It’s been really nice to be back at home in our own beds and old routines (with some hopeful improvements).  Stella seems to love having her own room and run of the house now that we have gated our many sets of stairs.

I’m enjoying getting back to my yoga and hitting my favorite coffee shops.  Justin just loves having his TV and high speed, always on the internet!  It’s funny, we went away to escape the routines but it’s quite comforting to have them back now.

We are very glad we had the time on the road traveling to enjoy each other as a family and visiting with many family and friends but there’s also something nice about snuggling up in your own home and just enjoying each others company.

A lot of people have asked me, “how was the trip?”  “What did you like best?” And many other questions of the like.  It’s funny because it all seems a blur at this point but what I remember most are the little pockets of time that we just enjoyed each others company or when we hit some pretty big obstacles and could just laugh as we made our way out of the mess.  We grew as a family but most importantly we realized what was important and where we wanted to be.

All of these questions and reflections have reminded me of one of my favorite books, The Alchemist, by Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo.  It’s a fable that teaches many lessons:  follow your dreams, discover the world.  But in the end the character learns that what is important is oftentimes right in front of you, but you must take the long road around to find it.  If you haven’t read it, I’d recommend it as you begin the new year.  It will be quite inspirational.

As we all begin the holiday season I thought I’d share some last minute holiday travel trips for families heading out to visit relatives (close by or far away) over the holiday season.

1.  If you are going to be getting on a plane try to plan flight times around nap times.  If you can actually choose a flight take-off time that will be around when your child usually naps it will work our great as he or she will likely fall asleep on the plane.

2.  Try to find a direct flight if they exist and never take more than 1 layover unless you are saving MAJOR $$.

3.  Pack plenty of snacks and different toys.  At Stella’s age I haven’t bought into the whole buy a new toy and give it to her on the plane thing.  She pretty much thinks a new toy is a toy at the bottom of her toy basket she hasn’t seen in awhile.  And actually right now, the best toys to her aren’t baby toys but something that is mommy or daddy’s…so the sky is the limit for entertaining a toddler.

4.  Have patience, in today’s traveling world, something is likely to go wrong.  Just be prepared for anything and laugh as there isn’t much else you can do!

5.  Check as much luggage as you can and take only what you need.  Most of you will not be going to the tundra on your holiday so you can buy whatever you need there or borrow from family/friends.

6.  Buy gifts on line and have them shipped to your destination.  They will be there when you get there, you won’t have to pack them and you can’t wrap them before you get there anyway in case security needs to check them.

7.  Get plenty of rest before your trip and eat healthy and stay hydrated.  Sneaking in some holiday cookies or candies for the road can’t hurt either!

Justin, Stella and I recorded a little holiday greeting for you:

Happy Holidays!

For more on The Alchemist:

From Publishers Weekly
This inspirational fable by Brazilian author and translator Coelho has been a runaway bestseller throughout Latin America and seems poised to achieve the same prominence here. The charming tale of Santiago, a shepherd boy, who dreams of seeing the world, is compelling in its own right, but gains resonance through the many lessons Santiago learns during his adventures. He journeys from Spain to Morocco in search of worldly success, and eventually to Egypt, where a fateful encounter with an alchemist brings him at last to self-understanding and spiritual enlightenment. The story has the comic charm, dramatic tension and psychological intensity of a fairy tale, but it’s full of specific wisdom as well, about becoming self-empowered, overcoming depression, and believing in dreams. The cumulative effect is like hearing a wonderful bedtime story from an inspirational psychiatrist.

It’s been such a great and enlightening trip.  Justin and I truly believe in the power of taking some time off, away from the chaos and routine.  It helps you refocus.  Figure out what is important in life and go for it.  We are both very excited about the upcoming year for our business.  The one thing that these “mini-retirements” have done for us is given us new ideas and excitement for our businesses.

We are also obviously excited about what the year ahead holds on the family front.  I will be 4 months pregnant when we arrive home tomorrow…time has flown by.  It looks like we will be spending another year in our home in Vancouver which means we will put some final touches on small renovations to make it more comfortable for when baby #2 arrives.

I’m curious to see how Stella adjusts to being back at home.  The past few weeks have really worn us all out and I think getting back to her routine will be great.

