Two fun-filled weeks!!!

We had a wonderful trip home for the holidays. We were on the go a lot, but that allowed us to see many of our family and friends.

The best traveler's ever!!! They were so excited about the plane, train and escalator...what could be better :o)The afternoon we arrived, we headed to Grandma Pam’s for some down time before going to Cadia’s 3rd birthday party. Ainsley was wired, so after about 45 minutes of Ryan sleeping and her chatting away, they came downstairs and we visited the chicken coop and the kids just ran around. They had so much fun climbing on bricks and running up and down the grassy hills! It was nice to have a little outside time and the weather cooperated. The kids had fun at the birthday party and we had a nice time visiting. It was a long day, but Reggie and Ainsley were so excited to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s and even more excited to ride with them in the car. I guess Ainsley didn’t stop talking the entire time :o). The next day, Ryan and I were off to meet with friends for lunch and I had a physical therapy appointment. Turns out some of my hip/lower back pain is due to a fallen kidney. I visited her a couple more times, but my kidney just won’t stay put. She showed Ryan how to put it back in place, but I’m not so sure we can figure it out! I’m going to try to find someone here who can help me. Later that day, we visited Santa….or tried to. Alderwood Mall was CRAZY!!! We decided to go to the Spaghetti Factory instead! Our family misses eating there, so it was a nice treat. After that, we went to the Everett Mall to see Santa and only had to wait about 5 minutes. We stayed at Liha and Wade’s that night and the cousins got to play all morning :o). In the afternoon, I took Reggie to meet up with Kellen and Abby and they enjoyed playing together for a few hours. It was nice for us moms to catch up too!

We headed up to the lake after that and were very happy to be there for a couple days. Grandma did crafts with Reggie and they played up in the loft and we baked my favorite Christmas cookies! I missed cookie day this year and butter cookies were always my responsibility (they are pretty labor intensive and not so fun to make), so they just skipped it, but the dough was ready. It was so much faster having the kids do the cut-outs and having mom juggle the oven. Even my dad was helping, although he needs a bit more practice :o). I think we’ll have to do it again next year since everyone had so much fun and even more fun eating them. Reggie said they were the best cookies ever! Christmas Eve was spent at Uncle Anthony’s house, having a nice ham dinner and visiting. Unfortunately, Reggie wasn’t feeling well, so he was pretty quiet. I think it was all the sledding!!! My parents got a few inches of snow and it was super cold, so it lasted several days and Reggie was a maniac sledder, sometimes for several hours at a time. Even Ainsley enjoyed it this year. Oh, and Ryan and I went sledding too. We decided to go for a healthy walk up the logging roads and bring our sleds, so we could have a little fun on the way down. We didn’t really think through things, however. Sledding without gloves and snow pants didn’t work all that well. It was the fastest snow I can remember and we were flying down the hill, pretty out of control, with no hands for steering! I had to bail a few times to stop and because the snow wasn’t that deep, the gravel underneath gave me a few souvenirs. Ryan’s sled was a bit slower, so he faired a little better. When we got back, Ryan said it was good to feel like a kid again :o). Back to Christmas Eve….the kids opened presents and then we headed back to the lake. Poor Reggie fell asleep in the car. Christmas morning was lots of fun, although we didn’t get much excitement from the kids. Ainsley opened up her baby from Santa and said, “Hey, I didn’t want that one.” NICE!!! They were happy to have chocolate chip pancakes and later Reggie figured out how cool his Leapster was from Santa. The Rinehardt’s showed up not too much later and they opened another round of presents. Later that day, the extended family came and we had a nice time visiting and eating and exchanging our white elephant gifts. We were very happy to see Kristin and the girls….she barely made it, taking the Oso road (partially paved and snowy!).

Christmas morning....misfits???? My mom, sister and I went shopping the next day and out to lunch. I can’t remember the last time we did that! No kids, no worries…if only we were at a spa…maybe next year :o). That night, Ryan and I left the kids again and headed to Kim and Shane’s to spend some time with Ryan’s extended family. They pulled the karaoke out and it was fun to watch everyone sing, but I’m not thinking we’ll see anyone on American Idol and Ryan surely won’t get any awards for singing Beat It!
The rest of our trip consisted of another play date with Kellen and Abby, a dentist appointment for Ryan (we still haven’t found a good one here), another sleepover at Liha and Wade’s, Jump Planet with Maggie, fireworks on New Year’s Eve, Jungle Playland with Grandma Peggy and Maggie’s birthday party. Whew…I’m tired just thinking about it. Oh, and I can’t forget the massive amounts of rain. Thankfully, we had some active indoor activities that let the kids burn off some steam. They had a great time with Grandma Peggy at Jungle Playland and I think she may have gotten a good work-out too!

To see video, go to www.arrtwade.blogspot.com

There was also a bit of wind at my parents house, followed by a power outage! Reggie thought it was the coolest thing ever to use lanterns and flashlights. He was placing them all around the house as we were trying to explain that you keep the light with you. Of course, the power went out right before dinner, so we cooked on the BBQ and it turned out to be a really fun evening :o). We got a good laugh just watching Reggie enjoy himself!

A walk in the woods with Grandpa, just before the power went out!

Maggie's birthday party: