Happy New Year!
New Year's Eve We kept our New Year's Eve celebrations relatively simple, and very early in the day this year. The kiddo and Cousin Yeo hosted a Noon Year's Rockin' Eve Zoom (at 10am our time), and it was delightful! We counted down from 10 and then the boys did a balloon drop. We still had one confetti cannon lying about (as you do) so we popped that and used kazoos to "ring in the new year." We missed Gaga (who was working), but it was so nice to spend a little time with family. I am constantly impressed with how amazing our family is and how much our village puts in to making holidays and events special for the kiddo. Having family pop on for 10 minutes with the boys was so special.
The kiddo wasn't super into being on camera for the zoom (but popped in for the pic), but as soon as we hung up he gave a huge sigh and said "another happy day!" It was so precious. We weren't ready to take our tree down yet, so we decided to decorate a New Year's tree from things we found in the basement! There are streamers, stamp pad clocks, construction paper year sign, and kazoos galore! The night before Sonny was over for a game night, and being the trooper he is he helped Keaton set up this epic balloon drop for the kiddo. They did such a great job! It worked so well!!
We also decorated some hats for the party. The kiddo was very into the decorating, and not at all into the wearing (which I get). I wanted to make sure I had a pic of his Cars sticker hat though. I went out to shovel snow, and then we ended up taking a snowy family walk and building a snowman! I had given a snowball to the kiddo on our walk (when Keaton turned around and realized what I had..... little did she know I was never going to throw it. The plan was always to hand it to the kiddo). He kept holding it and saying "I LOVE this snowball!" It was so much fun to play in the snow together! I have always been in awe of Keaton's snowman building skills. The kiddo and I worked on the base ( was in charge of testing the "layability" by laying on top of it), and K worked her magic to bring it all together. He picked out the perfect carrot for the nose, and we used one of our party hats and a kazoo. The kiddo let us know that this snowman uses they/them pronouns, and he was very considerate to check on them out the window throughout the day to make sure they were still doing okay. The kiddo posed us for this family pic. He was adamant about being on my back, and then had us all stick our tongues out..... Wonder where he get's that from. Lol. Our final planned celebration was our traditional New Year's Eve lunch! Each year we try a type of food that we have never had before. This year we got Venezuelan food and it was SO GOOD! We are 3 for 3 on this tradition! We order a few types of foods and share so that we can each taste as much as possible, and honestly I couldn't pick a favorite. It was amazing!!!! We also got Guava, Passionfruit, and Guabana (Soursop) juices to share. The kiddo was especially excited for those.
As we ate he kept saying "This food is soooooo good!" We were all gushing over it the entire meal. We ordered from Delicius (downtown) and it was phenominal. I can't wait to have it again. The rest of the day we just focused on enjoying the slow pace of winter break. It was a beautifully snow day, and we got to enjoy each other's company. Perfect!
New Year's Day We had originally planned to reinstate the New Year's Day snowshoe trip (the first since the kiddo was born) this year, but when we woke up the resort was too cold to take him (-8) and K wasn't feeling super well. So we decided to each tune in with our bodies and find what felt good for the day.
I usually get sucked into the "hit it hard for the New Year" mentality, so it was new and exciting for me to start this year focused more on intuitive and gentle nourishment (something I have been working a lot on in therapy). It set the tone for the year beautifully. The kiddo and I did yoga, we rested, ate nourishing food, and just followed our bodies' cues for the day. The kiddo is very in tune with what his body needs and making it happen, and so we all just took care of ourselves while sharing a space. It was really cool. And in true Brock fashion we are extending the celebrations by going snowshoeing on a warmer day (hopefully tomorrow)!
New Year's Snowshoe Trip! January 2nd we made our way up the mountain for our first snowshoe trip with the kiddo (out of the womb). He loved it!! We did a short loop (with the temp it was recommended he not be out for more than 30 min), and then hit the lodge for hot chocolate. We watched the skiers while they drank their hot chocolate, and the kiddo said "I want to go on that big hill!" He also let us know that he wants to learn to ski. I always loved skiing as a kid (and would love to get back to it) so apparently we will need to look into family lessons soon! On our drive the kiddo saw the tress and exclaimed "Wow!! I love the snowy Christmas trees!" We came down the mountain and spent an impromptu afternoon with Gaga and Uncle Sonny. We had lunch and skipped a nap to watch Encanto. (We are still loving it even after seeing it like 6 times this past week. It's just so good!!) We paid for the skipped nap later in the day, but it was totally worth it for such a fun weekend of celebrating. We had so much fun up the mountain! It's only a few days later and the kiddo has already asked to go back.
Happy New Year!!!