Life Lately January 2026

This has been a quick month for me, mostly because 1) we didn't return home from our winter break trip until January 11; 2) we had a long weekend due to the MLK, Jr. holiday; and 3) I had five snow days, so no school the entire week of January 26-30! A strange month indeed!

We went to National Cathedral and saw a very odd art light show. We went last February for a different event and we loved it, but we did not love this event! Absolutely bizarre. I tried to just appreciate the colored lights, but overall, I would not recommend it!

We were supposed to go to WDW for a weekend, but ending up canceling our flights because we didn't know how bad the storm would be and while we would not have minded getting stranded in Florida, we didn't want Avalanche to be stranded at his dog hotel. Obviously it's not the end of the world that we couldn't go, but we had rented DVC points for this trip and the resort reservation was non-refundable, which was kind of a bummer.

can't say I loved getting this email
the day we were supposed to check in
LOL

The storm we got did a real number on the area...we got some snow, but it was mostly ice with really cold temperatures for the entire week. C spent hours trying to clear the driveway, using both a chainsaw and an axe to break through the thick ice. Thankfully, our awesome neighbor loaned us their ice scraper/chopper, which had a long handle on it and made the ice removal go much more quickly. I was not of much help at all, because for the first time in two years, I've been really sick. It's just been a bad cold - thankfully nothing more serious - but it has not been a fun week because the coughing and congestion have kept any restful sleep at bay. What a gift that there was no school so I could take it easy!

at first it was snow and Avalanche loved it

that's the tool I was talking about - 
what a time saver!

no fun snow to play in - just chunks of ice

solid chunks of ice

this was the snow we got in January 2025 -
Avalanche sunk right in

not this year!

he was able to walk all over the yard on top of the ice

honestly I think he was kind of confused

we went for a drive and these are the
snowbanks/icebanks along the main road

Other than the storm, there's not a lot to share from the month...a few random things and a collection of Avalanche pics!

this was my Christmas gift to C
and he started to build it

the instruction booklet is enormous

there are almost 1400 steps -
can't wait to see it finished!

my work bestie made a sign for our door
and I love it so much (she even captured the
ever-present sunglasses on my head!)

the cutest mug from my sweet MIL & FIL

I earned the Southwest Companion Pass through
the end of 2027 and as frequent travelers, this is
super exciting to us!

my favorite singer, Steven Page,
did a live from home show over zoom

this water bottle comes with National Park stickers
that you put on the bottle once you've visited

we've been to 36 of the 63 National Parks!

this isn't snow - it's Avalanche's fur
after C combed him

we were on a walk at the park and a kid
(at least ten years old) called out,
"Look at that dog! It's a Dalmatian!"

I love him SO MUCH

Happy Tails to you!

2025: A Look Back

my once-in-a-lifetime moment of the year

Overall, 2025 was a very good year for us. We rang in 2025 in Vienna, Austria and rang in 2026 on our Antarctica cruise!

As family, friends, and frankly, anyone who has ever read any other post related to our travel knows, C is the travel planner. And by that I mean he is THE TRAVEL PLANNER. He does all of the research, he finds flights, he finds hotels, he finds things for us to do and see, he works out all of the logistics...you name it, he does it.  I usually have very little idea about what's going on...a happy and blissfully ignorant "travel princess" who follows him blindly because I have been so incredibly fortunate to experience beautiful places around the world as a result of his efforts. He is amazing! My contributions are usually limited to two things: providing the parameters of my restrictive schedule so he can select travel dates and sometimes choosing between two or three hotels once he has whittled down the endless options. The only exception to our dynamic is that I typically book the hotels for our Disney trips and purchase any special event tickets; C still handles all of the other details and reservations!

obviously I am Partner 2
LOL

Our two big trips in 2025 were going to Africa over the summer and going to Antarctica over winter break and I am so pleased to share that I played a very active role in the planning! I was the one who researched and booked both our safari and our Antarctica cruise! C did all of the flights and hotels for those two trips outside of what I booked, since they involved traveling to multiple countries before and afterwards. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about everything working out with the safari and the Antarctica cruise since I was the one who booked them and handled the communication about them for 17 months and 22 months respectively! Fortunately, the two companies we chose handled all logistics, down to the most minute detail, with extreme precision and we were able to visit our sixth and seventh continent and check that off our very lengthy travel bucket list! Having now been to all seven continents, I am even more in awe of my mom, who accomplished this back in 2014, with 3 of the 7 (Europe, Antarctica, and South America) being done with women's travel groups as opposed to family - meaning that for all intents and purposes, she did these three continents on her own. She wanted to go, so she went. She wasn't going to let anything stop her from getting to all seven. She was, and will always be, an inspiration to me. I often feel her presence, and as I wrote about back in July, I felt her acutely when we were in Kenya, but she was definitely with me in Antarctica, too.

In addition to our two big trips (Antarctica offers some of the most beautiful scenery we ever enjoyed and our safari was beyond life-changing!), we went to WDW twice (March and August), Disneyland twice (June and September), on a Disney cruise for spring break, as well as New Jersey, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Tampa, several trips to Canada, and some day trips to visit family! Plus I did a there-and-back-in-one-day trip to WDW with one of my best friends! It was a busy travel year for sure! New countries in 2025 were Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Hungary, and Argentina, and we returned to Germany and Austria (and obviously Canada and the U.S.).

I like to compile our travel data each year and when C and I were going through our 2025 calendars, it was pretty surprising to see our final numbers!

• total of 69 hotel nights (this number includes nights on a cruise ship)
• total of 25 flights (6 of which were red-eye flights)
• total of 9 nights spent in Canada
• 2 nights spent driving through the night to Canada

...which is a total of 86 nights not at home! 86 nights! That's so crazy!

2026 is looking pretty good in terms of upcoming trips! We've got four Disney Cruises scheduled this year, some quick weekend trips planned, and a long trip to Asia mapped out for the summer!

2025 marked 29 years of me being a vegetarian and 30 years of me living in the U.S. I also got my first new car since buying my Honda Pilot in November 2007! Most importantly, we celebrated three full years of having Avalanche in our lives! The joy he's brought to our lives means everything to us!

I was going to try and select a favorite picture from each month of 2025, but some months didn't really have any noteworthy ones and other months had several, so I just chose my favorites from the year!

Here's to a happy and healthy 2026!

Happy Tails to you!