Bahamas - New Year 2015-16

We had the amazing fortune of ringing in 2016 in Nassau, Bahamas with some of Rich's family. We spent just over 5 days there, in a condo on Sandyport Beach, and we did not bring Valerie, so this was classified as a "vacation" and not just a trip. My dad, the best grandpa in the world, came out to Palo Alto to stay with her while we were gone, so we knew she was in great hands.

It would be an understatement to say I was looking forward to this vacation.  We were gone Saturday-Saturday, and spent our first night away in Charlotte, NC, since our flights worked out that way, so 6 nights on the island - a whole week away. Sun, beaches, cocktails, mimosas, sleeping in... no potty training, no laundry, no tantrums, no time-outs... yes, this would be glorious.

It was glorious. The weather was perfection. I nearly forgot what maximum humidity is like, living in dry California. Wet things dry very quickly here. In the Bahamas, the bathing suit I wore on Monday was still slightly damp when we left on Saturday. When I got home and hung it up, it instantly finished drying. Things drying fast is nice, but I really don't mind humidity very much. My skin felt so wonderfully moisturized there, my lips did not crack and peel, and my face was not flaking and parched. I soaked that up while it lasted.

We had so many fun adventures throughout the week, with much thanks to Susan's stellar planning. Monday we had a chill day while most of the group went to the Atlantis, and we enjoyed frosty beverages at the Twisted Lime and naps on the gorgeous Sandyport Beach a few steps from our condo. We had planned to get a weekly pass to the gym across the street that morning, but it was closed for the day, and then we never made it back the rest of the week so... oh well. I ended up doing beachfront yoga 3 days out of the week so it wasn't a total loss on the fitness front.

strawberry daiquiris and mango passion at Twisted Lime - yum!

Sandyport Beach

Obviously, mimosas are an important part of a true tropical vacation

Tuesday, those of us who didn't go to the Atlantis got all-inclusive day passes to the Breezes resort at Cable Beach down the street. That day was amazing. There was a yoga class by the pool when we got there so I started with that, then a pina colada and lunch, then ocean kayaking, lying on the beach, more drinks, more kayaking, and finally more lying on the beach. Five stars, Tuesday.

Cable Beach, at Breezes

the pool at Breezes

yoga!

Rich and his dad sailed the sailboat

Wednesday we took an hour-long boat ride to the Exuma Islands where there were iguana and stingray feeding, shark wrangling, open bar, snorkeling, lunch and the most eyegasmic brilliant blue water you will see anywhere on earth. Absolutely stunning for photos - we took a lot of photos that day.

feeding the stingrays

Rich wrangling the shark

omg that water tho

right!?!?!?!

the whole Exuma crew

Thursday was New Year's Eve, and we went to Blue Lagoon with Adam, Justina, Whitney and Kelly. Again... such a fun day. I almost bailed on going because I got sunburned on Wednesday, but I'm glad I decided to go after all. I wore my rash guard and visor and tried not to get too much sun. We played in the floating inflatable park (where Justina, Kelly and I were starkly alerted to our lacking upper body strength as we could barely pull ourselves up onto the floats) - it was a blast though. We bounced on the trampoline, went down the slide, and crashed into the water like kids. In fact I think we were the only adults playing in that park, it was mostly kids. Then we did the water slide and obstacle course that were on land. Also very fun, except when we crashed into each other at the bottom of the slide. We ate lunch and got yards of mudslide and chilled in the hammocks for a while, played cornhole and jumbo connect four, and then went to see the dolphins and sea lions until it was time to take the boat back to Nassau.

that's us on the trampoline

excellent enormous alcoholic milkshakes

Kelly got the best pictures! she is awesome

Thursday night a local chef came to the condo to prepare a Bahamian New Year's Eve dinner and we had pina coladas and feasted and listened to Kevin (Sara's late father)'s tropical music before a champagne toast on the pool deck at midnight. Some of the group headed out around 1 am to go to Junkanoo, the local New Year celebration. The thought of heading out to a very loud, crowded place at 1 am was utterly repugnant to me, so I went to bed instead and had no regrets, though everyone who went said they enjoyed it.

the ladies! champagne toast

the whole group on NYE

Kelly took this at midnight! this is amazing! thank you Kelly!

Friday, New Year's Day, was our last day, and I had a lazy morning and then did 108 sun salutations on a ledge overlooking the ocean, and then jumped into the ocean, which felt absolutely incredible after the sweat and exhaustion of 108 sun salutations. I got the idea from yoga_girl on instagram and it was the perfect start to the new year. I didn't even know if I'd be able to do 108, but I did, and I felt like a champion afterwards. I was really soaking in that moment and feeling that life is good, that I am unbelievably lucky and every day on this bright blue earth is a gift. It looked particularly bright blue from that beautiful spot.

Speaking of that beautiful spot... a few words must be said about the condo we stayed in. It was.... well, it was memorable for sure. It had SO MUCH potential. The location was incredible. Right on the beach, walkable to restaurants and a gym, and super close to the airport. And it had an awesome, huge main area with doors opening out onto the pool deck. Too bad some of the doors didn't open, one was full of broken glass, and some had the handles broken off. The pool would have been so great... too bad it wasn't heated or filtering, so was basically unusable. It was usable the first day, but then it started looking green as the days went by, and I'm too much of a weenie to get into ice cold water anyway so no go for me.

the main area

thanks to Clare for taking pics of the condo!!

So many little things that should have been there, like toilet paper, towels and trash cans. We found one tiny trash can in the entire 7 bedroom condo.

the only trash can

A few light fixtures were broken, with broken glass on the ground. The kitchen had no oven and looked pretty thrown-together on a minimal budget but it was fine for our purposes. The biggest fail for me was that when the first of our group arrived, the property manager was sitting on the couch watching TV, and the dishwasher was packed full of nasty, dirty dishes from the last renters. JUST EW. She was dead to me after that.

While we were promised Wi-fi in the condo, only one small area along one wall received a signal. This actually ended up working out all right because it prevented us from being on our phones all the time all over the condo, but still... seriously?

here we are at the wi-fi wall on our devices

And while not technically a problem, each of the bathrooms in the bedrooms had a window to the attached bedroom, without curtains or anything to cover them. So, if you went into the bathroom in your bedroom to shower or use the toilet, anyone in the bedroom could see you. I'm sorry but THAT IS WEIRD AND UNCOMFORTABLE for me. I mean okay, I only shared a bedroom/bathroom with my husband, so not THAT crazy, but still!!! Doesn't everyone want total privacy for pooping? WHY WHY WHY would you put a window between the bathroom and bedroom? So you can see the ocean while pooping? Does not compute. Lose the window, bring back privacy! So weird.

this was our bedroom, featuring, on the left, the window to the bathroom, and to the right, tiny inadequate curtains

The worst thing of all was the tub/shower situation. This was also probably not the manager's fault, since we were told water pressure is a problem all over the island, but most of the bathrooms had tubs rather than showers, with a handheld shower sprayer and incredibly sad, slow water pressure. Two thumbs down from me. When I come in from the beach all sandy and salty, I want a hot, high-pressure SHOWER, to blast all the grime off. Not a cool, slow-trickle of water drizzling from a handle that I have to direct myself. When we came home on New Year's Eve and several of us tried to shower at once, the water completely stopped after I had soaped myself up and I sat shivering and soapy for a few minutes before I figured out I could turn the knob all the way to cold to get three or so drops per minute to rinse the soap off. It was the single worst "shower" of my entire life and it took everything in me to contain my rage and not burn the place to the ground.

the tub nightmares are made of

A few other complaints, in no particular order:
-A break-in at the condo next door to ours (scary!)
-Housekeeping only one day, should have come 3 more times
-The front door loudly scraped the floor when opening or closing
-Nasty stains all over the tablecloth
-The curtains did not cover the windows in the bedroom - very bright in the morning
-Empty mounts in the walls where TVs should have been
-Did I mention the shittiest water pressure in the history of plumbing?
-Mattresses on floor / no bed frames, crappy bedding
-A rat

the door that scraped the floor

Also, unrelated to the condo, I got absolutely eaten alive by mosquitoes. Skip this paragraph if you are squeamish. It is gross. By the last day I had at least 20 bites, mostly on my legs, feet and ankles, and most of them were itching me to death, extremely swollen, red, and leaking pus. I fantasized about clawing at my bites with sharp bristles until they bled. Another thing to appreciate about California: so few mosquitoes. I hadn't been bit since we moved here. Possibly the single greatest thing about California.

Okay, all of that being said - we had the best time on this trip and will look back and laugh about all the "problems." It was an interesting mix of beautiful, awesome and total shit. And as much fun as we had, I was so, so happy to be home when it was over, and bask in my shower with adequate water pressure, and sleep in my own bed in my own dark room. And poop in privacy. And know that there are no rats, and no mosquitoes.

