year-end photo album, part i

After the merry-go-round of children's birthdays and holiday parties, some do a cleanse, some start a new workout routine, and some decide to get "clean." In our family, we prefer to partake liberally of each new year's cold-and-flu offerings. With difficulty getting out of bed and no appetite, the holiday pounds just melt away. This year we spent Christmas in Italy, requiring an extra little bit of effort afterward. Steve went for a sinus-and-ear infection combo, given extra potency by flights to and from San Diego for work, and the accompanying jet-lag. As for myself, I opted for a bad flu that turned into pneumonia. It's all the rage in the Netherlands right now. We chose a time when we would have lots of visitors: my parents and youngest brother and sister were here, and our eldest niece, Ellen. Such fun for everyone! Instead of day trips to Paris and guided tours of our favorite Flemish haunts, they enjoyed that ever-elusive travel experience of "living like locals" by taking over our childcare, cooking, cleaning, and running errands. We, on the other hand, had to do boring things like nap, read books, and catch up on all the movies and television that we had missed in the three years since we had our second child. And voila!  We were back to our wedding weight (yes, singular: please note that we weighed the same amount on our wedding day) by Valentine's Day.

So, after thirteen days of parenting staycation, or "bed rest" as the doctors tediously insisted on calling it, having read three novels and half of a biography about Francois Truffaut, and no less than five books that might be helpful in parenting--including one about the functions of the brain--and having indulged in so much screen time that we would have felt sick if we weren't already, it seemed like a good time for me to go through all of the photos we took during the busy season between October and New Year's Eve.  Here, the highlights, with captions and very little commentary:

London, by Violette

Zizzi Pizza, Cheltenham, The Cotswolds

October Break in The Cotswolds, England

Turning seven with a My Little Pony pajama pizza party

Turning three at the Christmas Market in Aachen, Germany

One more cute little bird hanging out at the birdbath, Aachen, Germany

Public fountain or artfully-rendered climbing feature, Antwerp

Not pictured: My accidentally-pretending-I'm-in-my-twenties trip to NYC for my friend Anne Butler's fortieth birthday. I'll write about it sometime.  Christmas in Venice coming up next post...