Quick Holiday Recap

Originally we were set to leave for Kansas early Saturday morning. On Wednesday or so I talked to my step-mom and she suggested leaving after Jer (husband) got off work on Friday and driving partially through the night so that kids would sleep. Jer thought this was a great idea because then he could be in Kansas in time to go hunting on Saturday morning. He thought the whole stopping to sleep thing was way overrated and was sure we could drive the whole twelve hours in one go. I told him several times that one hits a wall at some point during the night (I almost always hit mine around 2am) when it's almost impossible to fight the drowsiness no matter how much caffeine you have. This wall is a huge problem on our drive northward because for the last 4 hours or so of the trip there are very few towns and even fewer places to stop to sleep. I also realized that if we drove all night both of us would have to stay awake in order to make sure the driver did not drowse. We would both, then, be really wanting a nap the next day. Jer assured me that he would not take a nap and leave me to watch the kids.

So we drove all night. Around 1am I started pointed out all the cheap hotels. We hit the last town with lodging around 4. We only had about 2 hours left when Jer got sleepy and needed me to take over. It was very dark; we were in the middle of nowhere; we had already had one very close call with a deer (slamming on brakes and honking); we were on a not-so-nice stretch of teeny tiny highway ( you have to zoom in a loooong way on google for this particular road to even show up); and there were millions of small animal or deer shaped tumbleweeds blowing across the road. Not my favorite. But we made it safely to the small town cafe in time for breakfast and we managed to visit all 3 sets of grandparents that lived in the area that day. And Jer got in a good two hour nap that afternoon while I watched the kids and visited with my mother-in-law.....

The rest of the trip was pretty good. We stayed busy - two nights with Jer's mom, one night with my mom, up north two hours to my grandma's for two nights, back to Jer's mom's for a few more... Jer went hunting every morning and got in lots of good male bonding time with his Dad and Cousins. We had a great snow up at my grandma's house and the girls got to go sledding behind the golf cart one afternoon. The other highlight of the trip for them was playing with and riding Grandma Carole's miniature horses. She has small saddles for the horses and the girls rode them for awhile and then decided it would be more fun to lead them around. I think they led the horses around for over an hour. Which was amazing because it was COLD!!!! So cold. Every time we had to go out in it B. would cry about the cold. Both big girls were in hysterics every time we turned the heater on full blast...cause they thought we were running the A/C...they don't have any memories of heater use in the car, I guess.

When we left our house, the temp was around 72 degrees. When we arrived in Kansas, it was 15 degrees. The temperature did not get above 30 degrees until Wednesday. And the wind chills were in the negatives... I was amazed at how cold it was - I had forgotten. Part of me misses the chill. But I do not miss trying to load and unload into car seats children who are bundled. I told Jer that I do want to move back north someday...but not until the kids are out of car seats or maybe college.

The girls' fear of dogs did cause a lot of drama over the week. Several times we were pretty embarrassed by their shrieks of terror when little dogs came running up to greet them. I understood the fear when my mom's giant Great Pyrenees came up for a sniff...but Corgis?? The girls did do better with the dogs once they and the dogs and calmed down. The girls loved my mom's yellow lab and even got used to the Pyrenees. They insisted that Grandma Lisa leave her yellow lab gated though - probably because he was more interested in getting the girls to pat him than was Kelly (mom's dog).

Baby J. loved chasing around my mom's cats and loved to look at all the dogs and other animals (mom has goats, mules, chickens etc). She did not like the geese because they were too loud. She had fun playing with Cousin Brody but didn't want to share toys. I guess she has learned to defend herself from her toy snatching sisters. Even so, she rarely gets to play with any of her new toys without a lot of help. She started standing unaided the week before Christmas and her Daddy has been trying to get her to take steps ever since. I think she took 3 in a row once but has totally lost interest in trying since we got back to our house.

Our trip was cut a day short because B. started throwing up in the middle of the night on Friday. Jer went hunting one more time Saturday morning and then we took off. B. had been unable to keep anything down (even water) and threw up an hour or so before we left. But we still managed to make it all the way home without any accidents. As soon as I was done cleaning up her original mess, I started praying that we would be able to at least get home before the sickness hit the rest of us (we knew it wasn't food poisoning because we had been around sick people). We had one day of rest on Sunday before Jer got the ick on Monday and I got it Wednesday. Luckily, the grown up form didn't involve throwing up.

We had our own little family Christmas on Thursday and I made my first turkey. B. kept asking me if 'that big chicken was cooked yet'.

All in all I think this holiday was a success. Jer decided we should maybe go up to visit the grandparents once every six months - seeing everyone more often might cut back on the rush during our visits. We discovered a magic way to make the kids behave in the car...DVD player - the kind with 2 screens so they can each hold one in their lap!

We have lots of hopes for 2009...but we'll have to see what God has in store for us!

ps Jer decided we should maybe go up to visit the grandparents once every six months - seeing everyone more often might cut back on the rush during our visits (I am very grateful for this decision and in full agreement!).

pps We discovered a magic way to make the kids behave in the car...DVD player - the kind with 2 screens so they can each hold one in their lap!