It was still a real vacation, and we got to rest and relax, and enjoy the perfect weather, the sun, the gorgeous beaches, and quality time with family. When we got home, Valerie was soooooo happy to see us. Even weeks later, she still sometimes says, "Mommy/Daddy, you came back!  I'm so glad you came home!" She really missed us, and we missed her, and there's really nothing better than coming home to your baby refreshed and thrilled to spend time with her. A lot of parents aren't able to get away very often, if at all, and we are so fortunate to be able to. Life is good. It's really, really good.

And, if someday an epic plague wipes out the entire mosquito population on earth, preferably before this summer, I won't even be a little mad.

Fogarty Winery Dinner, Pescadero, Time Change Fakeout

It was a busy October for the Timm family! We kicked off the weekend of the 24th and 25th with a crazy mishap-filled Friday night adventure.

 The biodesign program hosted its annual dinner at the Thomas J. Fogarty Winery for all the fellows, faculty, sponsors, and their spouses on Friday night October 23rd, so we had secured our babysitter for the evening and were looking forward to a fancy date night out. I picked up Valerie from school, made sure the house was clean and started getting myself ready, and then the misadventures began.

I had asked the sitter to come at 6, and at 6:10 there was no sign of her, so I sent her a text to make sure she was still coming.  She responded, "Hi! I'm so sorry! I'm at the hospital! I fractured my ankle. I wasn't even thinking" ... so we began to panic. First I called our other sitter, who was just leaving to go to her school dance. No dice there. Then we thought of Rich's colleague with a one-year-old son, who also had a babysitter for the evening; maybe we could share their sitter? We were brainstorming options when our sitter said, "I just talked to the doctor and will be leaving soon. I can be at your house in 20 minutes." WHEW! She would be a half hour late, but at least we could still make it. Crisis averted!

Rich had called Andrew, his colleague with a little boy, and he and his wife were looking for a ride to the winery, so since we were running late anyway, we agreed to give them a ride. Rich told them we would probably leave around 7.

Our sitter showed up just as she said, about 6:35, and seemed to be walking just fine, thankfully. Then we waited for Andrew and his wife Katie, who were taking an Uber to our house. We got in the car so we were ready to go, and they came a few minutes after 7, so we headed out. The event started at 7, and it would take about 40 minutes to get to the winery, so we were running about 45 minutes late but hoped to still make it before the sit-down dinner started.

We had just started the winding ascent into the mountains when the gas light came on and we realized we needed to stop for gas, and there would be no more gas stations on our route. We would have to turn around, drive 10 minutes back to the main road, get gas, and start again. At this point we had to laugh at the comical progression of the evening thus far. Would we ever make it to this doomed dinner?!?  And why didn't we bring some hard liquor!?

We found gas (unfortunately, no liquor), and started back into the mountains, with a new goal arrival time a few minutes past 8:00.

This time, we made it all the way there. It was pitch black out, but we could see this was an absolutely breathtaking spot with an incredible view of the bay from the mountains. We walked around for a bit trying to find where we were supposed to go, and made it just after everyone had taken their seats for dinner.

We were sorry to have missed the delicious wines at the cocktail hour, but so relieved we made it! The rest of the night was wonderful. They featured an excellent chardonnay (which I usually don't like) and pinot noir, and a server brought me a fantastic green pea soup when I asked if the regular soup contained meat (it was made with beef broth). She asked what I would like for the entree, since the regular entree was a steak and halibut duo. She could either bring a vegetarian meal, or a double halibut - I went for the double halibut, and I am so glad I did!  The fish was melt-in-your-mouth perfection. I was so impressed; they are clearly accustomed to dietary restrictions around here!

The food, wine, atmosphere and company were outstanding. It turned out to be a great evening after we finally made it there. We definitely want to go back for a tasting one day so we can see the place in daylight! What a beautiful setting.

We had nothing planned on Saturday, so we did our usual workout shuffle in the morning; Rich went to the gym and I went to hot yoga, and we had a lazy afternoon of napping, relaxing and straightening up. After Valerie woke up we decided to drive to the beach at Pescadero for a quick hour before the sun set and then grab some dinner before driving back.

By the time we got to Pescadero it was after 5 and the temperature was dropping fast. The wind was blowing and I wished I had a hat, coat, scarf and pants. Sweet Valerie was happy in her bathing suit, running back and forth across the sand, until she wanted to cuddle in my lap under the towel at the end. Rich was in shorts and thought it was fine. Minnesotans.

After an hour I'd had my fill of shivering and we headed into town to find dinner. There were approximately 3 options, as Pescadero is an extremely tiny one-stoplight town. We chose the Pescadero Country Store, which looked cute from the front and had a sign that said "pizza." We had some tasty brick oven pizza, split a large beer and then the apple pie a la mode for dessert, which turned out to be HUGE and mostly crust. Then we went home, full and happy.

