a vacation and a throughly soaked bum

Vacations are always so refreshing! Last year for spring break Emily, Joe and I went to NYC, the year before that I visited Joe in Portland and JP in Denver. This year took me from a blizzarding Denver back to a snow-less Minnesota! I love to travel, love getting to a different place so quickly and, once there, feeling as though I've barely left. This trip was a special treat for me because I hadn't thought I would be able to get home until after my trip, probably next Christmas. That would have been my longest time away from my Minnesota friends and family, and seemed so far away! Of course once I arrived I got right down to business and ate thai food four times almost back to back. In Duluth I talked at my parent's church and fundraised $200 for the trip! My mom tried her hand at homemade GF pasta and it turned out splendidly! I even heard that the leftovers were great, which is a true feat for that sort of pasta as it usually gets rubbery and inedible after a short amount of time. We relaxed at the beach and traipsed around Canal Park, played pool and stopped at Annie's favorite brewery for wild rice burgers that are to die for. Everything went by so quickly, but it was such a great distraction from real life work and school.

JP and the papa hiked at Tischer Creek on one of the gorgeous, sunshine-filled Duluth days and JP documented for me while I was busy shopping with my mom.

Looking for agates with Nora.

Snowy, weirdly blizzardy Denver kept me from my planned return flight and so I was treated to a bonus vacation day. Annie, my gracious host and even more gracious chauffeur this trip, and I got to spend the day together, getting out for a bike ride and run around Lake Nokomis and a day time tromp for little Abby. It was a perfect little extension of spring break, so much so that I almost didn't even mind the prospect of returning to work the next morning...almost.

Once back I had to buckle back down to training, and even though there was a slight drizzle Friday afternoon I figured I should brave the weather as most likely the trip this summer will not deliver two and a half solid months of sunshine. Geared up and ready for a 20 miler I headed out as the rain started to come down a little faster and thicker. It's nice biking in the rain most times, very solitary and meditative I think. For some reason, probably due in some part to my lack of training while vacationing, I was under the impression that I was biking against the wind and pushed forward to the 10 mile turning point, at which juncture I quickly realized that I had in fact been biking with the wind and was now in for a challenging back track. This would have been harder regardless of the rain, but as soon as I made my aboutface it started to hail. It started to hail in the direct path and angle of my face and eyes if I dared to lift either of these in an attempt to see the path in front of me. I had dressed for rainy, drizzly weather, not haily, wind whipping weather, and it turns out there is a pretty big difference although taking mental stock of my lycra-based choices I probably wouldn't have had too many other options anyway. I thought maybe I should stop under a bridge and wait it out, but as soon as I did this I realized that the sole reason I wasn't standing in the puddles of my own shoes was precisely because I was not standing and as soon as I changed positions I was sloshingly rewarded with two little miniature lakes inside of my shoes and socks. Showing no sign of ceasing I tried to keep going, but gave up when I realized that my hand were turning a purple-y shade of blue. Having no real idea of where I was in relation to things I would like to be near to, I picked up my bike and headed towards the road. I was in a warehouse district and spotted a mechanics warehouse with an open door into which I gratefully slipped. JP later told me I looked like a popsicle (probably in both color and demeanor) and so I shouldn't have been surprised when the men inside gave me such alarmed looks asking if I needed any help. They were more then willing to let me stand dripping all over the floor trying to warm up while waiting for JP to come rescue me. Clad head to toe in spandex, some portions of which are padded in a certain area which when wet give the distinct impression that the wearer is hiding a lumpy, very full diaper beneath her clothes was not the most pleasant thirty minutes I have ever spent. After getting home and peeling off all of my clingy, soggy, diaper-like garments I've never had more appreciation for my always absurdly overly heated apartment. Fortunately, for me and my remaining shreds of dignity, I have no photos to post of the hail face story so you can just go ahead and imagine drowned-rat-popsicle Elise in your head.

A Walsh family Christmas!

Christmas pictures this year were great and plentiful, which is extra good because I think my camera is on its very last leg after being dropped down the mountain at the hot springs..might as well go out with a bang though right? Here are a few:

Decorating the tree is one of my favorite favorites about Christmas. I LOVE it, and I love listening to Mannheim Steamroller while I do it and making my siblings put at least one ornament on the tree with me. It's just so nice to unpack them every year and see all the homemade crafts from first grade that are barely still together, the yearly Aunt Kathleen ornaments with each of our names written on them, and the Micah tin-hole punched ones. My favorite two are a Care Bear from the hospital after I was born and a man made out of beans from my godmother. Em and I used to scour the tree for a prime spot and set up a little town on the branches with all of the house and train and people ornaments we could find. See why I love it so much?!



This was the first Christmas without my Grandma, which was hard in a lot of ways. We lit this candle inside of a wreath and a barrier of ice for her and it sat on our front stoop all night on the windy Christmas Eve without blowing out. It felt like just the right way to honor her. Even though we didn't make it to Iowa for the first time in all my 25 years, I can see how our traditions will change and grow to be centered around our family and the families we will soon create, which is a nice thing to see.



Even though our kitchen is tiny, the six of us make it work more smoothly than would be thought possible. We made Arepas for dinner on Christmas Eve and Em took a break from avocado slicing to grab this shot.



As you can see, Dad is still quite the goof ball and is rubbing off on Mom! And yes, he is in fact on his knees, winter wasn't quite that crazy while we were in town!


Another odd thing about this year was that Lake Superior wasn't frozen! I few years ago mom skated on the lake if you can believe it, and usually there are great sheets of ice that form amazing sculptures on the sand!



One thing that hasn't changed since losing Grandma is our food intake. Man did we EAT. and eat and eat..and everything was so delicious and creative and homey! I love eating at home because my family knows all the things I can and can not eat and are very supportive about finding new recipes to take the place of my old flour-rich favorites. Mmmm it's making me hungry just to think about it!



Mostly it was just really great to be at home with the whole family again. It feels like we are spread out far now, although I recognize that this feeling most likely stems from living away from "home" for the very first time.