As the trip comes to a close I know it’s just the beginning of many more trips as a family.  If we can do this whirlwind trip I know we can tackle just about any adventure.

I hope that these blog posts have inspired some of you to take a trip, have some fun, head out on an adventure.  Kids or not, I know you will look back on your experience with some of the best memories.

Thanks to all those who made the trip memorable.

In our family Christmas has always been the big event but over the years and now that I’m away more and my brother and sister have their families and in-laws Thanksgiving has become a three to four day event.

Paw Paw and Stella - Thanksgiving Day

We usually have a nice dinner out together on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, then it’s Thanksgiving a day of rest on Friday and then the annual big University of Virginia vs. Virginia Tech game is Saturday and my Dad now throws a huge party at our house.  Biggest rivalry in Virginia.  I went to UVA, however most of my family are Hokie fans as we live a mere 20 minutes from the campus.  It’s a bit of a sore spot with me as I’m the only alumni in the family and shouldn’t they support my team?

We also now deep fry our Thanksgiving turkey and on game day just about anything else we can find.  If you’ve never had deep fried turkey, I highly recommend it.  Quite a treat and nothing like you’d expect.

So it’s a nice long weekend of family time.

We arrived at my Dad’s on Monday night.  Justin spent the rest of his “ultimate sports week” at Penn State and then watched Sunday football with some friends in Arlington.

Stella Sydney and Tripp

I spent the weekend with my good friends from UVA at my friend Kirsten’s new home in Leesburg.  It was a house full.  On Saturday Katina and her daughter Bailey arrived early to hang out followed by my friend Wendy and her two boys, Tripp and Zach.  We all had a sleepover and enjoyed hanging out.  Stella loved all the friends to play with.

On Sunday Kirsten threw a brunch and my friend Tara came up from Charlottesville with her new daughter Olivia.

Was soo nice of everyone to take a lot of time out of their busy lives to spend the weekend with me.  It meant a lot and I was very thankful.

Which leads me to my list of things I’m thankful for this year.  I don’t think I’ve made a list like this at Thanksgiving since I was in elementary school.  Perhaps a tradition I should start!

1.  The time I’ve had this year with Justin and Stella on this whirlwind trip.

Stella

2.  The new addition to our family that will arrive in May.  While a big surprise, we are thankful that we didn’t have any of the agony of trying to have a baby that we had the first time around.

3.  The enormous amount of time we were able to spend with our families and friends while we went on our round the world trip.

4.  Owning my own business with Justin and the life it has afforded us.  While often times very hard and frustrating, we would never change it for the world.

5.  All the new additions to our families’ and friends’ lives.  Having so many children around has brought a new life and energy to our lives that we never imagined.  Seeing life through a child’s eye is incredibly eye opening and fulfilling.

My Sister Deborah and my Brother's new baby Gabe

6.  The many lessons I’ve learned this year in both business and my personal life and especially as a parent.

7.  Our parents who have supported us as we endeavored upon yet another adventure.  Without the help of Justin’s Mom and Dad; and my Dad, in many big and small ways we would not have been able to do what we did.

8.  The love of my Mother, while no longer here, I feel her love every day and am very thankful for the things she taught me and I hope I will be able to teach Stella.

9.  My husband.  The person who makes me laugh even when I want to kill him.  The smartest and best business partner anyone could ask for.  The husband most women dream of (OK, maybe not the sports part but…).  And an incredibly loving and doting father.

The Loves of My Life

10.  My home.  We go home to Vancouver on Tuesday and I couldn’t be more excited.  While I love adventure there’s no better trip than the one you take home.

Travel Tip:

Many airlines are now code-sharing with other airlines.  I now book most of my flights with US Air because they actually allow you to book “infant in lap” tickets on line versus United who makes you call in and hope that when you get to the airport your reservation includes your “infant in lap.”  Well, when I flew from NYC to DC I nearly missed my flight as I just showed up at US Air thinking I could check in there for the flight I booked on their website…well, the actual flight was on United and I had to frantically run to another terminal, by msyelf with 2 suitcases and Stella…not fun.

So here’s a tip:  make sure you double check the airline you are flying on and check-in there even if you book thru another airline.

