Our trip to Tucson went fairly well. Kurt's purchase of an MP3 player in October made the trip a bit more enjoyable once we got some of my music on it. We were up until 2am the night before we left trying to add some of my CDs onto the MP3 player. It took us until that late to realize that one of my CDs (a recording of The Planets by Gustav Holst, one of my favorite symphonies) was somehow mucking up the MP3 player. So now I think I'll have to buy another recording of this symphony. Oh well. It's a good thing classical music is relatively cheap. :o)
Tucson was warm and beautiful, at least for the first couple of days. It managed to get downright chilly for the desert while we were there, and Kurt blamed it on me. I swear I bring bad weather to places that are supposed to have good weather all the time!!! Christmas 2002 we traveled to Yuma, AZ, to see some friends of Kurt's, and Yuma gets 363 days of sunshine a year. The two days I was there were the two days out of the year where it was cold, overcast, and gloomy. Then we decided to drive to San Diego from Yuma, and San Diego is supposed to be warm and sunny all year round. The day I went it was cold and rainy and gloomy. I think I brought the bad weather with me.
It's odd, though, having sunshine and warmth for Christmas. Most of the places I've lived have been cold at Christmas, so bright sunshine still feels weird to me. It's also odd that the sun is so bright in Tucson because even on sunny days here in Seattle, it's still a pale winter sun that just barely clears the horizon most days. I enjoy the sun in Tucson, though. It's my mini-vacation to a sunny place in the middle of winter to recharge my batteries. Otherwise, I think I'd go mad with the long, rainy Seattle winters.
Gracie was a hit in Tucson, of course! Kurt has mass quantities of relatives in Arizona -- he has more relatives that live in that state (and that's only half his family) than I have total! So everyone wanted to see the baby. I even met his dad's twin sister, who I'd never seen before for various reasons. And on Christmas Eve, Gracie managed to charm even Santa, who stopped by to wish us all a merry Christmas.
We also got to compare Grace with a baby that was born one week after Grace. Kaitlyn was two weeks early, and Grace was two weeks late. You can definitely see the difference in development between the two girls. Grace has completely graduated from newborn to full infanthood in that she's totally alert and aware, and she's interested in everything that's going on around her. Kaitlyn is two pounds lighter than Grace, and she's still a newborn. She slept through most of the Christmas Eve party, and when she did wake, she reminded me more of a newborn mouse than anything. She didn't really want to open her eyes to look around, and she cried to be fed with little mewling cries. Plus Kaitlyn still looks like a newborn, while Grace has always had the full cheeks and round face of an infant.
2005 is shaping up to be a good year. We own our own home, we have a beautiful daughter, and Kurt's deployment this summer should only be four months long. We have no concerns financially, and Grace seems to be a very healthy baby. What more could a family want?! :o)
I hope your 2005 is joyous and filled with much love and happiness!!