Sunday we had a full day planned, and I intended to go to hot yoga at 9 am before our lunch date in San Jose around 11, but it was not meant to be. The alarm clock next to our bed is one Rich had long before I met him, and it's programmed to automatically adjust to daylight savings time - but on the old schedule, before it got moved out a week. And Sunday, a week before the time change, was the day the clock thought it should fall back. This has been happening for years now and I still haven't learned to anticipate it. I laid around all morning, thinking I had time before I had to leave at 8:45, and then it hit me while looking at my phone that it was an hour later than I thought. ARGGG!!! I missed the 9 am yoga class so I went out for a short jog instead.

We drove down to San Jose at lunchtime to see our friends Anjuli and James, their daughter Kalinda (Valerie's same-age bff / sister from another mister) and their new house. It was a perfect afternoon. The girls ran shrieking around the house and the backyard, drawing with chalk, pouring water into cups, dressing up in tutus and having a ball together.

Our hosts made a most awesome lunch of wood plank salmon on the grill, salad with grilled carrots, bread and butter and fresh raspberries. It was all soo yummy, and even Valerie, the pickiest eater this side of the Mississippi, devoured every bite on her plate!  She does love salmon, carrots, bread and butter and raspberries, so the menu was perfect. It was so great to see them in the last few weeks before their new baby arrives, and so generous of them to offer to host us in the midst of getting settled in their house and preparing for the baby. We can't wait to meet the new addition when she's born!

We brought an extremely worn-out Valerie home for a late afternoon nap before our dinner guests arrived; one of Rich's colleagues and her boyfriend who was in town visiting from Belgium came over and we had a lovely evening talking and breaking bread with them (in spite of constant interruptions by Valerie until she went to bed).

I made a sweet potato/apple/pumpkin soup topped with spiced candied nuts and a dollop of goat cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches with apple, and caprese salad with balsamic glaze. I had a minor disaster and burned some of the spiced candied nuts but was able to salvage enough for dinner. Hate that! Burned wasted food just gets me right where it hurts, every time, and of course I feel the need to go through every last nut, saving what's salvageable. All that time spent sorting through the mess is the worst.

Anyway though, dinner came out pretty well, and Véronique and Moïse brought the most spectacular pear and Belgian chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream for dessert. My weird child did not like the tart and just wanted ice cream. I can only assume she will eventually grow out of her frustrating toddler-y food preferences. Lord knows I only wanted chicken fingers with honey mustard for the first twelve years or so of my life so there is hope for her.

It was another superb weekend with a few snafus thrown in to keep things interesting!

Epic Fail Sunday

Our family had a seriously rough day last Sunday. After our amazingly successful hike at Muir Beach the week before, we were bound to get wildly overconfident in Valerie's ability to accompany us on a hike and flame out spectacularly.

We thought we were being so reasonable. We did close to 7 miles at Muir Beach and thought we would attempt 3 miles at the Stanford Dish on Sunday morning. Only 3 miles! She can totally walk most of that, and when she's tired, we can take turns carrying her. We got this!

In hindsight, we obviously should have just brought a stroller. We wouldn't even have an interesting story to tell. "We went for a 3 mile walk at the Dish!" "Cool story bro."

this creature looks like it could probably walk 3 miles, no?

 Have you ever walked three miles with a whiny, exhausted, hysterical toddler? Allow me to recommend against it.

Our first mistake (well, after not bringing a stroller) was underestimating how long it would take to walk 3 miles at Valerie speed. Another mistake was not bringing any lollipops. I have learned the hard way that I need to always, always keep lollipops on me. They are the easiest way to keep her happy and occupied in any circumstances. Of course I brought none. We had plenty of water, trail mix, and cheetos for snacks, but a critical shortage of lollipops.

So very many mistakes.

We started out walking at Valerie's usual walking pace; the pace of a turtle on Ambien. Since the path starts out at a steep incline upwards, we were moving even slower than usual, which I would hardly have believed possible. We made it up the hill though, calm and intact. As we reached the top of the initial climb, she began to crash, crying for water and to be carried. Rich agreed to carry her on his shoulders most of the next mile or so, including one thousand water breaks, to the satellite dish, where we stopped for a snack break.

The paved path gets pretty close to the dish, but there is a chain link fence preventing you from getting right next to it, and when Valerie realized she couldn't get any closer, that was the last straw. Cue extreme meltdown. We were not quite halfway through our 3 miles and she was crumbling fast. We plied her with snacks and water but it was becoming clear she needed lunch and a nap, ASAP.