And…United…here’s a tip for you…please just change your on-line booking system to allow a booking for “infant in lap.”  You will probably save a lot of time and money without all the phone calls and actually lose less customers.

It’s been a great visit here.  We visited with some old and dear friends.

Mike, Justin and Dreama at Nobu.

Jennie Koenig.  A wonderful person and good friend of the entire family.  She went to college with Brandon (Justin’s brother) and is like a sister to us all.  She has been putting the full court press on us since we arrived to move here…even bribing us with nice clothes for me and Stella and tasty lip gloss!:)

Jennie and Stella

Seth and Hilary Auster.  Very good friends of ours who we love to get together with whenever we can.  They are foodies and love to travel so we always have something exciting to talk about.

Hillary, Seth, Stella, Justin and Dreama

Sandro de Carvahlo.  The always talented artist and man of fun.  He has to have the most inefectious laugh around.

We also got together with some of Justin’s college friends, Mike and Erik  for dinner at my favorite restaurant, Nobu.

We also hit MoMa The Museum of Modern Art yesterday and really enjoyed it.  Was nice to finally get to a museum her in NYC.  For me it was extra special as I took several art history classes at UVA and got to see some of the paintings we studied.  There was also a small Van Gogh collection including the famous The Starry Night. I was especially excited to see Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon as I studied this painting for weeks back in school.  It’s HUGE!

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

There were also several Cézanne, Gaugin, Warhol and Matisse pieces that I like on display.  A real treat.

Justin just set-off for the last of his “ultimate sports week” sporting events.  He and Sandro are driving back to State College for Penn State’s final game of the year and hopefully chance at going to the Rose Bowl.

Justin was lucky to get to Penn State’s game last week and then two Canuck’s hockey games this week with Seth.  Seth hooked him up with some great tickets and they had a blast.  I know that this weekend’s game at Penn State is going to be a lot of fun for Justin.

Game 3 of the Ultimate Sports Week: Seth and Justin at the Canucks vs. Rangers Game

Stella and I fly out to Washington, DC shortly to stay the weekend at my very good friend Kirsten Schaefer’s house in Leesburg.  She just moved into a big house and had a baby so a bunch of our girlfriends and their kids are coming for the weekend so we can all catch up.  It will be an interesting and fun weekend with at any given time 4-10 children under the age of 5 running around.  Stella will have a blast I’m sure and I can’t wait to catch up with old friends.

Stella and Grandma Schnur

We stayed the rest of the weekend with the ever gracious hosts, Steve and Amanda Schnur and their sweet daughter Olivia at their beautiful second home outside of State College.   Olivia was Stella’s best friend for the two days we were there.

Check out Daddy’s Little Nittany Lion!

On Sunday we headed to Bethlehem, PA to visit our good friends Chad and Kathy Harris.  Justin was Chad’s best man and Kathy and I have become very good friends over the years so it was a really nice visit.  We also got to spend some time with their new baby girl Addy which was a very nice treat.  Kathy spoiled us with homemade beef stew for lunch and lasagna for dinner.  Very nice to just relax and spend a quiet Sunday with them.

Kathy and Addy

On Monday morning we were off to Long Island for Justin to catch the Canuck’s hockey game and for me to visit with my old college friends Laura Rose and Lee Ann McCoy.  We stayed at Laura and Brian’s and their daughter Ally was a great “big sister” (as she put it) to Stella.

Brian, Laura, Dreama, Stella, Ally, Lee, Michael and Caitlyn

On Tuesday it was on the road again as we drove into NYC…even though we missed the turn on the bridge and had to pay the toll twice…did you know it cost you more to go into NYC from NJ ($8) than to go into NYC from Long Island ($5)???

I love NYC.  The smells, the sounds, the accents, the food, the energy.  Everything.  Stella seems to like it as well.  She loves activity and this is the place.  We are staying in Midtown at the London Hotel which is very nice.  Every room is quite spacious.  We even had a gaggle of paparazzi outside the hotel today, still can’t find out who’s staying here yet.

I swear that Clive Davis was chatting with me and Stella this morning over breakfast but can’t say for sure…

We saw Barbara Walters today at lunch at BLT Market at the Ritz.  Very cool.  She’s soo skinny!

