Finding the reason...

Man, how did December manage to sneak up so quickly this year? Maybe it was the mild fall we had, but I feel utterly unprepared for Christmas to be just around the corner.
Brian has been sick for almost a month, the weather has turned to ludicrous cold and I’ve been slogging through a feeling of extended writer’s block, or, more accurately, writer’s blah. Suffice to say, I’m not feeling it.

In an effort to jump start my Holiday spirit…I bought a tree on Thursday. At Costco. I see you, don’t go rolling your eyes at me, so I bought a fake tree. I can’t help it if I’m allergic to pine trees. Really I am, all those needles on the floor make me itch!

For all my complaining, my bah humbug is slowly turning around…the boys LOVE Christmas, especially Ben. Ben is all about the magic. He wants hot cocoa and Christmas Carols. He wants lights, decorations and advent wreaths. He wants to color a star every night to give a present to Baby Jesus…a sky filled of all the times he thought about him.

Any crankiness I've been feeling, stressing about my to do list is melting fast…now, where are those pine scented candles?

Ho Ho Ho- here’s wishing all of you peace joy and contentment as we prepare for the real reason of the season.
Peace-
sandy

Winter Insulation

So, guess where we got to go for Thanksgiving? I know, we are travel junkies. So sue us, we missed Brian’s family. We hopped on a couple of flights and voila, Wilbraham, MA.

The boys and I got to catch up with some old neighborhood friends. Barbara, bless her soul, even took me to a two hour yoga class. It was just the thing to uncoil my back after a long travel day. It felt a little strange to go stomping around the old homestead. Brian and I went for a walk past our old house. It looked faded and sad. I had the song Yellow Taxi in my head as we passed.…Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone….And I waxed nostalgic for a bit. Then I remembered that house only had one bathroom upstairs. One bathroom for the five of us. Funny, I don’t miss it at all anymore!

We packed as much as we could into the 6 days we had there. We made an overnight trip into Boston, where we spent time with very dear friends and their children. We took the boys to the Boston Aquarium, strolled along Quincy Market and had lunch at Durgan Park. The food was just so so, (the entire menu was either boiled or fried) but the boys loved the idea that whalers used to sail into port and sit at the same tables to eat.

For Thanksgiving, Brian’s sister and her husband hosted thirty people for a sit down dinner. You read that right, thirty people. They rented a heated tent and put it up in the back yard. Kim and Steve are amazing; there were twinkle lights, table clothes and beautiful centerpieces. Everyone pitched in and brought their specialty to the feast. (Brian and I brought wine, what does that say about us?) It was one of the most beautiful meals I’ve ever had the privilege of attending.

The week flew by in a flurry of wonderful conversations and entirely too much food. All the cousins got along beautifully. We left with more then just full tummies; we left with some really magnificent memories.
The whole week served as a not so subtle reminder of how blessed we are with family and friends who love us.

To all of you who take the time to check in and catch up, I’m grateful for your presence in my life.
Thank You-
Sandy

Mary's Fat Camp

LOOK, THERE’S A CHICKEN!

Inside joke, you had to be there to chuckle at that one.

Be where, you ask? Lucky duck that I am, I got to tag along with my sister Mary and her daughter, Kendra on an impromptu road trip to Colorado. The three of us hit the road at 5:30 last Monday morning. It’s amazing how quickly 14+ hours can fly by when you have three chatty women in a black jetta. It was a short trip, leaving Monday, returning to Minnesota Friday night. Since two of the five days were spent in the afore mentioned vehicle, we intended to made the most of the three days we had to play in the mountains.

Day one: Still a little beat from the drive, we slept in and lounged around in our PJ’s. When we were sufficiently rejuvenated with fresh brewed coffee, we headed out for an “easy” two hour hike. The effects of the altitude surprised me. It was an effort to drag air into my lungs. Despite the gasping and wheezing as we slowly ascended the trail. I was able to appreciate the 360 degree views of the mountain ranges encircling us. We were all giddy and silly and extremely happy to be out of the car.

Day two: Mary, otherwise known as tour guide extraordinaire…beloved Mary of Mary’s fat camp picked another scenic hike for us. This one was a paltry 6 hours. The path wound through a pine forest, crossed over a gurgling mountain stream sprinkled with ice, and opened into a meadow that would make Bambi jealous. The last quarter mile of the trail was straight up. Switch backs made it possible for us to scale the side of the mountain. Huddled in trees to break the wind, we hunkered in to take a breather and eat our picnic lunch. The sky was an amazing hue of blue, providing a dazzling back drop for the fields and peaks that spilled out before us. It felt like the Mother Nature was showing off just for our benefit.
We spent the evening at a local bar watching the presidential debate on mute, (I guess they were afraid of a political brawl breaking out!?!) chatting with some locals, swilling martinis and enjoying a delicious black bean soup.