As if the situation wasn't dire enough, next we added marital conflict. We were walking a 3.2-mile loop, and we had gone about 1.4 miles at this point. We weren't sure of these exact numbers; we had a general idea, but Rich felt that we should go back the way we came since it was the shortest way back, and I wanted to stay on course to finish the loop since we were about halfway.

Neither of us would budge. We were at a standstill, and Valerie started walking down the path to finish the loop. I followed after her and waited for Rich to catch up to us. He came up, grabbed her and lifted her onto his shoulders, and turned and headed back the way we came. I stood there, dumbfounded and infuriated, and Valerie began to cry as she noticed I wasn't with them. I finally turned and ran to catch up to them, and continued running past them, still furious. Seeing me run past them sent Valerie into full blown hysterics. I finally slowed down, took her and carried her for the next stretch, and she stopped crying as long as I held her. Then we tried to get her to walk for a bit, but it was too late, she was distraught and wailed the rest of the way back.

oh look! a photo of us at the end of our hike

We made it back home for a long nap, but our day of fail was not over yet. We decided a nice dinner out would make for a better end to the day. I researched nearby restaurants that were kid-friendly, open later on Sunday, and had outdoor seating, and I thought either Coconuts caribbean restaurant or Vive Sol, a mexican place, sounded good. Rich picked Coconuts, so I jumped on the Opentable app and made a reservation for 7:30. They were only open til 8, but we had Valerie and would be eating quickly, so thought it should be fine.

We drove to Coconuts, parked in the garage, and walked over.... to a sign on the door that they were closed for a private party. This was particularly frustrating having just made a reservation. After a maddening exchange with the host, who did not seem to know what Opentable is, we left and went to Vive Sol, which was not on Opentable, but thankfully was open til 9.

Not so thankfully, we arrived at Vive Sol to learn they had a 45 minute wait for a table. Valerie was getting hangry by then so a 45 minute wait was a no-go. Crap! Now what? We needed to find something, fast. I looked at my map. Maldonado's Pizzeria was a block away. We didn't really want pizza but we were getting desperate. A comment on yelp said "This restaurant isn't a fancy place for a sit down, but that's okay..." so I thought, okay, it isn't much, but they must have some seating.

We zoomed over there to find that, nope... no seating. Just a takeout/delivery place. And we are now at three strikes. We are desperate. It's past 8:00. We need to feed our toddler before she explodes. WE WILL FIND FOOD SOMEWHERE IN THIS TOWN! We need a place that is open, with no wait, and seating at 8 pm on Sunday night. SURELY SUCH A PLACE EXISTS AND WE WILL FIND IT!!!!

Fortunately, on our fourth try, we succeeded. Amber India was another two blocks down, and I called them to make sure they were open and had no wait. Yes, they were accepting diners until 9:30. THANK YOU SWEET BABY JESUS. We will eat dinner! Valerie was crying at this point, bewildered by our many exits from and returns to the car.

We pulled up to Amber India, parked, and tried to calm her as we walked in. The host smiled at her  and she switched to shy mode, which at least was not active crying. We were seated at a table and I gave her a lollipop while we browsed the menu. Lollipop to the rescue! She was finally happy.

Now we faced another problem: what is this picky child going to eat at an Indian restaurant? Oh dear. Wait! How about naan? Yes, we'll get some butter naan, she'll eat that. What else? Naan doesn't seem like quite enough... oh! What's this chicken on a stick appetizer? Let's get that.

We ordered drinks, a beer and a cocktail, and our naan came, and Valerie devoured it as I set pieces in front of her. Okay. Everything is going to be all right.

My champagne cocktail tasted like the water of life. Happy bubbles on my tongue. We had the curried scallop appetizer, which was amazing. The first bite was pure, spicy, creamy relief from the desperation that had been building. I told myself to slow down, savor each bite, rather than scarfing it as fast as possible.

The chicken on a stick arrived and I was struck by brilliant inspiration: "Look Valerie, mmm! Chicken lollipops!  Here, have a chicken lollipop!" It worked. She ate 3 whole chicken skewers and all her naan, and her hanger subsided.

Everything we had was delicious. Navratan korma, chicken tikka masala, rice, naan, champagne, beer... we filled our bellies with our Indian feast and I decided I want Indian food for every meal from now on. Mmmmm.

Our epic fail Sunday had a happy ending and we discovered we can bring Valerie out for Indian food, which was the best and most unexpected thing we could have discovered. Chicken lollipops for the win!

And the next time somebody has the brilliant idea to bring a toddler on a hike... bring lollipops and a stroller. Noted.