Yesterday we took Stella to FAO Schwartz and got her a nice book on NYC.

Many more things on tap before we leave the city so very excited.  It’s been a much different trip to NYC than ever before as we have Stella now.  Normally it was hit the hottest restaurant and clubs and then sleep until we did it again the next night and hopefully fit in a bit of shopping.  It’s a nice change.

Baby Tip:  don’t pack too many stops and changes in a trip.  This has hands down been the most exhausting portion of our trip.  All the packing up and moving and change of beds has really warn us out.  We are happy to finally be in one place for a few days.

Seth and Jen are balancing demanding careers as Dr.’s and I’m impressed with how well they are balancing it all with family life.  It’s not easy.

Stella and Jonah Sharing Blankies

Jonah and Stella had a great time playing as they are only a few months apart in age.  Sharing their blankies and playing together.

We were lucky to also get to have the famous Permanti Brothers sandwiches with TJ Ladner on Wednesday for lunch.  Great to catch up and always a good laugh when he’s around.  TJ was also a fraternity brother of Justin’s.

Seth, Eli, Justin and Stella

Wednesday night we were off to visit the Dee’s.  Stacy and Chris just moved back to Pittsburgh and are getting settled in with Grayson and Beckham.  Again, really nice to catch up with old friends we haven’t seen in quite awhile.  Chris and Justin became friends thru mutual Penn State friends years ago.

Chris and Stacy also have very demanding and high profile jobs and seem to be doing very well with doing it all and raising two very kind and smart boys.

Sharing an Apple Picnic with the Dee Boys

Thursday we did a networking lunch with some local Pittsburgh real estate investors.  Actually took Stella along and she’s now called our little “closer.”  Who can resist a cute kid?  That’s what you call a family business.  Lunch was at Fat Heads…Yum!

Yes, we are on an eating tour of the East coast…stay tuned for some other classic good eats!

Today we hit Penn State and took Stella straight to the Lion Shrine for a photo opp and big Nitanny Lion “roar” (she’s mastered the skill quite well).  And then we hit the creamery to pick up some ice cream for the weekend- my personal favorite stop at PSU!

Nittany Lion - Go PSU!

Arrived at Andrew Goldberg’s house and he treated us to a fabulous home cooked meal and was a very gracious host.

Thanks to all our hosts over the last few days.  Very much appreciated.

No real baby tips to share.  It’s been a sleepless night the past 2 nights.  Stella was in the room with us both nights and woke up and wouldn’t really go back to sleep. Tonight we have her in a huge walk-in closet in our room so we hope to get some sleep.  I know it sounds terrible but it’s basically her own room.  We all need some sleep.  Stella included.

It’s been 5 long days of non-stop information overload and learning at the Dan Kennedy Information Summit.  A room full of 900+ information marketers.  We learned a ton but now to really try to find the time to do something with it.

I continue to struggle to be a good mom, wife and entrepreneur… times like these (that is, incredible learning and networking opportunities) I realize how hard it really is to balance it all and do them all well.

Thankfully, my ever social husband, handled all of the networking for us.  Being pregnant did not really allow me much energy for socializing after the events ended each night around 8/9 pm.  And, Stella needed a little mommy time (and mommy needed a little Stella time) each night.

Granddad and Stella

We were blessed to have Justin’s Dad here to help us out.  His girlfriend Teresa also came for a few days and helped spoil Stella rotten.  They made her fresh hand squeezed orange juice each day…need I say more.

I have been to St. Louis several times when I worked for Senator Bond from Missouri but this time I actually got to see the Arch, it was beautiful and we were lucky to have gorgeous and warm weather the day we checked it out.  The downtown area continues to be a ghost town which is quite sad considering that it seems to hold a lot of potential.

The St. Louis Arch

The travel is beginning to wear on us a bit but we were lucky and had a suite for the week here in St. Louis - which is one of my baby travel tips I’ll share with all you families out there.  When you check into your hotel, ALWAYS ask if they have a bigger room.  Quite often you will get a free upgrade.  We actually didn’t even ask in England and got a bigger room as they said we’d be more comfortable with the crib if we had a bigger room.  It never hurts to ask.