Day three: Today was our “easy” day. Our hike this morning was only 1 ½ hours and as flat as you can expect for a hike in Summit County. We walked past Rainbow Lake where Kendra and her husband were engaged. The surface of the lake was glass and perfectly reflected the mountains and sky surrounding it. We came back home, switched into padded pants, mounted up and rode into Breckenridge where we snarked around the local stores for a while. Mindful of the Story of Stuff…we didn’t buy anything. Our last night was spent eating take out Chinese, drinking wine and watching Grey’s Anatomy. Darn near perfect three days if you ask me.

I got home at 9:30 Friday night to a dinner party in full swing. Brian decided to go ahead with it, knowing I’d be late and he would have to do all the cleaning and cooking by himself. It was bizarre to walk in off the road to 7 people drinking and eating appetizers in my living room. Brian had a gourmet dinner simmering on the stove. Have I mentioned how much I love my husband?

It was a magnificent trip. I truly enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with my sister and my niece, both amazing women. Each day in the mountains made me think of a quote a woman in my writing class gave me…

“Earth’s crammed with Heaven and every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes” Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Here’s to taking off our shoes, feeling the grass between our toes and generally basking in the glory that surrounds us. Wait, was that a chicken?

Peace-
Sandy

Stage Seven...all good things must come to an end

When the time came for Stage Seven: The Voyage home (it sounds like a Star Trek movie, doesn't it? Hey once a trekkie, always a trekkie) I think we all were feeling a little torn. We had fallen into the rhythm of vacation and were really enjoying ourselves, but we were also ready to come home and jump into the rest of summer.Which we did...so far it's been a great summer. Lots of baseball, time at the pool and memories of what I hope is the first of many historic Barry family vacations.That's it for now, my big honking nutshell of a summer, I hope this finds all of you happy and warms with your toes in the water.peace-sandy

Stage Six...Breckenridge will never be the same...

Stage Six: We rented a condo on the mountain in Breckenridge, again with Cindy and Trey. This was probably the most normal and typical part of the vacation. We soaked up all we could of the ski town in summer atmosphere. We did day trips to Vail and Copper Mountain. We also biked, hiked and went to the 4th of July parade on Main Street. We saw what we could of the Janssen Clan before they left and enjoyed the time we had alone.

Stage Five...wedding bells

Stage Five: The five of us pack up very dirty and very happy and head to Breckenridge for the wedding. We stayed at a snazzy resort with Cindy and Trey. The wedding was beyond gorgeous. The ceremony was held at Ten Mile Station halfway up the mountain. With snow covered peaks surrounding us and a bridal party that looked like they walked right out of the pages of Vogue it was one of the most striking ceremonies that I have ever attended. We all danced the night away and were thankful to be there as Kendra and Chris started their lives together.

Stage Four...happy campers

Stage Four: the real camping begins. We pitch our tents at Oh Be Joyful Falls on the Slate River. It was the perfect site. There was about 10 other campsites, all full without a banjo in the bunch. We found out that Oh Be Joyful Falls is like Shang gra la for kayakers. People come from all around the world to run the falls. After scaling a tree to cross the river and hiking up the side of a mountain we felt lucky to witness 3 of our fellow campers coming down. The boys were all duly impressed. My favorite part of camping was the campfire at night. Sitting around it with the boys, no TV, no video games or music, just conversation. Who knew we had so much to say?

Stage Three...lions, tigers and WHAT?!?!

Stage three: Jake's birthday. we load up big blue yet and again and drive a scenic 5 hours to Crested Butte. This was to be the camping portion of our trip. We struck out at our first choice of camp sites at Lake Irwin. It was still closed because of too much snow! We were all disappointed because it was a really picturesque spot. We felt we made the right decision not to stay there after meeting the only others campers braving the snow (think deliverance with big dogs). We were further vindicated in our choice to leave when we drove past a LARGE black bear a mile outside of the camp site. Thank goodness our friend Tony, who lives in Cressted Butte, had an extra room for us to crash in that night.

Stage Two...the Barrys reach New Heights...

Stage two: (I know the title is too puny, but I couldn't resist!) After arriving safely in Colorado Springs, we immediately caught up with our dear friend Mark and his family. We spent the weekend exploring caves, scaling Pikes Peak, wandering around in the Garden of the Gods and playing with horses.

The Grizwalds got nothing on us

Summer time and the living isn't just easy, it's down right lazy! We have been back from an amazing family vacation for over three weeks and I'm just now getting around to posting about it, shame on me for not immortalizing this epic family vacation while it was still fresh in my mind. As it is, I'll have to rely on my spotty recollections and pictures to piece together the two and a half weeks we tramped about Colorado.

