in our hotel room both nights, this isn't the first vacation that we have played games.  We seem to be in the mood to just spend some quality time together while we are away.  We don't always seem to find the time for that at home.

Nightcap: Cider for me, whiskey for her. 

Cozy bar seating.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast at our hotel, it was delicious!  French toast and omelets, yum! Then we headed back down to catch the ferry back to the mainland.

Waiting for the ferry.

At first this trip seemed more like a hassle than a getaway but in the end it was really a great time for us to relax and re-connect right before the holiday busyness.


And here is a little holiday goodness for you to enjoy if you haven't already seen it!