If I’ve learned one thing while traveling, overall, you get a lot of free upgrades, pass the line, etc. when you have a baby.  It’s a nice perk given how exhausting travel can be sometimes, especially with children.

Another tip is during cold weather months, is to be sure to bring a large carry-on bag to put all your coats in.  On our flight over from England, the bag I had only had room enough for Justin’s light coat and Stella’s so I just put mine in the overhead.  Well, 8 hours later and exhausted, I left mine on the plane…never to be seen again.  And it was new…nothing special but a bit chilly without it.  I’d actually recommend tucking a lightweight collapsible bag inside of your carry on that you can pull out after you get through security, etc. to store all the coats.

We are off to Pittsburgh in the morning to visit Seth and Jen Holst and their 2 little boys as well as Chris and Stacy Dee and their 2 boys.  We haven’t seen them in ages and we are looking forward to our visit!

Long day of travel.  Left Marlow at 9 AM after 2 hours of cleaning and last minute prep.  The check-in process at Heathrow was beyond ridiculous.  Interrogations and line-ups and showing your passport at every corner.  Quite frustrating.  But Heathrow aiport is still quite nice, good baby changing rooms and tons of Duty Free shopping.

The flight to Philadelphia was on US Airways again.  We got a good deal on our TransAtlantic flights so we flew First Class again back.  It was a nice treat (although US Airways does nothing in regards to any bells and whistles).  Nice to recline my chair, have 2 nice meals and watch a movie (”Baby Mamma” - good mindless movie if you haven’t seen it and by my girl Tina Fey - “Go HOOS!”).

Stella only slept 1 hour for the entire 7 - 8 hour flight.  She was actually quite good considering.  We are in the lounge at Phili right now and she’s been wild.  Running around and sitting on people’s laps (our very social little girl).  It’s nearly midnight local time in England and she’s going strong.  We can only hope this means that she will sleep once we arrive in St. Louis.

Tomorrow it’s recuperating and our conference starts on Thursday and goes strong until Monday night.  It will definitely be an exhausting but productive next few days.

Granddad (Justin’s Dad) arrives tomorrow night to help us with Stella.

Quite lucky to have family again to help us out during these work events.

The Free Press - the Pub I worked at

We went to visit Cambridge on Saturday as I lived there twelve years ago.  It was really nice to go back and visit a place that really impacted my life quite a bit.  It wasn’t really the place but the experiences I had when I went abroad that first time, and on my own.  I told Justin as we were walking around Cambridge how lonely I was on that trip but what a great experience it was.  I also had many visitors, Lee Ann Daly McCoy, Tara O’Kelley Friedman and Mandy Bean.  I also visited Mandy and Tara in Paris (where they were living at the time) and then traveled all over Europe with Tara and some on my own.  My mother also got to come out and visit with me which was great.

It was funny how I felt like the pub I worked in was much smaller than I remembered and the city of Cambridge was much bigger!

Monika and Vik with Stella

On Sunday we had a nice long lunch at our friends Vik and Monika’s house.  Justin and I met Vik when we were traveling in SE Asia in 2002.  They cooked us a fabulous Indian meal and it was really nice to catch up.

On to our Big Announcement.  The Lee family of three will soon be four!  As of tomorrow I am three months pregnant!  The baby is due on May 19.  Yes, a major suprise as we had not planned for me to be pregnant while traveling.  It has been an adjustment and a bit of rearraging and figuring out but we continue to believe that things happen for a reason.

I had not seen a Dr. during the entire first 3 months but finally got in to have all the routine blood work and some very high end ultrasound work done on Friday in London. I had a new test that just came out called a nuchal fold test that checks for genetic disorders.  It’s now becoming the second test after blood tests for genetic testing before an amnio is given.

Baby Lee #2 is doing well.  Results were good for low risk of genetic disorders.  No orders for a amnio but would be our choice for further testing.  We are declining any further tests.  Size and everything on target.

There was a red flag raised for a heart leakage (tricuspid regurgitation) but the Dr. said to just have it checked at 20 weeks with a full echocardiaography.  My report says that it “could be related to a chromosomal abnormaility, cardia or other structural defects or it may remain unexplained.”

She said in her opinion the baby was healthy.

