Two weeks in Madison later...

Hi all, we got back on Sunday Jan 10th and hit the ground running! We got home around 8.30pm and by 9am the following morning Lucas was at preschool and I was at work. We were really tired and out of synch for a few days but settled in again quickly, and we were both delighted to be home. Lucas played with all his toys the night of our arrival, and found his feet at school again with only the odd incident of not wanting to share. Our fish miraculously survived our absence (which is not as miraculous as them surviving our presence - Lucas is forever threatening to throw any food he doesn't like into the fish tank), and although my car was pretty much snowed in it was still in good working order. The snow of course was sensational - having spent a week in Holland where it had snowed a lot by Dutch standards (as shown in the photo of Lucas in his red snowman jumper) I was still amazed by the mountains along the side of the road, and one right outside my bedroom window! Interestingly, a few nights before we left in November I had baked some squash, and having turned off the oven I had forgotten all about it - until I opened the oven again in January. The result is in one of the pics.

Last weekend I took Lucas skating which was fun for a short while until he decided he'd rather watch the big boys play ice hockey. I also started his toilet-training which is going really well while we're at home but is a disaster when we are out and about. He hasn't started any evening activities yet (but I'll enrol him again for his trampolining "jump jump" as he still talks about it, and he really loved it last year) so we spent most of the evenings either with friends or at home. It's been quiet and relaxed which I rather needed after the crazy running around of the past few months. Work is good but busy, I started teaching so that comes with additional - if enjoyable - tasks, and we are getting ready for our federal grant proposal.

Today I started the weekend with a fab outdoors activity: snow-shoeing. Lucas was home with a babysitter while I traipsed around the woods wearing enormous frames with a plastic sheet inside. It was not as hard as I had thought, and it was fantastic, especially when we went on to the lake and walked over part of it - on water so to speak. I am determined to embrace the winters here rather than always wait for spring and so wish half my life away, and this seems like a good start. In the afternoon a new colleague, who is the single mom of a 5-year old girl, and I went to some kiddy music thing, and it was fun and relaxed - typical Madison style. It's good to be home.