Home sweet holidays

Despite the inauspicious way in which we departed, and our rootless, jet-setting movements during the month -- by my count I slept in 10 different cities, a bit fewer for Karen and the kids -- our holiday time in the USA was truly great. We arrived in what was, by all accounts, pretty rough shape. All four of us in varying states of illness and fatigue. Insomnia, laryngitis, nauseau and pinkeye all among reported symptoms. To our good fortune, we were awaited by the welcoming arms of the Howell grandparents, the Ellis sibling/cousins, Punam, Natty, Uncle Buck, Denia, Nadya, Inna and others -- all of whom pitched in to get us back on our feet. Although the jetlag was not exactly easy (Parker had a few very early mornings to start with), by week two we were all pretty adjusted, rested, and on our way to feeling much better.

Click to see more photos of our visit

In all three of our primary locations -- Washington, Buffalo and Maplewood -- we had a great time, filled with family and old friends. DC highlights included: lots of hanging our on 2923 Macomb Street with family, reading of A Child's Christmas in Wales and an improv Christmas pageant, the 'traditional' Christmas steak & egg breakfast, trips around Washington to places like the Botanical Gardens and American Indian Museum, a great evening in Mount Ranier at the Ellises new place, late night Catan-fest on New Year's Eve and a trip down to see the Griscoms in Harrisonburg; in Buffalo: Grandma's 90th birthday, sledding, a visit back to the Drip coffee shop on Elmwood, the amazing Museum of Play in Rochester, buffalo wings, a fabulous weekend in Toronto (Karen can probably add more as I was traveling for part of the week); in Maplewood: time with some of our good friends from the 'hood, a swing by our old red ('reggie') home, and a visitation of the great new drive-through Dunkin Donuts that has recently made it to the neighborhood.

It was a fiendishly complex itinerary, but amazingly it all came together (including my brief criss-crossing of New York-Boston-Minneapolis-Austin-San Francisco for work). By the time the four week visit was up we felt more or less revitalized, renewed, reinvigorated and reconnected  -- with an injection of energy to tackle 2011 in London after what was an encouraging but challenging first few months. We were also looking forward to unpacking our suitcases and getting back to a routine again.

Unfortunately... 2011 in London has not exactly gotten off to any easy start. Indeed it kind of picked up where it left off: struggling with health issues. The main problem has been Parker, who has been sick from the day we flew back from New York a week ago. Started with a stomach bug -- which unfortunately meant not much sleep and lots of vomiting on the slight back -- and in the past few days has morphed into an upper respiratory infection that now has him in really rough shape (and precipitated his 5th trip to the A&E with me this afternoon). Poor little Parker, he has had such a hard time staying healthy these past few months, and we're very worried about him. (As I write I can hear him coughing from his room as he tries to sleep.) On top of this, the week was also complicated by a stomach virus that afflicted Karen, Sadie and Andrea the nanny (oddly, not me) -- passing after a couple of days but also resulting in more missed work, school and disrupted routine. Yuck!

So... we're back in London, optimistic about the coming year but most of all dreaming of getting everyone healthy and back on track. En shallah!