The test and ultrasound were the most extensive around.  They don’t even test for the heart leakage issue anywhere else in all of Europe (East and West).  I know they just started the nuchal fold test in Canada and the US in the past few years and my guess is that only at high research institutes in the US/Canada would you get anything this extensive.  So as we learned from our last attempt at both getting pregnant and having Stella, the more you look for something to be wrong, the higher likelihood that you will find something that “might” be of concern.

Apparently the baby has a big nose (good indicator of no Down’s Syndrome) and I was there for a very long time and had to jump up and down, move my legs, shake my bum…etc., to try to get the little “very difficult baby” (as the Dr. put it) to move in the right position.  Hmm…is this what we have to look forward to, “a difficult baby.”

The tests I had were done in an amazing facility (very high end modern furnishing - Eames chairs, designer hand soaps and lotions, hand towels…art work, floating glass staircase…you name it and quite a “ladies that lunch” clientele, very “Posh” indeed).

We hope the world is ready for one more Lee.

Little Man-U Fan

Stella keeps looking at the ultrasound pictures and pointing.  We’ll see how she reacts when the little one arrives.

Off to St. Louis for a very big and long week of conferences.

Special thanks to Na-na for letting us use her place in Marlow.  It truely was a home away from home.

To those I have not been able to talk to and tell you the news personally, my apologies!

It’s funny as one of the reasons I was looking forward to this trip was an escape from the routine.  But now I’ve found myself happy to just have a weekly and daily routine here in Marlow.  Maybe it’s a routine in a new place that makes it enjoyable.  Who knows.  I’m a restless soul I guess.  Always up for something new.

Onto our favorite things.  Ducks, Geese and Swans oh my…they are everywhere right on our doorstep on the Thames.  It’s been wonderful to wake up and look out the window onto the Thames and the beautiful bridge.  And ofcourse our regular trips to feed all the ducks, geese, swans, birds and just about anything else that is swarming on the docks.  Stella has gotten quite brave and goes pretty close and has even learned to throw the bread since we’ve been here.

Feeding the Duckies

Higginson Park.  We go there at least once a day, assuming it isn’t raining, and sometimes twice.  It’s right out the backdoor and it’s the best playground I’ve ever been on.  Very nice and all this great Swedish equipment.  Stella loves going to the park and we can’t walk by without her pointing and wanting to go.   They also have a merry-go-round on nice sunny days and weekends.  Stella loves it, mommy, not so much, I get a bit sick going in continuous circles…I know, I’m pathetic!

Merry-Go-Round in Higginson Park

Walks on the toe path have been really nice and especially this time around as the fall leaves are beautiful.

We have also found a local farm we can walk to that is open on Friday’s and Saturday’s so you can buy their local meat and eggs.  Stella has been able to explore all the farm animals she reads about and we even fed the pigs last weekend.  As a former vegetarian, I have to say I did find it a bit nauseating to see the creatures I was about to cook…but by the same token, as a cook and lover of all things natural, it was nice to see a working farm and know my meat and VERY fresh eggs didn’t travel far to my plate.

Feeding the piggies

My grandfather (my Mom’s Dad) had a great farm and I grew up eating wonderful produce, eggs and meats that were fresh and wholesome.  It’s nice to get some of the things you grew up with even when you are in another country.

And we can’t forget the library.  Weekly reading groups have really been nice and being able to get some new books out for Stella was great.  We even found a few English books that Stella really liked and picked up a few for her to have.  If you haven’t read the “Bing” series, I recommend it, but beware, your child will become addicted.

This is our last weekend here in England.  We are going to Cambridge on Saturday as I lived there for 5 months almost twelve years ago.  We are going to hit the pub I worked in, the Free Press, for lunch and then walk around the High Street and “Backs” of the colleges.  I’m really looking forward to going back there and hope that the owners of the pub are still there.

We are having dinner at our friend Vik’s house on Sunday.  He and his wife Monika are cooking us a nice Indian meal.  We met Vik when Justin and I were on our last adventure in S. E. Asia.

We are getting excited about heading back to N. America.  While we have had an enjoyable time in Europe we are looking forward to getting back to our American conveniences and being closer to friends and family and in a better time zone for work.

We have exciting plans for the next month and are really looking forward to the weeeks ahead.