We got up bright and early (3:45) for our 6 am flight to
Seattle on Dec. 21st!
Everyone was excited and I was happy to be done packing and organizing. The airport was nuts and we were very
thankful that Ryan is A list preferred because we went to the front of the
baggage line that was out the door and down the street! The flight was great and we didn’t leave any
bags at the airport this time!
The Christmas festivities started immediately. We headed to Grandma Peggy’s and hung out with Ryan’s side of the family for the day. It was super fun and the Cougs played, so it added a bit of excitement because not everyone was rooting for them. They Coug’d it bigger than ever and Uncle Shane and a few of us had big smiles on our faces :o). We had great food and great company and it was fun to see everyone.
The Christmas festivities started immediately. We headed to Grandma Peggy’s and hung out with Ryan’s side of the family for the day. It was super fun and the Cougs played, so it added a bit of excitement because not everyone was rooting for them. They Coug’d it bigger than ever and Uncle Shane and a few of us had big smiles on our faces :o). We had great food and great company and it was fun to see everyone.
We stayed the
night there and then headed up to the lake the next day and the cousins were so
excited to see each other. The volume
was ridiculous! The weather was
terrible, but the kids went out in the fort anyway and played in the snow piles
(it snowed the day before we got there and then it rained and rained and rained). We played lots of board games, grandma taught
the kids some new games (chicken foot) and we ate and ate and ate! We laughed a lot :o).
Christmas was great, as usual. The kids didn’t wake up all that early, so it was nice to not have to peel open my eyes. Mom and Dad hosted so everyone came around 3. The kids were getting hungry, so since the turkey was done early, we decided to get them going (always seems more relaxing to feed them first), but it seemed that everyone else was really hungry and we couldn’t put stuff out fast enough. It was the craziest holiday dinner I can remember and there wasn’t much left over! Our white elephant gift exchange was strangely quiet this year…no steals (maybe everyone was too full from dinner!) and I am thankful that the gifts we chose were very small and packed well. We have come a long way with the white elephant (one year there were leftover dead fishing worms and a gay sex book-poor Grandpa Geno got that one!). 
The next day Grandma Pam came up to the lake and we had Christmas again with her. Our activity that day was making the dreaded
butter cookies. They save this task
every year for me because the cookies really aren’t so fun to roll out, but we’ve
really got a system down and it went much quicker this year, thanks to kid
participation :o). Ryan and I also made
Toffee before Christmas and Aunt Pam got the last piece…it didn’t last very
long.
We headed back down to Grandma Peggy’s for the weekend and they went to see
Walking With Dinosaurs and they all loved it!
Ryan and I had our own date night and went to the Mongolian Grill…we
miss that place! It was very nice to get
out and about and do some shopping. It
is nice that there’s extra room at grandma’s place, so we can stay there and
the kids can spend a little more time with grandma.
Ainsley was starting to get a little stir crazy, so I took her to a gymnastics class on Monday. My old gym is so flexible and they just let her join the team class. She must really love gymnastics because she didn’t know anyone and was still willing to go! After that, we all met up for bowling at Riverside Lanes :o). Mom was worried about her arthritic thumb, but she managed just fine. I didn’t quite live up to my 4-bagger college nickname, but I did get a turkey :o). The kids used the bumpers, so they weren’t doing so bad either. Afterward, we went to Taco Del Mar (we try to go to our favorite places that they don’t have in CA) and ate too much…seemed to be the theme for us!
A couple days later we went roller skating for the first time. The kids looked like deer on ice, falling all over the place! I was pretty worried 5 minutes in because they clearly were not getting it, but as time went on, they seemed to pick it up. We realized about 20 minutes before the session ended that the girls’ wheels were locked, so we unlocked them and then it became much less work and a lot more fun. Ainsley can’t wait to do it again. Even Reggie enjoyed himself and he was dreading it. Even mom got out there and showed her stuff. She was worried about falling, but did fine and I think it was a good reminder that even if you are old, you can still have fun and try things. Ryan had the opposite problem and thought he was 12 again. Skating used to be the cool thing to do and he was hot stuff, but that was 25 years ago. He entered the race at the end of the session and didn’t fare so well. He was in the lead the entire time and kept having some balance issues and finally wiped out rounding the last corner and landed on his hip. He got a huge raspberry that is now black and blue and still very tender. At least he walked away!
Ainsley was starting to get a little stir crazy, so I took her to a gymnastics class on Monday. My old gym is so flexible and they just let her join the team class. She must really love gymnastics because she didn’t know anyone and was still willing to go! After that, we all met up for bowling at Riverside Lanes :o). Mom was worried about her arthritic thumb, but she managed just fine. I didn’t quite live up to my 4-bagger college nickname, but I did get a turkey :o). The kids used the bumpers, so they weren’t doing so bad either. Afterward, we went to Taco Del Mar (we try to go to our favorite places that they don’t have in CA) and ate too much…seemed to be the theme for us!
A couple days later we went roller skating for the first time. The kids looked like deer on ice, falling all over the place! I was pretty worried 5 minutes in because they clearly were not getting it, but as time went on, they seemed to pick it up. We realized about 20 minutes before the session ended that the girls’ wheels were locked, so we unlocked them and then it became much less work and a lot more fun. Ainsley can’t wait to do it again. Even Reggie enjoyed himself and he was dreading it. Even mom got out there and showed her stuff. She was worried about falling, but did fine and I think it was a good reminder that even if you are old, you can still have fun and try things. Ryan had the opposite problem and thought he was 12 again. Skating used to be the cool thing to do and he was hot stuff, but that was 25 years ago. He entered the race at the end of the session and didn’t fare so well. He was in the lead the entire time and kept having some balance issues and finally wiped out rounding the last corner and landed on his hip. He got a huge raspberry that is now black and blue and still very tender. At least he walked away!
Our last day was Maggie’s birthday, so grandma took the kids down to the Rinehardt’s bright and early and Ryan, dad and I stayed and cleaned the house. Usually we leave so early that we can’t ever clean up and it was nice to be able to do that, especially good that the kids were gone. They had lots of fun there and grandma made one last batch of moose munch and then we headed to birthday dinner at the spaghetti factory. Another place we don’t get to enjoy! Reggie has turned into quite the garlic fan, so he had myzithra and garlic pasta. Must be Aunt Liha’s influence!
From there we went to Grandma Pam’s in Issaquah to stay there so she could take us to the airport in the morning. The kids loved her house…Reggie just couldn’t get over how soft the carpet was. They are funny kids! They did lot of art in the morning and enjoyed staying there.
I have to say, the weather was so drizzly and dreary almost the entire time we were there and we were very happy to come back and see the sun! It was hard to be cooped up for that long. I haven’t had a twinge in my back for months and sure enough about a week in, it was a bit unhappy. Not sure if it was the weather or the lack of activity, but it was a reminder that I have come a long way and I don’t want to go back! It has been around 70 here and today we played Frisbee, went on the trampoline and had a good bike ride. Just to feel the warmth of the sun is heavenly.