This whole adventure came about because my lovely niece and her fiancee were kind enough to decide to get married in Breckenridge. Brian and I smelled a road trip the moment they set the date.

We joked that this was the A.D.D. vacation... put more kindly, it unfolded in several distinct stages.

Stage one: load up the van and head west young man. The boys were troopers for the 16+ hour drive straight through to Colorado Springs. The van was jam packed with 2 tents, all of our sleeping bags and camping gear, 5 bikes off the back, my road bike on top and a Thule rocket box. It brought to mind the Monty Python movie, Life of Brian, if we tried to fit one thin wafer mint more into that poor car I'm pretty sure it would have exploded.

It's Good To Be Sandy Barry

For those of you who don't know...that is my favorite saying as of late.

Why, you might ask? Lots of reasons. I have a pretty darn good life, but the past 6 months have been particularly fun. Just look at my passport. In August Brian took me to Paris for a week for my 40th birthday. October found us drinking margaritas by the pool in Los Cabos, Mexico. If you've been to our blog before you know that I loved Vietnam. Now I'm recently returned from Peru.

Life has settled down enough for me to take a second and tell all of you how amazing my last trip was!

I was lucky enough to be able to fly down to Lima Peru to visit my friend Ann who has been living there with her family for the past two and a half years.

To be honest with you, Peru was not on my short list of places that I'd like to visit, I was really just going to see my friend. Imagine my surprise when I realized that Peru is an amazing country. I am already planning a trip back with Brian and the boys. (I'd like us all to hike the Inca Trail!)

To give you an idea of how much I loved Peru, I took 200 pictures in three days! Every couple of steps I'd look up and say, "wow, that's the prettiest thing I've ever seen, I better take a picture of it!" Or , "Hey, take a picture of me in front of this...fill in the blank... no one will believe that I was somewhere this beautiful!" You get the gist, A-MAZ-IN-G! (if you have seen the move Ron Burgundy you'd get that reference, sue me it's snowing again and I'm easily amused.)

I flew into Lima where Ann picked me up. Lima is a big, dirty, crazy city but Ann and her husband live in a lovely part of it. Ann's brother, Rob was down there visiting as well. We left her kids with her wonderful husband and the three of us caught a flight to Cusco.

From Cusco we drove through the Sacred Valley. This may sound funny, but I've never smelled air like that before. It smelled green. As we drove along I had my face out the window like a dog, just breathing it all in. We hit a llama farm and a local market all before lunch.
After a wonderful meal our driver, Jose, took us to Moray.

Moray is believed to be where the Inca's experimented with agriculture. It has huge circles terraced upon each other going down into a valley. The terraces had stones sticking out the sides for steps and channels for the water to run down. As we stood at the center of the circles and looked up, we all felt like we were at the center of the universe, the energy was amazing.

The next morning we were up bright and early to take the train to Aquas Caliente. The town at the base of Machu Picchu. It was a rainy day so we stayed in town, shopped and hit the Aquas Caliente (medicinal hot water pools) that the town is named for.

We woke up the next morning to pouring rain. Determined that we weren't going to let that stop us we bounded out of bed and caught the 6:00am bus up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Through the mist and rain we saw what we could of a guided tour through the ruins. By the time the tour was over the sun was peaking through.

Next on the agenda was whether or not to climb Waynapicchu. It's the mountain behind Machu Picchu that you see in all the pictures. It's not an easy climb. People have died. Seriously, slipped or been struck by lightening and died. After an animated discussion of the pros and cons of climbing Waynapicchu, we decided that if an 80 year old man from Japan could make it, so could we. About half way up we were rethinking our decision. Never the less, we soldiered on.

It was so very worth the climb. The view from the top was breathtaking. The clouds moved in and out making me feel like we were afforded our view from heaven. Corny, I know, but it was the honestly one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. The pictures I took don't do it a bit of justice.

After making it back down Waynapicchu, even though our legs were shaking, we hiked over to the Inca Bridge. By the time we got back it was time to catch the bus back down to Aquas Caliente. There we had just enough time to have a bite to eat, grab our bags and catch the train out of town. From there it was a two and a half hour cab drive back to Cusco. We were beat but forced ourselves out the door to the bar next door to toast ourselves. We were, after all rock stars. :)

Needless to say, it was a wonderful trip. I'm so grateful to my friend Ann for hosting me, her husband Rob for being so great about us ditching him and the kids, and her brother Rob, who is definitely in the running for best sport of the year for bunking with the two of us. And, of course, husband of the year...big Brian for coughing up the miles for yet another destination for me that left him home with the boys.
It was a once in a lifetime trip.

Here's hoping that all of you have as much fun in the next 6 months of your life as I've had in the past 6 months of mine!

Happy travels,
peace-
Sandy